Federal programs and contracts pay off Brothers Samuel and Saul Maldonado founded SAM Engineering & Surveying Inc. in June 2008 with only three employees and yearly sales of $400,000. Today, the firm has grown to 55 employees with sales in excess of $4 million. The brothers attribute part of their success with assistance provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Starting initially as an engineering and surveying firm, SAMES added…
Wicked Good keeps it fresh and local After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Jonathan Hogan began applying for graduate programs and wondering how he would be able to pay for it. With time on his hands, he began experimenting with making marmalades, jellies and jams in the kitchen of his Mission home. At one point his father weighed in that the marmalade was so good he felt wicked eating it. Thus Hogan’s company Wicked Good was…
Live web cams attract valuable audience A video of a large alligator cruising near the Laguna Madre shoreline on South Padre Island generated more than 70,000 online views in three days. That’s as good as gold for Jerry and Jackie Wilson, owners of South Padre Network, a digital business the Wilsons operate from their home. The Wilsons posted the alligator video, captured by their web cam at Sea Turtle Inc. on Facebook. The…
Safeguard Pest Control provides solutions When Juan Martinez returned to the Valley after serving in the Marine Corps, he found a job with a pest control company. He enjoyed the work, moved up the ladder and eventually managed the business. In 1991, he started his own company, Safeguard Pest Control, with his assets of a pickup truck, experience, a strong work ethic and a Pest Control Structural license from the Texas Department of Agriculture. Now the largest independent pest control company in the Valley, Safeguard is run by his sons, Frank and Gabriel. “I started working here the day he opened the business,”…
Old Ships Build the Future International Shipbreaking Ltd. CEO Chris Green moves among employees with ease, greeting them with waves, smiles and handshakes. Walking across the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier USS Independence, he stopped to talk with two workers. “How’s your boy doing?” he asked one man whose son had been experiencing health problems. “We have a group of really hard-working people around here,” Green said. “They are our greatest asset.” The USS Independence is the most…
There have been technological advances in so many areas around the world, from commercial to residential. One thing that hasn’t changed as dramatically is transportation. Fifty years ago, big rigs were pounding the roads, delivering produce from coast to coast and border to border. Today, those 18-wheelers are doing the same thing. The insides and the panel instruments have all been upgraded to include GPS and many other new functions,…
From October 2016 through March 2017 – just six months – the city of Seattle accumulated 44.67 inches of rain. Meanwhile, in Harlingen, Texas the annual average rainfall is just 27.5 inches. So it’s no wonder that when you do a search for companies that install and repair sprinkler systems, there are actually more in South Texas. “It’s a competitive business,” said Leticia Duarte, who is part-owner of Duarte and…
Kyle Orgera is on one end of the craft beer spectrum, he brews about 10 times a year. Now that his brother is in town, the two plan to brew more and have talked about opening a business. Steve Padilla is on the other end of the spectrum. After finding the taste for craft beer while in school in Erie, Pa., he decide then that the Valley needed more options…
The landscape will tell you that you are in a different place. Bait shops and bait stores, cabins, homes and apartments for rent – during the summer in most fishing cities — but here in Arroyo City, the weather is great for fishing year round. Fishing is the lifeblood of this town. Seated along the Arroyo Colorado, this similar-named city is all about fishing – and you’re almost a stone’s…
Marty Moore looked down at the ruined pair of jeans in his hands, the jeans he had promised a first-time customer of D&M Cleaners to clean and just shrugged. “Looks like we bought these jeans,” he said as he stared at the black that ran all over the white designer jeans. “That’s the right thing to do.” Moore promptly called the customer and told her what happened. She returned to…