Inside Self-Storage 6/99: DCD Services Inc.

Baskin Robbins may have 32 flavors, but how does choosing from a selection of 5,000 suit you? Such is the case if you're a self-storage owner or developer looking to erect a standard building. DCD Services Inc., a Little Rock, Ark.-based furnisher of steel packages for self-storage structures, offers as many as 5,000 standard buildings from which to choose. Take into account the company's capabilities for customized projects, and the options are seemingly limitless.

"Our desire is to furnish a self-storage building at the lowest possible price," says Danny R. Clemons, president. "And that's what we're trying to accomplish." Clemons, who has been working in the self-storage industry since 1979, began DCD Services two years ago. A national company, DCD currently completes the majority of its business in the South and Southeast, in states such as Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida.

But the company furnishes more than just buildings. In addition to providing an erection crew to fully construct each of the company's systems, DCD will consult also with clients on the layout and design of a facility. And because of the company's use of technology, customers can expect an expedient response to inquiries. "Due to the fact that we are highly computerized, we have the ability to instantly price and quickly furnish a standard building line. We do any size or type of project, but we can respond very quickly to requests for one of 5,000 different and standard buildings, and that makes us extremely economical," Clemons says. "If a customer is interested in one of the standard buildings that we offer, I can send them drawings in two days. Nobody else can do that."

While selecting a standard building proves to be extremely efficient, customized options are available. According to Clemons, "We can not only do your garden-variety buildings--meaning your standard, non-climate-controlled buildings--but we can also construct an 80-foot-wide, climate-controlled building up to 600 feet long. We can do just about any size, and it can be estimated instantly." Understandably, more customized projects require slightly more time. "If someone wants a more customized building, it takes a bit longer to do the estimating; however, we can still turn around a price in two days, no matter what they're interested in."

Future plans for DCD Services include the expansion of its building line to include multistory applications. "We have two major objectives," Clemons begins. "First, we want to respond to the customer immediately. If he calls us, we want to be able to give him a price right there on the phone, and we can do that as long as he chooses one of our standard buildings. Second, we want to be able to give our customers the best price on the market, and we believe we can do that. Being so highly computerized gives us a big advantage as far as cost, because we have very little overhead--everything is done by computer. The drafting is already done, the engineering is already done. We don't have to charge for those services."

For the self-storage owner or developer who values instant response and infinite variety, DCD Services may be the company to support the progress of your business. For more information, contact Danny Clemons at (877) 264-8838; e-mail [email protected].