09/06/2002
Kurt Summers sells, rents, services and installs generator systems. His company, Austin Generator Service, was founded in 1978, three years after the young Summers and his family moved from Colorado to Texas."My father, mother and brother started the business when I was still in high school," says Summers. "My father had welding equipment repair experience, my brother came out of the military with generator repair experience, and they combined the two to create Austin Welder and Generator Service. Over time, the generator side became more dominant, and now we focus entirely on emergency generator systems."
Twenty-plus years later, the little family business is still exactly that. "Over the course of the years we've pretty much stayed a mom-and-pop operation," says Summers. "The most employees we've had at any given time was probably 15. Right now we have 10." All three of Summers' brothers have worked at the company at one time or another, says Summers. "I'm the only one who stayed," he says.
The Summers family brings a strong sense of faith to the company as well. "We started the business basically dedicating it to the Lord," he says. "We're a Christian family, and there's a great deal of emphasis we put on operating the business as such -- ethically and otherwise."
For Summers, whose father retired this past April, continuing the family legacy is something he isn't concerning himself with just yet. "I've got three sons -- 20, 18 and 16 -- and I suspect at some point one or more of them will be involved in the business."
Quick Facts:
Name: Kurt Summers
Business: Austin Generator Service, www.austingenerator.com
Location: Austin, TX
Incorporated: 1978
Number of employees: 10
When (and why) did you get involved with NFIB?
We've always been very community-minded, my dad more so than myself. He got very active in NFIB a few years back and was very vocal on topics like banking, health care and different things we were experiencing difficulty with. My involvement is fairly new -- I'm a participant in the Leadership Council here in Texas.
We're also members of other trade associations within our industry -- EGSA (Electrical Generating Systems Association), NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) and AAFAME (Austin Association of Facility and Maintenance Engineers) to name a few.
Which legislative issues or regulations currently top your list?
We've recently discovered, through our own personal experience as well as through dialogue with other small businesses, that the banking industry has apparently had a change in guidelines from the federal government. Where they used to have much more leeway to offer small businesses loans based on character or relationships and other considerations, we understand now that they must rely almost entirely on physical collateral in processing loans. In requesting a loan from our bank in this slow time, we've found that that's indeed the case. They've asked for a lot more collateral against the loan, and we've got a 16-year relationship with this bank. The federal government has really tightened things up.
What do you list most about being a small business owner?
Being able to help people solve problems is probably what I enjoy the most about our business, especially in the industry we're in now with the demand for backup generators for computer systems, etc. We know what products will work best in different situations, and that lets us come in and provide answers to people. And, of course, dealing with our customers is a real pleasure. We have a great group of customers.
