Ringgold businessman Enoch Hurd travels to demolition and salvage sites across the country. He owns Quality Auto and Equipment Inc.
Photo by Jennifer BardonerEnoch Hurd is the embodiment of a businessman.
"If there's a way to make money, I'm usually looking at it," he said.
He puts that into practice through his Ringgold-based Quality Auto and Equipment Inc. Due to the changing economy, he's had to look for new ways to make money several times over. The auto part of his business has evolved from repairs and resale for the public into re-marketing commercial lease and late model vehicles.
The equipment side is now taking most of his time, taking him around the country as well.
"When the economy took a downturn I started looking at other things," he said.
It took another hardship, the ruin left in Hurricane Katrina's wake, to turn things around for Hurd. He is now licensed and insured to do demolitions and is often contracted by insurance companies. On the front end, he visits salvage sites nationwide, repairing and selling what he can either locally or elsewhere.
"A lot of the cars I send out go to dealers in Texas and Mississippi. A lot of the machines I sell get sent for export," he said. "China's a big market. They buy machines, and all the copper wire is going over there. I used to sell a lot of stuff locally, but when the housing market went in the toilet it just dried up."
Hurd said he does "try to do as much as [he] can locally." He still does all Ringgold-based Diamond Electric's machinery repairs, he said. His shop on Highway 41 is still open to the public as a body shop, he said, but his seven on-site employees are already working around the clock.
Hurd went to school and got a degree in business with a focus on pre-law, but then ways to make money started popping up.
"I was going to be a lawyer," he said. "I graduated, filled out the application and had it all sitting in a box. I never sent it off. I probably should have. The retirement benefits would have been a lot better."