Great terms and streamlined borrowing process help Klumm Brothers demolish the competition.

Overview

Redeveloping an occupied lot involves a great deal of demolition and cleanup work. When a new project in Toledo, Ohio, required the removal of a 200,000-square-foot hotel, the developer called Klumm Brothers to knock down the building, remove the waste and prepare the site for whatever would come next.

Klumm Brothers has successfully supported this type of project for decades. However, when the company decided to add residential waste management services to its portfolio, it needed to buy additional equipment to expand its demolition fleet. Wheeler Financial from Pitney Bowes™ provided financing for the purchase, protecting Klumm Brothers’ cash flow while streamlining the borrowing process. As a result, the company was well-positioned to both add staff and expand into a new market sector, even in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.

Business challenge

For 31 years, Klumm Brothers has provided demolition, excavation and commercial waste management services to greater Toledo. “When COVID-19 first broke out, we weren’t getting a lot of commercial demolition work,” says Bob Klumm, the company’s Co-founder, Partner and President. “We started getting calls from individuals requesting dumpsters. That wasn’t a service we offered at the time, but after about the tenth call, we decided to expand into residential service.”

Klumm Brothers launched a social media campaign encouraging people who were homebound because of the pandemic to use that time to clean out their garages and basements. “All of a sudden, the phone lines exploded with homeowners wanting to do just that,” Klumm says. “The equipment we had couldn’t keep up with this demand. We needed to add two more trucks to transport roll-off dumpsters to all our new residential customers.”

To purchase that equipment, Klumm Brothers needed financing. It had utilized dealer financing in the past, but this time the company was looking for an alternative source of capital. “The dealer rates weren’t particularly attractive for this purchase,” Klumm says.

Benefits

The transaction has allowed Klumm Brothers to expand its business without a significant outflow of capital, which is crucial in this market environment. “Wheeler Financial has enabled us to optimize our cash flow,” Klumm says. “Some companies are bleeding liquidity right now, but by working with Wheeler Financial, we’ve been able to keep on rolling.”

In fact, the company has done better than that. “Adding these roll-off trucks to the fleet has enabled Klumm Brothers to create more jobs,” Klumm adds. “Amidst this pandemic, I think that’s pretty significant.”

Since closing the first transaction for the two roll-off trucks, Klumm Brothers has also worked with Wheeler Financial to finance the purchase of a pair of dump trucks. “That transaction went even more smoothly,” Klumm reports. “The partnership with Wheeler Financial has exceeded our expectations, and we will continue using them for our financing needs.”

Wheeler Financial from Pitney Bowes, Pitney Bowes and the Corporate logo are trademarks of Pitney Bowes Inc. or a subsidiary. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wheeler Financial from Pitney Bowes is a subsidiary of the Pitney Bowes Bank, Inc., Member FDIC.