The Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce announces Advantage Home Warranty as one of Greenville’s top Small Businesses of the Year.

January 15, 2004 PRESS RELEASE
Excerpt from: The Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce 115th Annual Meeting
Special Publication of The Greenville News
By Chris Worthy
Contributing Writer

SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

The Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce announces Advantage Home Warranty as one of Greenville’s top Small Businesses of the Year.

Success, contribution to community important considerations

Small business owners work hard, often sacrificing much in their personal lives to grow their businesses and support programs that benefit the entire community.

Many do so without the recognition they deserve. Each month, the Chamber honors a small business that stands out from the crowd. Annually, one such business – chosen from four finalists – is recognized for its success and contribution to the community. The Small Business of the Year Award honors the entrepreneur, the dream, and the perseverance that made it a reality.

Chamber members nominated four such businesses for the 2003 Small Business of the Year and Advantage Home Warranty was one of them.

Brent Skidmore wants to help homeowners get a good night’s sleep. He began performing home inspections in 1991 and by 1992 he was franchising Advantage Inspection, Inc. “I’m in the business of providing people certainty,” Skidmore said. “In 1998, I started the home warranty company (Advantage Home Warranty). “Most warranties are just blanket policies with tons of loopholes.” Skidmore wanted to provide something different.

“It’s the only ‘no denied claims’ home warranty in America,” he said. “We underwrite the warranty with the inspection. All of this is to provide one thing: customer certainty.”

Advantage Inspection Inc. currently has franchises in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Advantage Home Warranty currently operates in South Carolina and will expand to North Carolina and Georgia in 2004. Though the company supports a number of causes, concerns for home safety resulted in the formation of Safe Homes for Safe Kids, a foundation headed by Skidmore’s wife, Sonya. “Every day we tell people safety-related issues with their homes,” Skidmore said. “That’s only a few thousand in a community in a year.” The foundation communicates safety information to many more parents and children, primarily through safety fairs. Sonya Skidmore said she is determined to make children safer. “We’re so proud of what we’ve done this year,” she said.