“It’s an industry that was in decline for a lot of years. But now, people are really starting to realize that the ‘old wood’ type of furniture construction is simply irreplaceable.”
Maybe the pandemic had everyone putting more wear & tear on their furniture because they were home more often, or perhaps it’s the notion of nostalgia. Whatever the case, Oliver Stevenson, owner of Diamond N-D Rough, a Wake Forest-based upholstery company, appreciates the work. Diamond N-D Rough offers repair and refinishing services for customers with furniture that needs to be revitalized. However, their business custom designs and makes living room furniture under their B-Diamond Collection brand.
Stevenson and his wife, Betty, have been operating Diamond N-D Rough from their passion for excellent quality furniture and their desire to keep the upholstery business alive. The company is an heirloom business and Stevenson’s brother, who was in the industry for 30 years, taught him the trade in the garage of their home over twenty years ago. Stevenson hasn’t stopped working on upholstery since.
The upholstery industry is seeing a resurgence of new and returning customers. And because of these positive changes, Stevenson knew that he needed to keep up with the momentum. So, he reached out to us here at Carolina Community Impact to discuss getting a small business loan.
“Growth and the opportunity for growth let us know that it was time for capital,” he says. “ We wanted to relocate to a bigger location to have space to do our work and to teach the upholstery trade to others. We decided to move to another level with our business.”
Stevenson wanted to grow his business from a 2,000 square-foot facility to a 3,600 square-foot facility. And although his company was performing well financially, he knew that he would need more capital to make this business idea happen.
Luckily, Stevenson was already aware of Carolina Community Impact through his friendship with Scott Wolford, our Lending Program Director. Stevenson’s passionate conversations about the full potential of Diamond N-D Rough and Wolford’s lending industry knowledge were the starting point on the access to capital path. “Scott is the reason and the machine that operated for us to get this done,” Stevenson notes, “Business before CCI was good, but when Scott and CCI stepped in, business got better.”
Although he has a business checking account and a relationship with his bank, he didn’t hesitate to call us when it came down to applying for his small business loan. “Banks don’t loan money easily unless you already have a lot of money. It doesn’t really make sense, but that’s kind of the way it is. They say they’re interested in small businesses, but sometimes, it’s hard to tell,” he explains. “I felt, in fact, I know that CCI is better for small businesses, mom & pop shops, and communities than banks are.”
Stevenson credits our simple application process and our responsiveness to making his lending experience easy, “Scott and Joe didn’t just make it look easy. It was actually easy. We even suggested that CCI come and talk to our upholstery students about obtaining financing for their businesses.”
Since getting his loan capital, Stevenson has acquired his new facility and now operates his showroom and repair shop in two locations. He shares his testimony with us, “The financial help from CCI made this happen. Without CCI, we wouldn’t have been able to reach our goals to expand the business. The ability to get financial assistance with ease, their turnaround time, and the help in getting this whole thing set up. Working with CCI is what made all of this happen.”
