SBA honoree opted to travel on path to success

By TOM ADAMS
Rochester Business Journal

Growing up on Rochester's northwest side, Duane Cuyler saw the demons that too often prevent its youth from reaching their potential.

"In the inner city, you have choices," he said. "I wasn't the best of the best in drafting or in a lot of areas that my friends excelled in, but their minds weren't there. That's why a lot of them are in jail today.

"I had a chance to sell drugs and everything else, but I chose to go down the path that they said we couldn't go down."

Cuyler, 38, owns Union City Contractors Inc. on Alexander Street. He received the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2005 Minority Small Business Person of the Year Award in the Buffalo District, which stretches from Buffalo to Syracuse.

A devout Christian who credits his faith for his success, Cuyler routinely talks to inner-city residents about their future.

"I go out and talk to these guys on the corner, and they say all they need is a chance," he said. "I have guys that are ex-drug addicts that are making $1,000 a week working out in the field for me.
"I have guys whose heads aren't there, who are coming off a divorce situation, but know how to do the work and know how to execute. They just need a chance. I was one of them. I was an underdog."
   
Cuyler would like to start a training program for inner-city youth, using his own equipment, he said.
   
"At least they have a chance, by operating equipment, to leave Rochester or stay in Rochester and bring talent to a firm," he said.
Union City Contractors generated $9 million in revenue this year, up from $6 million in 2004. The revenue comes primarily from federal contracts.
   
Cuyler wants to add at least 15 workers to his company in 2006 and increase revenue by 175 percent.
"My goal is to do at least $25 million in business next year, with a minimum base of 50 to 60 employees, if we get the contracts we're looking for," the U.S. Navy veteran said. "I want to work from here to Florida and be as aggressive as I possibly can. The reason I believe that is we have the talent."
   
Cuyler has used his experience as a naval contractor to build the business, which he co-founded in 1991. He worked part time for the company for six years before becoming full time in 1997 and buying out his partner, he said.
   
"I used to give out the contracts," he said. "Now I'm getting them. I understand the federal system. I understand what is required to complete a federal contract."
   
Union City Contractors currently is replacing a roof on a building at the Canan-daigua VA Medical Center. Other projects this year include involvement in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' $2 million ice control project along Cazenovia Creek in Erie County, a $1.8 million renovation of the U.S. Army's Watervliet Arsenal near Albany and $416,000 in street repairs at the Bath VA Medical Center.
   
Cuyler received the SBA minority small-business award in October. Members of the SBA's 8(a) program for federally certified minority-owned businesses are eligible for the award. Cuyler has been a member for three years.
   
"Duane was surrounded by his family, which was nice because his family is very important to him," said Victoria Reynolds, the SBA branch manager in Rochester. "I don't know how much of an impact the award will have on his business. Duane is successful because of Duane. It's a testament to his hard work. He's been a model for the 8(a) program."
   
The company's first endeavor was cleanup from Hurricane Hugo in 1991 while Cuyler was with the Navy in Charleston, S.C.
   
He is focusing on hurricane work again, having bid for two projects related to Katrina: one for temporary roofing in the New Orleans area and the second for debris removal in Mobile, Ala.
Cuyler opened a branch office in Ft. Myers, Fla., in September.

"We are bidding and marketing in that area," he said. "We have contracts and solicitations coming in."
Cuyler would like to get more work in Rochester, but the competition is stiff. Among the work he has gotten was a 2003 roof replacement at Norton Village subsidized housing.
   
"In the last 25 years, there hasn't been a prime roofing contractor to do a job for the city of Rochester," Cuyler said. "We fought heads and tails till we got that job. It's a tight market here, and if you don't have the tenacity to fight for it, they're going to limit you out."
   
The lack of access to local government contracts is disappointing to the graduate of the School of Skilled Trades at Edison and of the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.
   
"I haven't had a lot of good luck with local and county municipalities," he said.
Cuyler was prepping for his life's work by the time he was 10 years old, helping with his father's construction business, J.C. Remodeling.
   
"He bought a lot of city-owned property," Cuyler said. "Me and my brother worked on rental property, to the point where he just sent us to a property to renovate it by ourselves or with a small group. That gave me the drive."
   
He received a scholarship to North Carolina A&T, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering. His first job was as an environmental manager at the Charleston (S.C.) Naval Shipyard. He later took a job as a contracting officer at a naval base in Philadelphia.
   
After retiring as a naval officer, he returned to Rochester and began working full time for his company in 1997. But it wasn't until the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center that Union City Contractors turned the financial corner.
   
"That was really when my company started jumping out of the box," Cuyler said. "I was the only minority doing debris removal at the World Trade Center."
Union City Contractors posted $600,000 in revenue in 2001, largely because of federal projects related to cleanup at the site. He employed a dozen workers that year, a third of what he has now. He has increased his employment base by 50 percent in the last two years, he said.
   
"Some of the larger firms (in Rochester) are major contractors, not just in Rochester but on the East Coast," Cuyler said. "I found that I had to find another niche so I don't bump heads with them. I found that I could stay above water by staying in the federal realm.
"We will bid a federal project anywhere. We have good contacts with the Army Corps. By being a minority-owned company, to compete I have to stay one question ahead of my competitors."
   
Cuyler is one of two African-American businessmen on the U.S. Small Business Advisory Board, which meets with President George Bush every six months to discuss small-business issues. He also sits on the board of the national Society of Minority Engineers.
   
His business and personal beliefs work hand-in-hand, Cuyler said.
"My main goal is to make money and try to bring back some integrity to the construction area," he said. "I bring a lot of my Christian beliefs. I push it on my colleagues, regardless of whether they like it or not. I don't care."