STAMPSCO again one of Oklahoma City's fastest-growing companies

OKLAHOMA CITY—With 60 percent revenue growth last year, several large-scale projects under way and a hiring increase, it's really not surprising that STAMPSCO has been named one of this city's top 50 fastest-growing companies. And this marks the second time in a row that the fire and life safety company has won such recognition.

What's the secret of the company's success? “Nothing really very magical, except for a great team doing lots of work,” company President and CEO Rodney Stamps told Security Systems News.

STAMPSCO recently was announced as one of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce's annual Metro 50 winners. The award honors the city's 50 fastest-growing, privately owned companies each year. Companies must have revenues of at least $1 million during the previous year to qualify. The companies will learn their ranking at an awards dinner Sept. 24. The ranking is based on their percentage of annual growth. Last year, STAMPSCO ranked 28th.

STAMPSCO's revenues exceed $2 million and growth from 2010 to 2011 was 60 percent, Stamps told SSN.

Stamps and his wife, Paige Stamps, now STAMPSCO's executive VP, started the company nearly 10 years ago with some tools and a truck. Today, STAMPSCO provides fire, life safety, mass notification and security services throughout Oklahoma in the government, education, health care, and commercial verticals.

Stamps said one key to the company's success is “finding good people, the right people.”

Both he and his wife are NICET-certified and they strongly urge their staff to get such training. “We're hiring all the time,” Stamps said. “We're looking for NICET-certified techs.” The company now has 20 employees, an increase of three from last year at this time.

Also, Stamps said, the Gamewell-FCI by Honeywell distributor has “taken on several larger projects than we did the previous year.”

For example, he said, STAMPSCO is involved in an approximately $2 million fire and mass notification project at Tinker Air Force Base, located near Oklahoma City. The work is being done in Tinker 3001, a massive aircraft hangar that at one point was one of the world's longest buildings.

Stamps said the project has included many challenges, “but the biggest that comes to mind is working over the airplanes.”

“You can't work over an airplane with a lift, so we had to custom-design a net to fit around the lift,” he explained. “Once the Air Force approved the design, we were able to work so that if anything fell it wouldn't hit the aircraft. I think the penalty for something falling and hitting the aircraft was something like $45,000, so we weren't going to let that happen, not once.”

STAMPSCO also is in the process of installing a fire alarm system for Hobby Lobby as it expands its corporate campus. The nationwide chain of arts and crafts stores is headquartered in Oklahoma City and is building additions that total more than 2 million square feet, Stamps said.

He said STAMPSCO aggressively markets itself but in a personal way. “A lot of our marketing is social media. We don't do TV or radio, a lot of our contact is personal contact. We're constantly trying to stay in front of customers and getting those referrals, and that really builds the company on a  continual basis,” Stamps said.