WESST Client Profiles

Michelle Clemishire is in the process of establishing her startup business within the field of federal contracting and commercial construction. She will focus on work within the Durango area and soon expand into the greater 4 Corners Area as her business builds. She is working to obtain her status as an 8(a) business located within a HubZone. She and her husband tried to launch this business before as Southwest Colorado Construction, however it was never fully pursued due to timing and other career opportunities. Michelle and her husband decided with the impact of COVID-19 pushing majority of construction projects in housing divisions to federal contracts on backlog, they wanted to fully launch their business again with Michelle at the reins.

WESST Farmington Women’s Business Center assisted Michelle with startup support on filing her LLC, creating a DUNS number, and establishing her business name. Together we identified the scope of work in federal contracting she would focus on and how to start winning effective bids within the forecast of federal contracts on SAM.gov. We connected Michelle to an experienced mentor and active construction business that guided her through the process of starting her construction business in Colorado. In the past couple of weeks working with Michelle, we have already informally won a clearing project for her business in the Durango, CO area as a subcontractor in a federal bid. Going into 2022, we will be working more on bid building and budgeting for construction projects that are on backlog due to the COVID-19 pandemic.