As the year comes to an end, I’ve been thinking about how much has changed in the last few years and how we’ve worked so hard to return to our roots as gracefully as possible. Many of you remember days when we had employees and trucks running everywhere and projects going all over the place. While it was a great time for business, the COVID situation showed us that we really needed to get down to basics.
We’ve made a lot of changes in the last four years, and I’m sure it’s been interesting for you all to understand whether those changes are beneficial to our customers as we’ve implemented them. In short, I would like to say I believe so, and I hope so. We’ve gone to great lengths to streamline our processes and work in ways that have actually made us better and more efficient. We’ve spent 2025 proving the changes are working for our customers. We’re keeping projects manageable and quality high, while keeping costs low.
The last two years in particular have brought the most beneficial changes and we’re in a great position for 2026. Our customers and suppliers are incredibly supportive and the momentum is building. We are positioned better than at any time post-COVID.
A lot of people ask “what we do” now. The answer is simple, with a twist. We do the same things we’ve always done, only better. We do mobile welding, structural steel, commercial overhead doors, and aircraft hangar doors. We work on industrial equipment, construction equipment, and anything else that might come up.
The best thing about “getting back to basics” is, we’ve been able to get back to solving problems, helping people answer complicated questions, and implementing the answers. Those of you who remember the early days, you remember that was our mantra….“The Problem Solvers.” I’m here to firmly say, we’re absolutely back in the problem solving business, and we solve those problems with a smile!
Many thanks to all who have been so supportive over the years! Your encouragement has made the difference for us over and over.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas, whether you celebrate Christmas or not (you know you’re still allowed to have a good day)! Let’s celebrate the New Year and talk about how we can solve your problems!
Much love to you all,
Gary, Charlene, Adrienne, and Janet
Dynamic Custom Services installs and repairs aircraft hangar doors throughout the state of Michigan
Why is American Steel (and other metals) important? This subject has come up from weird angles this year, mostly from the standpoint of tariffs and politics. While it’s true that American jobs (which equate to actual real people and families) are at stake, this subject goes incredibly deeper. I’d like to take you a little further into this situation, in hopes you’ll understand how much is at stake every day.
In the late 1800’s, the American railway system was being built. Steel mills were coming of age and were crucial to these railways. Steel was truly hot, and quality control was truly nowhere to be seen. One length of rail could be made of completely different metals, and have different shapes and dimensions from other rails. Slag and other contaminants could render a mile of rail completely useless. It was expensive to haul these rails across the country, only to have a train derail and wreck and entire section of rail line. Something had to change.
Enter the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)! They were created to develop standards for the manufacturing of basic materials, like steel, aluminum, bolts, plastics, etc. These standards were (and still are) used to verify that various materials meet real standards of quality, composition, measurements, shapes, etc. American steel mills signed onto this regimen, and have continued to do so ever since.
As time went on and electric arc welding became a more mature process, an entire organization called American Welding Society (AWS) was born. AWS develops welding materials and processes that work perfectly with materials specified by ASTM. This relationship is very crucial, because welding materials need to have a metallurgical composition that is similar to the base metals. If the metallurgy isn’t right, then the metals can’t be successfully welded.
I’ve welded my whole life, and my dad always told me how important metallurgy is. I dabbled to know a little here and there, but it hit me in the face (literally) several years ago: We worked on a building that was being constructed of beams made in Lithuania. The engineers wanted angle welded to those beams so building steel could be hung from them. Seems like an easy project, right?
Well, not exactly. Those Lithuanian beams were metallurgically inferior and incompatible with American (AWS specified) welding rod. The case was so bad that we could weld just fine for 4 or 5 inches, then hit a pocket of impurities, and the whole thing would blow up in our faces leaving a big crater that then had to be filled in order to continue welding.
What happened here? After we took a sample piece of the beam steel to a testing facility, we were informed that the steel “mostly” met ASTM standards, but had pockets of impurities so severe that all of the beams had to be tested, and quite a few of them replaced. Also, the Lithuanian steel did not meet ASTM standards exactly, which meant it was not metallurgically compatible with American (AWS Specified) welding materials. As a result, quite a few of the beams had to be reinforced in order to leave them in service. The cost of performing the project was suddenly 100 times higher than projections, just because the steel was questionable.
Yes, Canadian steel does mostly align with American standards. Canadian materials are specified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), with welding materials specified by the Canadian Welding Board (CWB). You’ll hear that Canadian materials and welding standards are more stringent than American standards, which is possibly true in some ways. However, materials made under those standards aren’t guaranteed to be compatible with American materials. There’s a huge risk of disconnect, and it does occasionally happen, especially under conditions where there is less control of processes and quality.
An example where this has occurred recently with aluminum is a recent all terrain manlift I worked on. It was made in Germany with German Materials. I spent hours trying to get AWS specified welding rod to form a puddle and fuse with the aluminum mast material. I finally got a little “something” to happen, but it sure wasn’t a weld to call reliable. Aluminum is a very finicky material when it comes to welding. If the alloys and conditions aren’t right, a weld will be virtually impossible. Coming full circle, ASTM specified aluminum would have been more likely to be compatible with AWS specified welding rod than the German “equivalent.”
While we worry about tariffs and politics, it’s important to remember the functional side of this argument. Incompatible or inferior materials can be exponentially more expensive than any tariff.
For our parting shot, check out Dynamic Custom Services reinforcing roof joists using ASTM specified steel and AWS welding rod:
Life has plenty of paradoxes to keep us on our toes. Repair work is one of those situations. If you do a good job, it will be a long time before you see your customer again. Here’s an example:
Several years ago we took on a new client who owns over 200 doors, including aircraft hangar doors and overhead doors. When we first started working for them, the doors were in various states of disrepair with incompetent “fixes” by the previous vendor. The new contract kept us incredibly busy, with service calls happening several times a week. That one customer was bringing us enough work to keep two technicians busy.
As time went on, we gradually worked through the kinks and worked to advise our customer on the importance of preventive maintenance. It took time and effort, but we managed to turn things around. Their doors gradually became more reliable, and through reduced service calls our client was able to replace doors and/or operators that were beyond hope.
Now we are at a point where we rarely hear from them except for when preventive maintenance is due. I miss seeing the client as much as I used to, but I’m proud to say we’ve done a great job of helping them actually save money through responsible maintenance practices.
I’m a firm believer in preventive maintenance, and I’ve proven over and over that preventive maintenance done right will pay for itself exponentially. This one customer is a perfect example of how we make that happen for people.
The paradox here is, by virtue of doing good work, there are fewer service calls from this customer, so it’s important that we continuously find new customers. We’ll serve them equally well, and work ourselves out of a job over and over. It’s a continuous process that has to be acknowledged as part of life. If we’re not continuously working to find new customers, we’ll end up in a serious situation.
What’s the best marketing tool for us? Word of mouth. As we do good work, our customers and friends tell other people about our work and the money we’ve saved them. How we’ve helped them change the landscape of their businesses and enabled them to focus on their core tasks, rather than worrying about the state of their buildings and equipment.
Feel free to call us to discuss the state of your buildings and doors. We’ll find ways to make your life better and keep you focused on business!
For me, it’s been a very long winter for a lot of reasons. I feel like it has been the toughest winter in recent memory. As we move into Spring I’m hoping for good things, and one thing that’s heavy on my mind is driving safety. One of the tough events of this winter happened for almost no reason at all, but had tragic consequences. I’m not going to elaborate in this post, but I want you all to know that even the smallest situation on the road can become deadly in an instant.
As we sleep our way to work every morning, various things happen around us. There’s good weather. Bad weather. Someone in the vehicle passing us is surfing TikTok. Someone cuts you off. You cut someone off. Road rage. Look…..a squirrel! A testament of how many varying possibilities and challenges happen while we are driving, is the fact that self-driving cars are taking so long to develop. While human drivers are wildly inadequate, computers have yet to do better.
While we wait for computers to catch up, it’s important for all of us to do a better job than we do now. While technology has introduced more multitasking into our lives, it has also introduced more challenges and dangerous situations, especially on the road. An example is the fact that my motorcycle can send and receive text messages if I’m wearing a helmet with a headset. To me, this is great (but DEADLY) technology!
Almost all newer vehicles have the ability to use the power of a smart phone while going down the road. We can listen to music or podcasts, send and receive text messages, follow interactive maps to our destinations, and talk to people on the phone. The blatant truth is, every one of these capabilities is also a death defying distraction. They all take our attention away from the road.
Another essential driving skill is one you rarely hear about: RESPECT. While driving, it’s important to respect other drivers on the road, even if (in your opinion) they’re being dumb. Maybe they are being dumb. The best thing you can do is give them space to be dumb, so they don’t hurt you or someone else. It’s also important for you to not be dumb, and hope someone gives you space if you are.
A little courtesy goes a long way on the road. If you’re going slower than traffic, get out of the left lane. Be patient with the truck driver who is forced to a lower speed limit than everyone else. Remember that road rage kills people way too often, and you could be one of them!
One of the things that has always amazed me is, when you’re going south in Michigan and cross into Ohio, suddenly the road is a calmer place. Even people with Michigan plates are suddenly calm and polite. When you’re coming back north, even people with Ohio plates are suddenly disrespectful jerks like everyone else! It’s a sign that we can do better.
Final thought: While you’re driving, keep your eyes focused way ahead of the vehicle in front of you. By doing that, you’ll be surprised by events on the road less often. You’ll have fewer panic stops, and less risk of of a bad situation. Also, if you’re focused half a mile ahead, you’ll also be aware of everything happening along that half mile.
Thank you for listening. For our parting shot, check out Dynamic Custom Services performing roof joist reinforcement at a local department store:
Evolution is important in nature. Stronger, more adaptable organisms tend to thrive and move on. Weaker, less adaptable organisms tend to become extinct. The same is true in the business world. Situations arise that require adaptation, sometimes quickly. The COVID situation is a good example. In nothing flat, businesses had to make decisions to change, based on almost no information. In many cases those decisions dictated whether businesses would survive. Today we are still seeing results of decisions made in March 2020 and after.
Sometimes, smaller things happen that cause an entrepreneur to think outside the box, and see an opportunity to take their business in a new direction. I’ve done it plenty of times along the way, and will probably do it again.
A good example is an ongoing situation we’re working through. There’s a beautiful tall building with an exterior fire escape that’s pushing 100 years old. We were asked to verify condition of the fire escape and find a path to repair and maintain it. Visual inspection revealed a few things that needed attention, but what we couldn’t see was condition of the anchor bolts holding the structure onto the building.
I got in touch with several companies who do ultrasonic testing, and nobody wanted to do the testing or take the time to send me a quote. It was a frustrating few weeks, but I had to get creative in order to help our customer make wise decisions.
I finally decided we needed to figure out if we could do the work ourselves, and be able to attain reliable information quickly. It wasn’t easy, but I was able to get educated on ultrasonic testing basics, and acquire the equipment needed. We spent quite a bit of time learning the equipment, doing experimental testing, and proving to ourselves that we could do the work.
While the work itself was challenging and definitely not a perfect process, we were able to develop a consistent testing routine with reliable results. Long story short, we completed the testing, wrote a good report, and we’re now equipped to do ultrasonic testing.
This is how market conditions can encourage evolution. Who knows? Maybe this is a new direction for us. If nothing else it’s another trick up my sleeve, and as I attain higher levels of certification my confidence will grow. As most of you know, I can do anything I set my mind to, and I’ll continue to evolve.
Now that really cold weather is approaching, it has occurred to me that a lot of people aren’t prepared for it. It’s not necessarily because they don’t know or they haven’t had time. It’s more likely a “ya I know it could happen but I’m doing other things” situation.
I can honestly tell you, from my upbringing in the mountains of Colorado to my military years in Nebraska and Wyoming, not being prepared to inclement weather is a risk to your life. We can sit at home, turn the thermostat up, and make ourselves believe we’re OK, but things can change without warning, and they often do. Let’s talk about common situations a lot of people aren’t prepared for:
It’s 10 below with 30 below wind chill. There’s 18 inches of snow on the ground and your road probably won’t be plowed for 24 hours or more. You’re nice an warm in your house, watching Netflix while the kids play video games. You have a little food in the refrigerator and the electric bill has been paid, so you’re in good shape, right?
Suddenly a Chevy slides off the road and hits a power pole a mile away and knocks out power to the whole neighborhood. Without power, your TV doesn’t work. Worse yet, your furnace doesn’t work! What are you going to do?
Preparation in advance can prevent serious problems later. With a cheap little generator and a little freely accessible knowledge, you can make enough power to run your generator, refrigerator, and a couple of lights…..enough to survive if you have to. It doesn’t cost a lot, but it could save your life.
Next scenario: You own a diesel vehicle. You filled up the tank before the cold snap, and it’s the middle of the night. Nobody is out on the roads, but you have to go check on Grandma. You left without a coat because the heater in your vehicle works really well. You’re out in the middle of nowhere when the engine dies as if it’s out of fuel. Now you have no motion, no way to stay warm. There’s no cell phone service where you are. The clock is ticking.
Again, preparation in advance could save your life. Packing a winter survival kit is cheap and easy and doesn’t take up a lot of space in your vehicle. One thing few people who own diesels think of, is Diesel 911 (or similar). When diesel gets cold it turns to gelatin and becomes so thick a fuel pump can’t pump it. It can happen going down the road, even with a newer vehicle. Worse yet, some gas stations will wait until absolutely necessary to buy “winter blend” fuel, which has anti-gel additives. If you had Diesel 911 in your vehicle, you could pour some in your fuel tank, wait 5-10 minutes, start your vehicle, and keep driving. I’ve done it and it works great….potentially life-saving!
However continuously using Diesel 911 or similar additives could do damage to your engine. Use in case of emergency ONLY.
3rd scenario: You’re driving to check on Grandma. You round a curve and slide off the road, landing in the trees where nobody can see you from the road. The vehicle won’t start, but at least you have enough supplies to survive a few hours. However your cell phone battery is almost dead. Before you call for help, it might be a good idea to change your voicemail message to give your location. That way if the call for help gets dropped anyone trying to call your phone will know your location whether your phone works or not!
I hope these tips are useful to you, and I hope you never need them! None of us will know if you’ll need them until it’s too late, so please be prepared for the worst and hope it never happens!
For our parting shot, check out Adrienne dressed for the weather as we repair a hangar door:
Dynamic Custom Services performs shop fabrication and can ship anywhere in the country! This steel for a commercial door opening in a block wall is on its way to Georgia!
When you’re in the service business, meaning you serve people when their needs arise, a lot of times their needs don’t arise when it’s convenient. Sometimes you can initiate a “temporary fix,” and other times you’re stuck with doing it right when the moment is very inconvenient.
Very early in my military career I learned to always be ready for those inconvenient times, and there have been very few instances where I didn’t at least have a contingency plan in place. I’ve learned to know my customers’ needs, and make sure I could engage a worst case scenario fully prepared.
A typical case began about 5 weeks ago. A truck hit a VERY expensive high performance door at an ambulance facility we’re responsible for. We immediately gathered tools and equipment, and went to assess the problem. After a couple of hours of bending this, straightening that, and programming the door’s computer to be more tolerant of questionable conditions, we managed to make it so the door could be opened in an emergency, and verified the other identical door was going to be fully operational until the manufacturer could send us a new curtain, hardware, and seals. We provided the building owners with instructions as to how to open the broken door in an emergency, and got replacement parts on order.
When replacement parts came in, we reminded ourselves that getting that door operational is a high priority, because if an ambulance can’t get out of that building then someone’s life will be at stake. We got materials and equipment on site that day, which was a Friday, and proceeded to do major surgery on the door the next morning.
Given the complexity of changing a high performance door curtain, especially when it weighs 2200 lbs., there was serious concern about safety, keeping the paint pristine, etc. It was very stressful, but by the end of the day there was a beautiful new door curtain in place, and the door was fully operational, on a Saturday afternoon! The EMT’s literally applauded us and cheered “Many thanks!”
What’s the lesson here? Even if problems can’t be solved overnight, they’re still a priority. Dynamic Custom Services takes pride in our ability to solve problems, and we take EVERY problem seriously!
Call us at 810-522-9002 or reach out using our contact page!
#commercial overhead doors #rollup doors #garage door repair #emergency service
During my adult life I’ve operated quite a few different businesses. When I was in the Air Force I always had a “side business,” repairing vehicles, welding, repairing computers, building web sites, building internet kiosks (remember that 5 minutes when they were popular?), you name it. After retiring from military life, I only made it a couple of years before I felt the need to be back in business, in charge of my own destiny.
I grew up in a business environment. My parents always had (and still have) various businesses going. It’s really hard to me to think of life in a different way. Yes, I loved my military career, but it was the freedom and challenge of making money other ways that kept me going.
Business hasn’t always been easy and it hasn’t always been fun. Yes, I’ve gotten my butt kicked a few hundred times. On the flip side it’s very gratifying to develop a good relationship with a customer, do a good job for them, and of course make money doing it.
Since we started Dynamic Custom Services, I’ve had quite a few people ask me “Why?”, and “What’s different?” The big WHY is, COVID brought a lot of changes to the business environment, and the construction world in general. Those changes forced us to rethink what’s important, and how to serve the best customers using our best talents. Dynamic Custom Services is our way of doing that.
So what’s different from the past businesses? Everything and nothing all at once. Dynamic Custom Services is more focused than past businesses, and it’s back to being reliant on “mostly me” for the labor/technical side. With Charlene working marketing and management, Adrienne and I can focus directly on serving customers. As the business grows, we’ll be very cautious about who we hire and make absolutely sure they will fit into our team, both talent-wise, and customer service-wise.
While Dynamic Custom Services is primarily focused on exterior access, like overhead doors, architectural fences, gates, access controls, industrial fabrication, metal building repairs, etc., our primary focus is on serving old customers in new ways. We have a lot to offer, and of course we need to have a million conversations with people we’ve known a long time.
Long story short, if you know us and you need help with something, let’s talk about whether your need fits our new business. Odds are good we can help you, and if we can’t we can help you figure out who can.
We’re very optimistic about the future of Dynamic Custom Services! Give us a call at 810-522-9002 or fill out our contact form so we can help you with your future!
Last Friday I was woken up at 3:30 AM. An ambulance door had broken a cable and wasn’t operable. Of course, that’s not a situation that can typically wait a week to address, so I drug myself out of bed and went to take care of it. That’s NOT where I’m going with this story:
We do a lot of work in support of first responders. We perform maintenance on overhead doors, exterior access doors, aircraft hangar doors, and almost anything else first responders need. We even work on jail cell doors and security gates from time to time! When you think about the importance of a simple door or gate, the conversation becomes critical when it comes to first response. Here’s why:
If the door in question had broken with the ambulance inside the building, and you’re Facebooking your way to work while eating a donut….happen to cut off a semi truck and get smacked….Is that door going to mean the difference between life and death for you or the semi truck driver?
There are things in this world that are easy to ignore. One of them is an ambulance sitting there waiting for you to have a bad day is supported by a whole team of people you’ll probably never meet. At the same time, their focus is on making sure that if you get into a situation they will be able to get you out of it!
Those people procure and maintain the ambulances, make sure medical equipment and supplies are in them. They build and maintain entire buildings and make sure there’s power and heat to keep everything perfect when you’re at your least perfect moment.
They maintain and fly helicopters and airplanes in case you need to be airlifted to a hospital or need an organ transplant. They spend countless hours making sure that fire truck is ready and they are fully trained for you to have a bad day.
They make sure that police car has had it’s oil changed on time, tires rotated and balanced, and it’s equipped to perform a million different tasks.
Yes, we maintain doors and gates and repair the buildings. We’re a very small part of a HUGE team of people who are diligently working to make your day less crappy, and hopefully help you live to see a better day.
Next time you’re rolling down the freeway and have to pull over to let a fire truck and 2 ambulances pass, please put your phone down and be thankful and in awe of the huge effort it has taken for your day to be slightly inconvenienced. THEN, when you get to the scene, make sure you slow down and give first responders room to safely do their jobs!
….And of course it’s important to call Dynamic Custom Services so we can be part of your team too!
