Business earns statewide award

Pine Camp Contracting LLC epitomizes quick growth: from three employees when it was founded in 2007 to 42 employees now.

The flooring and painting contractor has grown so fast that it was recognized by the state Small Business Development Center system with the Growth Company of the Year Award.

"Honestly, I think we were humbled by it," said Amanda L. Johnson, vice president of operations. "Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture, but it threw everything into perspective on what we do when we all work together."

Pine Camp's owners are Colleen A. Bellnier, who had experience in her family's painting business and spent four years in the Army, and Robert J. Patchen, a lifelong Watertown resident and experienced construction foreman.

The Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College helped the start-up register with the Central Contract Registry, a clearinghouse for contractors to find subcontractors for jobs, and complete a HUBZone certification application to show the business relies on local employees.

Those listings help the business win contracts, as will certification as a woman-owned business, which Pine Camp is pursuing.

Staff at the center also helped the business work on financial projections and on obtaining and fulfilling government contracts.

"The amount of paperwork grows exponentially when you get government contracts," Ms. Johnson said.

Robin E. Stephenson, a business adviser at the center, nominated the company for the award. The statewide awards are given in nine different categories.

"The hardest thing is breaking into the procurement field," she said. "But now, with a successful contract on Fort Drum and their hard work and following through, they have that referral behind them."

Pine Camp first earned the contract to install flooring in new unaccompanied officers' housing in 2008. That took its employment from three to 18.

After completing one federal contract on Fort Drum, the business has seen more than $4 million in new contracts and more than doubled its number of employees.

The business is in the middle of a two-year contract with Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes to replace all the flooring in soldier-occupied housing on post. That contract led to the company's adding 12 more jobs.

Because of the large amount of carpet the business handled, the company decided to implement a recycling program.

"We're pulling up 8,000 to 10,000 yards of flooring a month or more and disposing of that much," Ms. Johnson said.

Through InterfaceFLOR, a supplier that uses a waste-to-energy system, the local contractor recycles all of its old and scrap carpet. That's amounted to 180,000 pounds since the program started in October.

"We didn't realize how big of a force we are," she said. "In under 12 months, we've got almost 200,000 pounds that we can divert out of our landfill."

Pine Camp also has bought a baler for collecting and compressing carpet padding. The pads will be washed, chopped and reused in new carpet padding. That can help the contracts the company participates in garner environmentally friendly certification through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, known as LEED.

"It helps us go after quite a lot of LEED points," Ms. Johnson said. "The contracting industry is going green. We want to lead by example and continue to make a difference."

To that end, the company will welcome carpet padding beginning Thursday from other businesses and individuals to contribute to the recycling effort. Its warehouse and office is at Building C in the Watertown Center for Business and Industry, 800 Starbuck Ave.

While the focus has been Fort Drum, the contractor is pursuing off-post contracts as well.

"We're working on branching out and going after on-post and off-post work equally," Ms. Johnson said. "We feel we can service a lot of off-post housing."