* Name: Jolley Building LLC
* Location: One Park Place on Lee Highway
* Products/services: General contractor, licensed in 10 states. Jolley bids on jobs, deals with sub-contractors and is responsible for completion of the job.
* Age: Founded in fall 2008 by husband-and-wife team Ed and Laura Jolley.
* Target market: Federal, state and local governments; theaters; hospitals; retirement centers; retail; schools; and basically any job between $5 million and $10 million.
* Biggest hurdle: Being patient, getting bonds, getting certificates of existence and authority and taking five-hour exams to get certified to work in certain states.
* Biggest reward: The Jolleys say they really like working with a great group of people, and they enjoy construction because they can point to something and say, “I did that.”
* Challenges in the future: It’s been an “aggressive battle” working with the banks and “convincing them that I know what I’m doing,” said Mr. Jolley, a fifth-generation builder.
* Lesson learned: You have to be careful with details, especially when it comes to giving estimates, Mr. Jolley said. It’s important to make sure that how much you think something may cost and how much it actually costs are one in the same.
* Five-year goal: In five years, the Jolleys want to be a $50 million to $60 million contractor, big enough to do most jobs, but not growing too fast.