Custom System rides the wave

BERMUDA DUNES, Calif.- Custom System Technologies is riding the wave of growth in its community. With more installation jobs thanks to a construction boom in Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, the integration company recently moved into larger offices and hired four new employees. "The valley has grown dramatically over the past few years, in new home construction and office building construction," said Mike Deveso, director of sales and marketing at Custom System Technologies. "The valley at this time seems recession proof and most of the homes are high-end." Business for the small company has doubled when compared to the first four months of last year. Today, the company serves 560 customers, most of those large homes with expensive ticket items such as elaborate security and home theater systems. Another 20 percent of the company's sales are from the commercial fire market. To handle the boom in business, the company moved into a 2,000 square foot building here, nearly four times the size of Custom System Technologies' previous space. "We are doing a lot of jobs," said Deveso. "So we couldn't handle it the way we were doing it before. We needed extra storage room." Besides providing more storage space for products, enabling a quicker turnaround on jobs, the office is now located near a highway. The company was previously located in Indio, Calif., about 10 miles away from its new home. "Now we're more centrally located here in the valley," said April Cochran, chief operating officer. "That allows us to be a little more expedient with our response time since we're closer to the freeway." The office also helps accommodates the company's growing staff. One sales person and three technicians were recently hired, bringing the total number of employees to seven people. Plans call for two or three more technicians to be added to the staff sometime in the near future.