The Door to His Soul
Owner of River City Doors & Hardware is passionate about each opening
Doors have so much potential in the eyes of Jesse Diaz.
Since starting his company River City Doors & Hardware (River City) in 2013, Diaz has designed and installed numerous doors of varying colors, materials, mechanical capabilities, strength and durability. Each door ordered gets his undivided attention and sparks his creativity. From influencing the design to sourcing the supplier to performing a high-quality finished installation, he enjoys it all.
To many, a door is just a door is just a door. Diaz believes, however, that doors fulfill fundamental ingress and egress functions as well as project something about the people and businesses living or working there. Perhaps the desired image is welcoming, perhaps it is foreboding. Perhaps it is classic and strong, perhaps airy or trendy.
“Sometime, people want our products whether or not they also use our labor,” he says. More than just a door installer, River City is a supplier of industry-leading doorframes and hardware, like door closures, knobs, locks, latches and security systems and windows.
River City specializes in ensuring that every door it installs is high quality, highly functional for a given space or project and, as needed, unique in style and operation. The San Antonio, Texas, company offers sales, service and installation of hollow metal doors and frames, commercial and residential wood doors, and commercial and residential door hardware.
Peeking Inside
The way Diaz achieves these goals is by working one-on-one with each customer, having good relationships with door and hardware manufacturers and maintaining a quality installation operation.
Diaz loves helping his customers achieve their door and hardware needs. He also loves a challenge. When the design or the budget or a tight deadline for installing doors is an issue, he finds even more motivation to get the job done.
He got that principle from his father: “Work hard and everything will fall into place.” His dad taught him the construction business and his uncles all owned their own businesses. They encouraged Diaz to work hard, stay focused, and learn how to start and manage his own business with integrity—so the entrepreneurial spirit is in his genes.
After working with his dad at a young age, he further built his credentials as an estimator for another door company.
According to Diaz, his father saw the potential of his son merging his craftsmanship with his creativity. When door companies just follow a cookie-cutter approach, the customer loses, he says. There are many more options and contractors that they may know to call upon. “Dad used to say, ‘If you can think of it, it can be done.’ He saw something in me I didn’t see in myself,” Diaz says. “In the door game, people have gotten stuck in the status quo. I won’t.”
Additionally, Diaz works closely with national door and hardware manufacturers such as IDN-Acme, DKS Steel Door & Frame Systems, Inc. and others. Loyalty to these manufacturers gives River City an edge in getting a better price for customers and being among the first to learn about innovations.
“We have been a hardware supplier for River City Doors & Hardware for several years,” says Kevin Thomas, branch manager with IDN-Acme. “Whenever we work on a project together, Jesse is always very knowledgeable and precise when it comes to the material he is requesting for the job. I would recommend River City Doors & Hardware to anyone that is looking for a door and hardware company that will not only meet all of their needs, but also have the knowledge to make sure the job is taken care of properly.”
His Entrance
The benefits Diaz offers customers go beyond creativity, manufacturer connections and installation at a good price. When customers call River City, they get his sole attention. He wears all the hats for his business and says that provides a clear advantage for customers.
“When you call some other door businesses, you get passed around,” he says. “With us, I’m available all the time. I travel to job sites, manage the projects and get my hands dirty when needed. Most owners don’t.” This means Diaz is completely accountable to the customer and his flattened operation delivers quicker installation—often in seven to 10 days.
This speed is important for his primary customer type: storage facilities. In San Antonio, self-storage facilities are popping up everywhere to keep up with the burgeoning population. As quickly as they are built, River City is called upon to put up the doors to “dry in” the building.
Storage facility projects demand his creativity, too. Developers want maximum security and dependability at a competitive price for the doors leading to rented spaces.
Other nonresidential customers that call upon River City are restaurants, schools, office buildings and other businesses. In fact, the company has a string of repeat customers: EMAX General Contractors; Novak Commercial Construction; ARCO Murray Construction Company; Fazzone Construction Co., Inc.; ELS Construction, Inc.; SBS Construction; and Westport Group, Inc., just to name a few.
“I have been working with River City Doors & Hardware for more than five years, and by far they are the easiest door company to work with, and trust me, I have worked with almost all of them,” says Joe Fazzone, owner of Fazzone Construction Co., Inc. “From the great customer service to the quick turn-around times and the incredibly helpful recommendations, they make it such a breeze working with them. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for doors and hardware.”
Diaz attributes this success to “treating people right and believing in what you do.”
“In looking for a walk door company a few years ago,” says Randy Ferrell, purchasing manager, EMAX General Contractors, “we needed a company that understood our needs in the storage building market, and that could supply a product that meets or exceeds the specs that were required for the projects. We found that River City Doors not only gave us a quality product, but a very accurate proposal and on-time shipments. What more could we ask for?”
Open to the Future
His latest service to the customer is a unique and rare option for matching the desired door to the customer’s home. Residential front doors can be a unique expression of the homeowner and family. Many homeowners who seek his services provide photos of other doors that have details they want for their own front door. At other times, the door requested could look as if it came off an assembly line of doors from a big-box home improvement store.
“You can drive through a neighborhood and see 50 doors that all look the same,” he says of the visible representation of residential doors in most cities and towns.
River City strives to create a unique design based on ideas from homeowners. In this way, Diaz gets to, again, let his creativity be his guide as he customizes a front door, choosing the manufacturer with the best match in materials, designs and quality for the price desired. For a one-of-a-kind result, he might suggest a different layout of the glass in the door, change up the woodwork details or suggest a different primary color.
He uses 3D printing to give the door design process this special touch. “A customer wants to see what a door looks like,” he explains. “AutoCAD is just a bunch of lines, so I thought 3D printing was a game-changer.” He produces a 6-inch by 9-inch model so the homeowner can physically see how the finished door will look.
“Ten out of 10 people are blown away by seeing an idea come to life in front of them,” he says.
Diaz treats every customer as though, together, they are at the threshold of something special. A door, after all, is not just a door. His desire to optimize the elements and aspects of each door gives him an “in” with every repeat and new customer he meets.
He says he believes there really are no impossible or undoable projects. “When people say that can’t be done, I’m the one who says ‘Hold my beer and watch this.’ ”