7/10/09
Everywhere I turn, people are talking about the horrible state of the economy. And while we have all certainly felt the economic pains of the recent months, I can’t help but to think towards the brighter days of the future.
For 30 years now, our company has dedicated itself to bringing the simplest in docking and lifting alternatives to our customers through the offering of Jetfloat modular dock products. It’d be easy enough just to be satisfied with our business model as it was…after all, that model has been good to us for three decades. But we’ve never been a group willing to just settle for “good enough.”
So during this latest economic downturn, during the slower months of this past winter, we began studying on how we can better serve our customers. We wanted to be ready to grow when things, like they inevitably always do, turned around. So we sat down and reviewed the jobs over the past year that we had to walk away from because we were not confident that we could leave that jobsite with a satisfied customer.
What we learned was that there were two markets that we were unable to effectively serve: personal watercraft and larger boats.
On the PWC side of things, we had a great PWC lift, but were unable to build it in such a way that we could bring it to market and be cost competitive with it.
On the large boat side of things, we were lifting larger twin engine center consoles, but like the PWC, to lift the boat effectively, we were pricing ourselves out of the market.
Well, one cold morning during April, I had a chance to meet with the owner, vice president, and marketing director of a company out of Charleston, SC, called Carolina Waterworks.
To make a long story short, I had finally found it: A product line that would help meet my objectives, manufactured by a company that was run by a group of people I instantly connected with on a personal level.
We are proud to be the newest distributors of Safe Haven Boat Lifts by Carolina Waterworks. These products offer the ultimate in simplicity and durability at an extremely good price. In addition, they meet our extremely limiting requirements of being a product that is absolutely friendly to our fragile marine environments, easy as pie to use, as well as safe and durable.
The Safe Haven lifts give us PWC lifts that are the easiest and most durable lift in their price range (there are cheaper lifts by other manufacturers, but our crews removed 17 of them at the request unhappy customers throughout 2008!). For about $1700, you can now have the best PWC lift available today.
In addition, we had found a product that will allow us to easily and effectively lift boats up to 32’ in length and get every square inch of them out of the water. Our company had found nirvana!
I’ve been asked if we’re planning on dropping the Jetfloat product line now that we’re dealing in Safe Haven lifts and the answer is an emphatic “Absolutely NOT!”
Jetfloat is, hands down, the best product available for floating docks, wave breaks, temporary uses, and specialty boat lifts (our flat bottom lift is, bar none, the easiest drive on dock available today for skiffs). We couldn’t do our jobs today if it weren’t for the Jetfloat product line.
Safe Haven lifts are simply enhancing our product offerings to our customers to make sure that we are bringing the ultimate in ease and convenience in drive on storage to all boaters. And because the product is environmentally friendly, made with no dangerous or harmful materials, we rest easy knowing we are bringing to market a product that will not damage the fragile marine environment that we cherish so much.
We are Southeastern Dock & Platform….THE Boat Float Company. We invite you to contact your local sales representative, or call us directly at our headquarters for more information. It is our job to ensure your satisfaction. We will work hard to do just that.
