SACO — A Saco small business known for its precision has received an award from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

L.A.W. Calibration owner Louis Waterhouse will be presented with the Maine Veteran Owned Business of the Year award from the U.S. Small Business Administration at an awards ceremony on Tuesday in Freeport.

Waterhouse gave a tour of his company, located at 41 Spring Hill Road, to representatives from the SBA and other officials on Friday morning.

Waterhouse was presented on Friday morning with a certificate of recognition from U.S. Senator Angus King, Maine-I,  by King’s York County representative, Bonnie Pothier. 

It was while he served in the U.S. Air Force, which he joined two weeks after graduating from high school, where Waterhouse said he attended a technical school and learned calibration, and developed his passion for the field.

“It’s always what I wanted to do,” he said. 

After working for other companies, he started his own business in 2010. The business was first located in his basement, then he moved it out of the house to the Pepperell Mill Campus building in Biddeford and then to its current location. 

Waterhouse said his company employes about 10 people and is looking for a few more employees who have the right skill set to work in this niche field.

Calibration is the determination of an exact measurement. L.A.W. Calibration conducts measurements in a variety of areas including temperature, electrical wattage and mass.

Nancy Strojny, chairwoman of Portland SCORE, praised Waterhouse for his “breadth of service,” and said he does work that businesses often contract out-of-state for.

The company offers a wide range of services using state-of-the-art equipment unique to the region and is able to compute down to fractions of measurement so small they may seem trivial to the average person, but are essential when precision matters.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].