Alter Commercial Caseworks, LLC, located in West Burlington, produces commercial custom cabinetry. The business began in a rented space in downtown Burlington. The owners, brothers Mark and Bill Alter, and sister Nancy Lekin, first visited the Southeastern Small Business Development Center in September 2005 to find out how to start a business.

Mark and Bill worked with Janine Clover of the Southeastern SBDC to find out how to legally organize the business, write a business plan, find available funding, prepare financial projections, and find answers to a host of other small business start-up questions. Janine also helped them with record keeping and QuickBooks, marketing, and operational issues.

The siblings were not able to secure bank financing for their project, but were able to rent space in downtown Burlington at a very reasonable rate. They pooled their funds to purchase equipment and began fabricating custom cabinetry as Alter Commercial Caseworks, LLC in March 2006.

In June 2008 the business was flooded and had to relocate to a building in West Burlington that had previously housed a similar business. The company lost revenue for six weeks while moving equipment and relocating their shop to the new location so they went back to the Small Business Development Center for more help. Janine worked with the owners to apply for both physical and economic injury disaster loans from the Small Business Administration and the Iowa JumpStart program.

Alter Commercial Caseworks pulled through the disaster and sales have doubled since the flood. The company employs three full-time shop employees in addition to the three owners. “The SBDC has provided us with a wealth of information,” says Nancy Lekin. “Janine is always willing to help us with record keeping, hiring employees, and a multitude of questions that arise.”