Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Gilchrist-Haltom, Don, Paxton, and the late Sharon Gilchrist.
Door Control Services, Inc. has installed and serviced automatic and manual doors since 1973. We are proud of our reputation as the industry leader and strive to maintain that role by providing the best possible service and products to our customers. Each of our service technicians are trained to diagnose and repair every component in any automatic and manual door system. We have worked to build the most comprehensive door service company in the industry. Over ninety-five technicians and sales representative receive extensive training in order to maximize the safety and performance of every door system.
Founder Don Gilchrist was born in Grand Saline, Texas, and was raised in Ben Wheeler, Texas. After graduating high school and attending one year of college for petroleum engineering, he had his first opportunity by working for fellow Ben Wheeler resident, Lee Pyle who was looking for a partner to help him service manual doors. As Don assisted Lee, the plan was made for Lee to sell his door service business, Lee’s Door Service to Don when he retired.
For the first year, the two would load their truck with all the tools and parts needed, which also had a bunk and a cot that they slept on during the week until they came home on Friday. Lee unexpectedly became ill and could no longer travel, so both agreed that Don would buy him out, which was much earlier than expected. So in 1973, Don purchased Lee’s company for $10,880, then named it Door Control Services.
Luck was on his side when Don’s first automatic door repair came from a Safeway store in Tyler, Texas to repair a Stanley floor unit. By focusing on a door that was functioning, he was able to figure out the problem and have it repaired. That store manager shared with other store managers about Don’s new talent for fixing automatic doors, which Don vouches, “I got lucky and fixed it.” Soon he was servicing the automatic sliding and swinging doors for all the Safeway’s in East Texas. He then started passing out business cards and gained new customers such as Brookshire’s and many other chain stores. About the same time he met his wife, Sharon Lee Burnop of Tyler, who became his lifelong business partner. He credits his business taking off due to her working with him and handling all the billing and invoicing.
In 1981, as his company grew, Don hired his first full-time employee, Bob Burnop (Sharon’s father), and later Door Control Services became incorporated. In 1986, the company continued to grow and Don added three more full-time employees. Originally, the company was based in Tyler, Texas but in 1988, Don secured a loan and moved the business back to his hometown of Ben Wheeler, TX. Being further west allowed the company to be closer to customers in the Dallas market and throughout Texas. At that time, customers included Winn Dixie, Minyard’s and Baylor Hospital, which allowed them to start performing new installations in addition to service and repair. They then established a location for technicians in the DFW area, and also expanded the business to include a rebuilding operation. Don said, “This is the ultimate in green programs.” Rather than throw parts away, they would tear down the gearboxes, motors and controls and rebuild all those components. This was a great way to save money and do their own repair work, and later door companies asked to buy these rebuilt parts.
From a tiny 1,600-square-foot space in Tyler, Door Control Services’ operations is now 21,000 square feet of office and warehouse space. They’ve also acquired other locations in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Houston, Lubbock and Puerto Rico. The company has grown from a one-man-truck business to now more than 200 full-time employees, including over 100 service technicians that cover Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Puerto Rico. Door Control Services along with Door Controls USA, also boasts an annual sales of over $70 million, which isn’t bad for a little business that only grossed $17,000 the first year. Don’s pride is mostly acknowledging the employees and all they have accomplished together. He notes, “I believe we have the finest people in the country working here.” “We hire more on attitude than on education. A good attitude wins every time.”
This small town company grew into the industry leader earning several awards, such as: ‘Most Improved Performance’ from Besam, who was one of the major door manufacturers at the time. Since 1991, DCS has been a top Besam Distributor. (1991 – 1st place, 1992 – 4th place, 1993 – 5th place, 1994 – 4th place, 1996 – 3rd place, 1997-1st place, 1998 – 1st place, and 1999 – 2nd place).
In 1996, DCS started winning the ‘Top 10 Customer Award’ from BEA Sensors. That winning streak continued into 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003. By 2001, they secured 70 Food Lion stores to install automatic doors and by 2002 had reached $10 million in sales. In 2001, 2002 and 2004, BEA Sensors also recognized DCS with their “Pursuit of Excellence Blue Diamond Award” for their top selling performance with their Wizard System. In 2003, DCS won the $1 Million Distributor Award from Horton Automatics. 2004 BEA Sensors presented the “Pursuit of Excellence Blue Diamond Award” for DCS’s top selling performance with their Parallax System. From Outstanding Customer Support Award from All American Automatic Door Services, Record Automatic Door Awards, to receiving BEA’s Blue Diamond Awards, we take pride in our customer service and products.
In 2007, we hit $25 Million in sales and in 2012, $33 million! In 2013 we celebrated 40 years of opening doors and crossed the 300 employee threshold. With the growth of the company and the need for service, we added on the overhead door and dock department. In 2015, Door Control Services, Inc. split into two different companies, Door Control Services and Door Controls USA, Inc.
Over time Door Control Services has been fortunate to acquire companies such as Access Systems and A1 Automatic. Our most recent acquisition in 2016 was of Universal Automatic Doors of Texas, Inc. of Floresville, Texas, which is now our southwest office.
Door Controls USA
In 1995, Door Controls was established for wholesale of selling parts to other door service companies and giving them an alternative to the existing pattern of remanufacturing and sourcing of parts. Realizing the challenges that the service providers encountered, Door Controls provided faster turnaround, more offerings, better variety, and a greater value. Within a year, Door Controls reached $5 million in sales and also began rebuilding automatic operators and controls, which allowed service companies to help their customers save money.
With Door Controls, innovation was key to its growth. In 2003, they developed the DC One operator which allowed technicians to replace and retrofit other brand operators of sliding doors. The first one was sold in 2003 in a small grocery store in Jewitt, TX. To this day the door is still in place and functioning. In addition to parts, the company also has a state-of-the-art training facility, and it has evolved to be the largest door training school in the United States with over 70 different automatic revolving, swinging and sliding doors. We offer three different classes, Quick Start Level 1, Quick Start Level 2 and Revolver Door training several times a year. The Quick Start classes teach the basics of repair as well as an inspector certification class with the American Association for Automatic Door Manufacturers.
In 2014 Door Controls incorporated the remanufacturing portion of the company then in 2015, Door Control Services, Inc. split into two different companies, Door Control Services and Door Controls USA. In the fall of 2016, Don sold Door Controls USA to children Paxton Gilchrist and Summer Gilchrist-Haltom. Paxton has had significant experience in the parts and manufacturing areas and has done an outstanding job of managing and growing the machine shop. He had expanded his role and responsibilities into the other areas of Door Controls USA manufacturing and operations and as such was promoted to the position of Vice President of Operations. Summer had been active with Door Controls USA since early childhood and has a unique insight into the sales and marketing side of the business by creating new opportunities and aggressively moving the company towards new business goals. She has also expanded her areas of responsibility into the business generation side and assumes the role of Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In July 2017, owners, Paxton & Summer purchased T & D Machine Works, LLC out of Forney, Texas to add to Door Controls USA production needs. The purchase of T & D Machine Works allows Door Controls USA to be able to bring about 75 manufactured small parts in-house.
Currently, Door Controls USA boasts 91,870 square feet of office and warehouse space and another warehouse location with employees in Monroe, North Carolina. With 140 full-time employees, the business keeps growing. Currently this company sells automatic and manual door parts in USA, Canada and Mexico.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a business is always a struggle, especially when some doors were types that you may have never worked on before. Don was asked in the beginning to work on an automatic door at a local grocer that was in much need of repair. You can imagine that when a door on a business is down, it makes it difficult for businesses to allow customers in and out. After much investigation, trial and error, he found that he had a knack for fixing just about anything that came his way.
Don Gilchrist always made sure he serviced on a door until it was in top-notch working condition. Sometimes jobs would take him far away, so he made sure he was able to be on location until the job was done. His old International Loadstar CO 1600 truck got him through many tough times allowing him a place to work and to live while he was away from home. Times were even tougher after he met his wife Sharon, and together they worked to build a great business and a large family.
Challenges have also been great by new owners of Door Controls USA, Summer and Paxton in 2016. Not soon after their purchase of the business, in 2017 they acquired T & D Machine Works out of Forney, Texas, which allowed allows Door Controls USA to be able to bring about 75 manufactured small parts in house.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Door Control Services and Door Controls USA story. Tell us more about the business.
Door Control Services
Door Control Services installs and services automatic, manual and overhead doors and dock equipment. We specialize in emergency repair, available 24/7/365 and all technicians are AAADM Certified. “We are absolutely on call 24 hours a day,” touts Don Gilchrist, and says that’s what he believes has set his business apart from the others. There are many companies that are only open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but that’s not really helpful to the grocery or department store manager who has an issue in the middle of the night or on a weekend. If they have a problem, most want it repaired immediately, and Door Control Services is at their service – anytime.
We are mostly known for our automatic, manual and overhead door installation and repair. We pride ourselves with our fast, expert service and our ability to service any door in the state of Texas. We also have service technicians available in Arkansas, Louisiana and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. We are most proud of our people and the quality work they do every day for our customers. Our mission is to provide our customers with the convenience expected from their automatic or manual doors while maintaining the latest safety standards that their patrons deserve. All of our 100+ technicians are AAADM (American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers) certified, trained on all makes and models, and drive fully stocked vans to cut down on costly return trips.
Door Controls USA
Door Controls USA has been committed to providing our customers with the most comprehensive stock of replacement door parts in the industry. Our rigorous quality control process insures that your replacement part meets or exceeds original equipment manufacturers’ specifications. Our parts department is staffed with knowledgeable sales representatives from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, because we want you to be able to service your customer as quickly as possible. And for those times when your service technician needs a little help working through a challenging installation issue, our technical support personnel are available 24/7/365 to help guide them. Available, reliable, economical and innovative–Door Controls USA, Inc. is your one-stop shop for all your automatic and manual door replacement parts.
Both companies hold an annual golf tournament every year that is open to employees, customers and vendors to help raise money for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
Contact Info:
- Address: 321 VZ County Road 4500, Ben Wheeler, TX 75754
- Website: http://www.doorcontrolservices.com/ and https://www.doorcontrolsusa.com
- Phone: DCS – (Sales) 800-356-2025 (Service) 888-833-7857 and DCU – 800-437-3667
- Email: DCS – service@doorcontrolservices.com and DCU – parts@doorcontrolsusa.com
- Facebook: @doorcontrolservices and @doorcontrolsusa
- Twitter: @DoorControlServ and @DoorControlsUSA
Image Credit:
Door Control Services and Door Controls USA
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