MJ Price Construction Company has earned HUB certification as a woman-owned business.

The certification, granted by the state, is an effort to grow economic opportunities for Historically Underutilized Businesses, those owned by women and minorities.

The HUB certification helps put small businesses on the radar of state agencies as well as private companies that have made partnering with women and minority-owned businesses a priority.

Price Construction President Lauren Price said it is fairly common for contracts she bids on to include questions about whether the business is owned by a woman or minority.

“The HUB certification will help us get our foot in the door,” she said. “But getting those contracts will always rest on the quality of your work. We think our 43 years of experience will get those clients to invite us in.”

MJ Price was founded by the late Marion Jackson Price and Barbara Inscoe Price in Roanoke Rapids in 1971.

The business began with two flatbed dump tucks, a back-hoe, a tractor and four employees.

Today, the company employs more than 70 people and operates more than 40 Class 8 trucks and 100 pieces of heavy equipment, offering services in the site construction, site preparation, land maintenance, and industrial maintenance fields.