Richmond Alarm consolidates operations

MIDLOTHIAN, Va.—Wayne Boggs says his company, Richmond Alarm Company, is ready for future growth with an almost completed move from four different offices in three different locations in downtown Richmond into a much larger, single building on a 4.5-acre lot, based here.

“The last two years we've seen a decline in sales. We've seen that improve a little bit in the last few months. It's a slow recovery so far, but we have a huge customer base and a huge monitoring base,” Boggs said. “We purchased the new building back in February, and have been moving our operation from three different locations around Richmond into this new single facility since June 1. The last piece is the monitoring center … This place is three times bigger than we need. We can certainly stay here as long as we want to.”

What were the drivers for the move?

“About a year ago we realized we were in an unusual position. We had made an acquisition in December of 2006 of a very large company. That loan was going to be paid off in the first quarter of 2010, which was going to free a huge amount of cash in 2010,” Boggs said. “So we were either going to pay a ton of income taxes or invest it in property … Who was it who said, 'Opportunity shines on the prepared mind?' Regardless of whether it was Ben Franklin or Napoleon, we've been looking to move for maybe 20 years.”

Boggs expects to move to the monitoring center in late October. “When we move, we're changing telephone carriers and we're also doing some computer infrastructure upgrades. So it's more than just moving the physical pieces,” Boggs said.

Boggs said the new space—a former manufacturing facility—was all steel and concrete and required very little rehabbing to meet UL specifications. Furthermore, he felt RAC's new address was a good investment. “We opened in 1947 … This is the first building in 63 years we've actually owned,” Boggs said. “I have a 30,000-square-foot building that was built for $3 million and which I bought it for $1.9 million … I think that's a pretty good deal.”