“He says he’s semi-retired but he still comes in every day and just kind of does whatever we need help with,” he said. Two other sons, Ron and Greg, serve as vice presidents.
Located at 4840 Oxford State Road, Middletown, Simpson Fence sells wooden, vinyl, aluminum and iron fencing for commercial and residential customers. Commercially they have supplied and installed electric gates for General Motors and AK Steel Corp. and are a major supplier of electric gates for area storage facilities. Simpson Fence deals with area homebuilders, too, providing iron and vinyl fencing for entire subdivisions.
“The maintenance-free fence of vinyl and aluminum, they’ve become more popular in the last few years,” said David Simpson, who joined the business in 1977. “We’re doing more and more of them and we do a lot of what we call ‘Kentucky board fence.’ A lot of customers are going to that to keep the dogs or the kids in the yard.”
Simpson Fence sees totals sales of more than $1 million each year, has eight employees on its payroll and subcontracts between six and eight people, Simpson said.
The business can be found online at simpsonfence.com.
Q: What are the major goals Simpson Fence is working on and how is it working to achieve them?
A: "It's really just trying to keep the sales going in the tough economy, basically, trying to be competitive and keep the sales figures going just so we can survive. We were affected like everybody else with the economy. Mainly between '08 and '09, we saw a pretty drastic drop in sales. Since then, we've been looking at ways to cut our overhead and trim costs, stay competitive and keep the sales going to cover our overhead."
Q: How has the company retooled itself to survive during these tough economic times?
A: "We had to ... trim some costs and overhead in various ways. That was kind of it. We probably trimmed a couple of jobs and within the past few years we probably trimmed a few jobs with some other expenses that we had to cut back on."
Q: Where do you see the company headed in terms of growth in five years?
A: "I'm trying to be a little optimistic in the hope we are on a slow, steady progression of getting back to where we were. I hope to increase sales by at least five percent each year. From '08 to '09, our sales dropped probably 35 percent. We do residential and commercial both. Most of that (revenue loss) was on the residential side. Commercial seems to be moving along, but not quite like it was back before '08."
Q: What tip would you give to those starting out in business?
A: "I would probably have to say use the best quality products and get the best people you can to work for you. It's real important to have people who work for you who you can depend on to do a good job. That's huge."
Q: What's something you offer to customers that distinguishes you from similar businesses?
A: "We have a nice big facility that has an office and showroom. A lot of our competition doesn't have that. There's guys working out of their house or garage. We have a nice website that has pictures and a lot of information on it. The big thing is our many years of experience. We do have a reputation of using good products and building a good fence that is going to last and backing it up.
“Also, we’re open year-round. There are some part-time guys out there that if you have a problem with your fence and gate in the middle of winter, you can’t find them.”
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