Domestic Management Services focuses on details

Stephani Davis is extremely detail-oriented, and her clients say they love her for it. When-ever they need some work done at their homes, in their yards or at their businesses, they call Davis and she handles everything down to the smallest de-tail.

In 1985, Davis started a business called Domestic Manage-ment Services. Originally, the company specialized in commercial cleaning. Then some of Davis' business clients began passing her name along to individual homeowners. Before long, DMS evolved into a private-property management ser-vice.

What services does DMS provide? You name it. If a client's sink gets clogged, he can call DMS, and Davis will dispatch a plumber to fix it.

If the client doesn't have time to meet the plumber, Davis, her husband Mark or one of their six employees will do it.

Indeed, the list of services DMS is willing to provide seems endless.

These services include heating and air conditioning work, interior and exterior painting, carpentry, concrete work, gar-age door repair and replacement, appliance repair, chimney maintenance and repair, fence repair, window washing and groundskeeping.

The company also repairs and seals asphalt, cleans and repairs gutters, does exterior insulation and finish systems, roofing, new decks and deck restoration, re-models kitchens and bathrooms, and offers housekeeping services. When needed, DMS will work with insurance companies on storm and water damage.

"We take the hassles and headaches out of homeownership," said Davis. "I'm a general contractor, so that enables me to provide my clients with high-quality products, materials and services at a lower price."

Having someone else handle necessary preventive home maintenance tasks and do other household chores is a necessity for busy professionals like Kym Russell, who co-owns Russell Cellular with her husband Jeff.

Russell said it's much more cost-effective for her and her husband to let DMS handle routine household tasks and home maintenance because their time is better spent growing their business.

"It's just wonderful," said Kym Russell, who has been us-ing the company for the past year and a half. "You make one phone call, and whatever needs to be done gets done. It's just like calling a landlord, except you own your own home."

Dr. Rex Witherspoon, who has used DMS since 1993, said the company has continued to meet his changing needs. When Witherspoon was a single parent, DMS handled routine housework and did preventive home maintenance for him, which allowed him to spend more time with his children.

After his children left home, he used the company to handle "all the small things bachelors don't like to do."

Now that he's married, he's continued to use DMS so he can spend more time with his wife.

"It's the convenience that's so appealing," he said. "I don't have to know who's the best plumber, or painter or electrician in town, or worry that the job won't get done right. I leave all that to Stephani."

Not all of DMS' clients are business professionals, however. In fact, Davis said one of the biggest challenges she faces is fighting the perception that most people can't afford to use DMS.

"The more you use our service, the more you'll save," she said. "For example, a lot of people fail to maintain their central heating, air conditioning and septic systems. By the time there's a problem, it might cost anywhere between $1,500 to $3,000 to fix. If they had been using DMS, they would have paid $125 to $195 annually for system maintenance, and the problem would have been prevented."

According to Davis, most people don't keep maintenance costs in mind when they buy a home, and even new homes require routine preventive maintenance work each year. Davis stresses this when working with new clients and helps them prioritize their home improvement projects.

"I've built this business from the ground up by providing quality service to my clients, and I take things seriously," she said. "In this business, your reputation is everything."

So is confidentiality. To en-sure a client's privacy, Davis said she only puts a client's address on a work order, rather than their name.

Currently, Davis is gearing up to meet her clients' seasonal yard and garden needs.

DMS provides a wide variety of seasonal services to clients, including lawn maintenance, planting spring annuals, landscaping, leaf removal, flower bed cleanup, setup or removal of patio furniture or entry displays, hanging or removing holiday decorations and snow re-moval.

In fact, DMS is the local distributor for Kwik Melt, a liquid snow and ice removal product made by KO Manufacturing that's guaranteed to work even at 10 degrees below zero.

"We sell Kwik Melt, and we use it to remove snow and ice in front of a client's home or business," said Davis. "It doesn't track or stain carpets or lino-leum, and it's environmentally friendly. Some people buy Kwik Melt from us and spray it on equipment like backhoes and cherry pickers because it won't corrode the metal."

In addition, Davis is selling her "formula for success" to budding entrepreneurs who live in other parts of the country.

For a one-time setup fee, Davis will teach someone how to start and run their own private property management service.