S&W Contracting makes Fortune's Inner City 100

S&W Contracting of Western New York, a family business, began in 1999 with 18-year-old Shandra Spicer and her parents cleaning and painting empty units in area apartment complexes. Their efforts generated $29,000 in revenue that year.

A decade later, S&W had grown into a general construction contractor and commercial janitorial services company with 27 employees and revenue of $1.7 million. In 2010, the company made $2.1 million.

The rapid expansion of S&W landed it at No. 47 on this year's Inner City 100, a list of the country's 100 fastest-growing inner-city businesses published by Fortune magazine. S&W, located at 693 Seneca St. in the Larkin district, is featured in the current issue of Fortune, along with other small businesses that are thriving despite often being in economically depressed surroundings.

According to Fortune, S&W had a five-year annual growth rate of 33 percent.

"I was really ecstatic," said Spicer, now 30 and president and CEO of the company. "I was also in disbelief that little S&W in Buffalo made the list. I cried; I was so proud of what my family has done. This is not something I've done on my own."

In its 12 years of business, S&W has secured some choice construction contracts, including work for Erie County, Buffalo Public Schools, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and other government entities. With its janitorial service, which comprises 30 percent of business, the company currently has 20 to 25 contracts.

After working for minority-owned construction businesses, Willie Roberson, Spicer's father, decided to start his own. It started as a father-and-daughter business, but Roberson, who is now a project manager, soon stepped down as partner. Spicer, the majority partner, and her mother were running the company, but her mother retired for health reasons and sold her share of the business to Spicer. Spicer was completely in charge of S&W at age 22.

"All of this is not my doing," she said. "I get a lot of support from my family and staff."

Spicer prepared to lead the company by taking advantage of training and mentoring programs offered to women and minority business owners.

"You name it, I've done it," she said. "I've enrolled in [everything] and anything to help me do better business."

She's a graduate of the University at Buffalo's Allstate Minority and Women Emerging Entrepreneurs program and LPCiminelli's Emerging Contractor Mentor Program, and she regularly attends workshops at the Women's Business Center at Canisius College.

As a wife and mother of two young children, she said, it's a challenge balancing her work and family responsibilities. Also, as a young woman in charge of construction contracting firm, she said, she often has to prove herself.

"It's not easy; there are a lot of challenges," Spicer said. "But I love it, I love what I do. If I'm a failure or a success, it's based on my efforts."

There were more than 2,000 nominations for this year's Inner City 100, which is compiled by Initiative for Competitive Inner City, a nonprofit research and strategy organization. Businesses were ranked based on their compound annual growth gleaned from revenue over the five-year period between 2005 and 2009.

In the past, other area small businesses have appeared on the list, but this year S&W is the lone Western New York representative. Spicer applied a few years ago, but the company's revenue wasn't high enough for it to make the list.

"Making the list solidifies what I've been telling people," she said. "It says we are a viable company, and it gives us name recognition. I think it's going to increase business."

Spicer and other winners were honored last week during an awards dinner in Cambridge, Mass.

She foresees an end to the janitorial service as the company forays into to LEED building -- specialized energy efficient construction ... and expands to commercial construction projects. Currently the company does only government contracts, she said.

"Right now I'm focusing on commercial contracts as a way to grow even more," she said. "I want to make sure they know we're here and we are hard workers."

esapong@buffnews.comnull