CHARLESTON:: COASTAL EMPIRE EXTERIORS - AN INC 500 SAVANNAH COMPANY, EXPANDING TO CHARLESTON HAS GRAND OPENING

CHARLESTON::INC 500 SAVANNAH COMPANY, EXPANDING TO CHARLESTON HAS GRAND OPENING

A well-respected national business magazine has named Savannah-based Coastal Empire Exteriors as one of the top private businesses in the United States.

CEE is ranked 212 on Inc magazine’s list of the 500 fastest growing, privately held businesses in the country. The list is in the magazine’s September issue.

For owner and founder Kip Lee, the recognition comes just as CEE, which specializes in sunrooms, widows, vinyl siding and gutters, is getting ready to expand into the Charleston, S.C. market.

“We had our grand opening in Charleston on Oct. 13, 14 and 15,” Lee said. “We opened here (in Savannah) in 2000, and about a year ago, we opened a showroom in Bluffton.”

Lee said Inc magazine recognized his company because of its dramatic growth. Specifically, the company’s revenues increased 576% during the three-period of 2003 through 2005. The first year Lee’s company was in business – 2000 – it generated about $700,000 in revenues. This year, Lee said he expects it to generate more than $8 million, which is more than a 10-fold increase in just six years.

CEE has been successful because it offers “great products,” and because it is a strong sales and marketing organization, Lee said.

“We also offer some unique warranties,” he said. “For instance, we offer a 30-day price guarantee. If one of our customers finds a similar product with similar quality at a better price after they’ve purchased from us, we will refund the difference to them plus 10 percent.”

His company also offers a lifetime warranty on labor and materials and what he calls at “reverse risk warranty,” which he said, “basically guarantees satisfactory performance.”

About 65 percent of his business is sunrooms, Lee said. About 30 percent is windows and the company also does some vinyl siding and gutter work.

“We getting ready to start building swimming pools,” Lee said. “And we’re really excited about that. We are also just starting to do outdoor kitchens. This will go hand-in-hand with our swimming pools.”

Lee, 44, who has worked in the home improvement business for more than 20 years, opened his business after learning the trade by working at Sears and helping other smaller companies become successful. With the skills he honed, Lee said he thought he would do well.

“Then my wife and I decided to do this,” he said. “We were living in Atlanta, and we had spent some time in Savannah and we thought it was a nice market and a really nice place to live. And, there had never been a Four Seasons Sun Room dealer here. We are a four Seasons Sun Room franchise.”

Just as Lee and his wife Sandy have been successful at business, they have also had personal success of late.

He and his wife adopted a child, Alexander, who is now 2 ½ years old. In February, they will adopt a second child.

“His (Alexander’s) mother is having another baby, a girl,” Lee said. “We are going to adopt her.”

Lee said he could not be prouder of his son.

“He is the baby God meant for us to have,” Lee said. “He is an amazing kid. He is good-natured, polite, smart. He is just a joy. How many 2 ½ year-olds say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.

In addition to starting his family, Lee has recently focused on his own health, “ I have lost 105 pounds,” Lee said. “I had the gastric bypass surgery, and I believe it has saved my life. I was a diabetic, but I’m not diabetic any more. All my blood test numbers were horrible before the surgery; now they are excellent four months later.”

Lee is working to keep the weight off by working out daily.

“I work out two hours a day, and that makes a big difference,” he said. “I do a 60-to-90- minute of cardio workout and I also weight train.”

The weight training is nothing new for Lee. In 2002, he won the World Power Lifting championship for men over 40.

“I can’t lift as well as I used to,” he said. “But it was fun”