Midwest finds success in construction market
By Martha Entwistle
Updated Thu October 27, 2005
DES MOINES, Iowa--Growing at a rate of 20 percent per year for the past five years has earned Midwest Alarm Service special recognition from Notifier Fire Systems, a division of Honeywell, at the distributors' annual conference earlier this month.
Midwest Alarm does much of its business in the construction market, said Dustin Smyth, president of the company. Ninety percent of his business is fire, but the company does do some CCTV, access control and other security work, he said.
Smyth credits his success to great employees and a simple business model.
"We sell the parts and we sell the smarts--we get the systems certified, programmed, tested and ready for the fire marshal," he explained. The firm also monitors most of its work. Installations are taken care of by electrical contractors, he said. The construction industry is booming in many parts of Iowa, he said.
In 1998, when Smyth came onboard, the company had six employees. It now has 23 employees and three offices located here, in Cedar Rapids and in Davenport, Iowa. They also have two remote offices, with one employee each, in Wausau and Eau Claire, Wis.
Midwest received a "diamond distributor" award at the Oct 11 conference.
Midwest Alarm has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Per Mar Security Services of Davenport, Iowa since 1998. In business since 1953, Per Mar Security Services is a full-service security company with offices throughout the Midwest.
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