Keeping Garage Doors On Track
Elite Overhead Garage Doors delivers for businesses and homeowners
It’s 2 a.m. and your warehouse door won’t close.
It’s time for the local weatherman to leave home for the evening news broadcast. The spring breaks on his garage door, trapping his car inside.
A parent is running to the pharmacy to pick up an inhaler for their child; the garage door won’t open.
Now what?
Elite Overhead Garage Doors (Elite) provides garage door installation and repair, including 24-hour emergency garage door repair services, for commercial and residential properties throughout Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.
The company manages commercial and residential projects, from the smallest repair job to large industrial applications. It serves many retail locations with receiving doors and security grills, as well as large warehouses and their rolling steel doors, rolling sheet doors and fire-rated doors.
Elite also has a busy residential garage door business, serving homeowners, property management companies, house “flippers” and custom builders. With 10 employees in the field, Joshua Brown, President and CEO, calls himself the catch-all guy. “I know how to perform all of our functions and services, from dispatch to installation. I fill in everywhere,” he says.
The company’s headquarters is in Buford, Georgia, and takes care of jobs in the Atlanta area. Additional locations serve Bluffton/Hilton Head and Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina; Savannah and Valdosta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama, and soon to be in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Maintaining a Competitive Edge
The Elite team stays attuned to and offers the latest technology and best products available. “We offer the largest selection of garage doors and openers in any market,” Joshua says.
Customers are especially embracing new technology from LiftMaster —a smartphone-enabled garage door opener line. No matter where customers are, they can open and close their garage door using myQ and their smartphone. With myQ, homeowners can provide remote access to service people or visitors from anywhere, without providing a key.
Elite is a factory-authorized dealer for LiftMaster and a Master Authorized Dealer for Clopay, which has earned the Good Housekeeping Seal. “Quality lasts. We sell the best-quality garage doors manufactured,” says Melynda Brown, co-owner of Elite. The business stays current on these products, ensuring that Elite employees are always equipped with the latest information, from technical data to product literature.
Elite technicians get excited about installing modern steel doors. Pictures of completed projects are frequently posted on the Elite Facebook page. “A great job earns them bragging rights and encourages pride in the quality of our work,” Joshua says.
New garage doors from Elite include Clopay’s CANYON RIDGE® collection, modern steel designs. This series offers the look of wood with the low maintenance and high performance of insulated steel doors. “Unlike wood doors, these doors won’t require refinishing in just a few years,” Joshua explains.
Elite recently opened a showroom in the warehouse at their Buford location with full-size Clopay doors on display. Customers can touch and feel the doors and can bring samples of their shingles and other building components to ensure a color match. It’s especially important to customers purchasing high-end doors.
Customer Care, Expertise And Maintenance
The company is committed to providing preventive maintenance and keeping doors running in great condition. Elite sells preventive maintenance packages to warehouses, sending technicians out twice a year for door inspections, tuneups, lubrication and part replacements as needed. They help their customers stay ahead of and avoid mechanical failure and keep their doors in great running order.
Elite has received the Best of HomeAdvisor Award six years in a row, has been recognized as a top-three garage door repair company in Savannah by ThreeBestRated, and has been selected for the Best of Gwinnett award.
Developing In-House Expertise and Pride
“We train all of our technicians in-house to meet manufacturers’ specifications,” Joshua says. A new employee starts by working with a senior technician, then with a manager, and finally, with Joshua. The company is fully licensed and insured.
“We treat customers the way we want to be treated—like a friend of the family or even a grandmother,” Melynda says. “It’s vital they feel comfortable with a technician coming into their home or business.”
That comfort level extends to the quality of work. “This is not just a job to our employees. Our work reflects that,” Joshua says. “We take time for customers and ensure things go well. We also make follow-up calls after the job is completed and ask: Is there anything we could have done better?”
Family-Owned and Operated
Joshua’s introduction to the garage door service industry began when he went to work for a friend in the industry. As he learned the business and honed his skills, he decided to branch out on his own in 2003. “The business grew from a two-man operation to a much larger company,” says Melynda, who has managed the Elite office since she and Joshua married 10 years ago.
Elite takes care of its employees as well as its customers. Sunday is a day off for all employees, ensuring they each have a day of rest and family time—except for Joshua. He responds to Sunday emergency calls himself after church services, and sometimes before.
Giving Back and Growing Forward
Elite has put its expertise to work on behalf of the community through Gwinnett Habitat for Humanity. Joshua has donated time and labor installing new garage doors on several Habitat homes in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
In addition, the company supports football, basketball and cheerleading teams in Buford, Georgia.
“The company continues to grow and thrive giving God all the glory for our success,” say Joshua and Melynda.
“We work for our customers. When we’re done with a job, we can stand back and be proud of it. That’s what it’s all about,” Joshua says.