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Great Garage Doors Open 30 Years of Company Growth
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Sam Ciminero points to stacks of folded steel garage doors, all packaged and ready to move out should they be needed to serve someone in a pinch.
“We’re one of those unique companies that actually stocks doors,” says the owner of Great Garage Doors Inc., which this year celebrates 30 years in business. “This way we can give better service, especially in the winter months.”
Sales are the best they’ve ever been, Ciminero relates, for the Youngstown-based company that has operated from its site on Andrews Avenue a quarter century. Key to that success is the ability of Great Garage Doors staff to deliver product on time, and when there’s an emergency, often the same day, he says.
“We have on hand at all times anywhere from 200 to 300 doors in stock,” Ciminero says, which gives the company the ability to respond quickly should a customer require a replacement door immediately. “Say you have an accident. The last thing you want to hear is that your door will be there in two weeks,” he says.
Today, Great Garage Doors employs 12 and is a distributor of Haas garage doors and LiftMaster openers, Ciminero says. “We have five trucks on the road, and most of our guys have been with us 25 and 30 years.”
Business is good, Ciminero relates, noting that 2014 should end as the strongest sales year in a decade. “Our guys in the field are very experienced,” he says, “and we seem to be getting a bigger piece of the pie every year.”
One employee is Bill Pekkanen, who on this day is busy installing a garage opener where a house is being built in Canfield.
“I think these are the last ones made in the U.S.,” Pekkanen says, as he points to an opener suspended from the garage ceiling. “These usually take between one and two hours to install. It depends on what you’re getting into.”
Pekkanen, an installer 28 years at Great Garage, confirms business is steady for the company – most of that work derived from replacement orders and not new construction. “I think I’m the longest-serving employee,” he reports, as he puts the finishing touches on safety beams installed at the base of the garage bay.
Ciminero says all of Great Garage Doors’ products are made in the United States and residential work commands most of his company’s business. “Commercial is pretty stagnant,” he says, “so we don’t do a lot of it. It’s residential, mostly.”
On average, replacing an old door with a new one takes about four hours, Ciminero says. “Our market is mostly Trumbull and Mahoning counties in order to keep it close for our drivers,” he relates. The company is also kept busy with repair work in the region.
Doors today are made of steel and come equipped with safety features that weren’t standard when Ciminero started in the business 44 years ago. Back then, garage doors were made mostly of wood, but over the last 20 years, manufacturers’ preferred material has been insulated steel.
New safety measures have also changed the industry over the last two decades, Ciminero adds. Older door-extension springs, for example, had a tendency to snap when put under high tension and be propelled at high velocities. “We’ve seen old springs where they’ve broken and shot right through the partition wall into the kitchen,” he recalls. “Unless there was a safety cable through them, they could hit you or damage your car.”
Great Garage installs torsion springs on its doors and each spring is calibrated to a specific door size and shape. “We sell zero of these over the counter,” Ciminero says, “Most people want these to be done by experienced installers. These are 100% safe now.”
Electric door openers have undergone safety overhauls over the past 20 years as well, Ciminero says. The last big change came in 1993 when the federal government mandated that all door openers come equipped with sensors mounted at the bases of garage door rails. The invisible beams the sensors emit can detect an object, such as a pet, in the path of the door, and prevent that door from closing.
“In the old days, the door would have to hit something, and if it were adjusted properly, it would lift back up,” he explains. If it wasn’t adjusted right, the door would continue pushing down and could cause injury or, in some severe cases, death.
The company remains busy replacing many of those older openers, some dating back to the 1970s and early 1980s, with new LiftMaster models. “It’s the Cadillac of the industry,” he says.
Ciminero has found that consumers do their homework before they purchase a new garage door. “We naturally say that you should look at the company that you’re buying it from,” he says. “Check them out.”
Second, do research on the product itself to ensure it matches your needs. “With the Internet, most people do that.”
For Ciminero, doing a good job means repeat business, noting that word-of-mouth has generated much of Great Garage Door’s growth.
“It’s mostly through referrals,” he says. “We have experienced installers and our doors are all-American steel, located right here in Ohio. We’re pretty proud of that.”
Pictured: Sam Ciminero, owner of Great Garage Doors.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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