Dean Steel

Since its founding in 1956, Dean Steel Buildings, Inc. has proven that it takes more than recessions, hurricanes, steel shortages, and regulatory shifts to keep a good business down. The Fort Myers-based, family-owned business continues to thrive and its metal buildings stand sturdy.

And even though Dean Steel commands less than one percent in the $2.5 billion-a-year industry, the company is undaunted by the industry’s big players. The Dean family — three generations of engineers, sales pros, plant managers, human resource directors and accountants — don’t compare themselves with others in the industry. Instead, they focus on an estimated annual industry growth rate of at least 10 percent higher than ordinary in-place construction, and they inspire each other to continue to exceed.

“Life is all about family, children, and grandkids,” says Charles Dean, current president of Dean Steel Buildings and resident mechanical engineer. “Nothing’s more important than your loved ones. What else is life for if not for family?”

Charles knows something about family. He and wife Karen raised four children. Their eldest, Nanette Dean, is the senior design engineer, CAD/CAM programmer, certified American Welding Society inspector and, one of her father’s right hands. “What I’m doing is helping put my nieces and nephews through school,” says Nan, a professional civil engineer with architectural leanings who manages 50 engineering and drafting staff members in two countries. Starting from a world of computerized numbers and paper plans, her favorite part is seeing a job go up. “It’s amazing,” she says of the prodigious assembly of what looks like a giant erector set.

Fast, low-cost, low-maintenance, energy-efficient, and readily modified or moved, it’s easy to understand why steel buildings have come into their own since the simple Quonsets of World War II. Today, steel buildings account for 70 percent of all new one- and two-story non-residential structures in the United States. Along Fort Myers’ Metro Parkway commercial corridor, that percentage soars to 95 percent.

Highly Functional Family

Nan and her three sisters — Julie, Jeanie and Charlotte — literally grew up in the family business, working summer jobs and participating in discussions around the supper table. Their family tradition calls for “doing things together.” At work or play, talents, temperaments, and an ability to wear many hats allow family members to step in where needed.

Today, Julie and her husband Ken Fisher manage the Cedartown, Georgia plant. Geographically centered between Fort Myers and Chicago, it serves markets throughout the southeastern United States. Julie runs the numbers and Ken runs the plant as well as overseeing sales. Jeanie directs company-wide human resources from the Fort Myers headquarters. Her husband Jeff Richards performs as Florida sales manager and Lee County construction manager. Charlotte partners with Nan on engineering, drafting, and pricing duties while her husband Burk Edwards, an attorney, consults on legal matters. Mother Karen Dean plays an integral role as owner, treasurer, and senior accountant for the family enterprise.

Founding president of Dean Steel, Robert Dean, Sr., grew up in his father’s Lee County job shop. He, in turn, raised his two sons in his own machine shop, Bob Dean Welding Supply in Fort Myers, now owned by Robert Dean, Jr. Charles joined Robert Sr. in the Dean Steel Buildings family sales business in 1967. In 1971, recession and inconstant suppliers forced Charles and Karen to launch the manufacturing end of Dean Steel Buildings in order to guarantee delivery.

Robert Sr. still stays in touch with loyal long-time customers who rely on Dean Steel’s reputation for delivering as promised, regardless of economic swings. Robert also takes responsibility for maintaining the grounds, and troubleshoots in the shop.

Year after year, family members innovate and patent proprietary machinery, develop custom software, and automate beyond the industry standard. Continual updates stay current with multiple state and offshore building codes. Competitive efficiencies are essential to offset the “double transportation cost” occasioned by operating from Florida. When all is said and done, Dean Steel can deliver a building through customs and onto a job site for one-third less than the cost of local concrete construction.

Heavy steel coils arrive monthly in the Port of Tampa from Japan, China, Belgium, Germany, and overland from the U.S. Midwest. Finished beams, bolts, girts, struts, aluminized steel siding, and associated building parts — welded, punched, shaped, painted, and ready for assembly — depart with ordered accessories for Florida and nearby states and to Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Bahamas, and Central and South America. Seven of 10 shipped building packages go to U.S. customers, with three of 10 now marked for offshore markets.

Dean Steel’s custom structures come in varied sizes and shapes sporting a customer’s choice of rooflines, fascia materials and colors. “Ninety percent of what we do is not a standard off-the-shelf box building,” notes Nan. Built to last in the tropics, buildings are guaranteed for 20 years against chipping, cracking, blistering, peeling, and fading. They rise as hotels, churches, schools, airplane hangars, retail centers, marinas, gymnasiums, tennis courts, farm buildings, warehouses, and Class A office space.

International Outlook

Focusing on overseas markets starting in 1995, over the past 10 years the company has tripled the Fort Myers plant production capacity to 350 tons per week. Hurricane Andrew provided a boost as Dean Steel was the first steel building supplier qualified for the newly rigorous Miami/Dade and Broward County codes. They beat the competition by a year. Future permits call for a 700-tons-per-week capacity and a second manufacturing building on the company’s 15-acre site north of Hanson Street.

Dean Steel’s 170-strong workforce, culled from an ethnically diverse foreign and domestic labor pool, is a study in streamlined teamwork. Attracting skilled labor is a universal challenge. Upper-end wages help. Workers hail from India, China, Haiti, El Salvador, Mexico, and Brazil.

Half the workforce, about 100 employees, are hired on in the 120,000-square-foot administration, engineering, sales, manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution plant in Fort Myers where, according to Charles, “machines do all the heavy work” guided by computers monitored and prompted by workers. And where “no one gets close enough to moving machinery to get hurt.”

The company’s safety record is outstanding. And during the past 10 years, this environmentally-conscious firm has cut pollution from the Fort Myers painting operation by 90 percent. Factory noise drops off within feet of the plant. And the entire team has collaborated during the past two years in achieving ISO 9001 certification, the recommended international standard for 2000.

Thirty Dean Steel employees work from the 250,000-square-foot Cedartown sales, manufacturing, and distribution plant. The plant is 60 miles west of Atlanta and opened in 1997. The balance of the employees — 40 engineers and draftsmen — are in the Costa Rica office.

Charles and Nan routinely travel the United States and Spanish-speaking countries signing customer contracts buttressed by a handshake. Building trust is imperative as overseas building costs are required in advance. Pressing ever forward keeps the dream alive. “We want to be all we can be before passing the company on to our children,” says Charles.

Experienced Perspective

Dean Steel weathers the same economic roller coaster as other businesses — walking a tightrope to supply customers with sufficient inventory and to keep employees busy. Domestic mills ship in six to eight weeks, subject to last minute price changes. Foreign steel prices lock-in with the order, but take four to six months to deliver. Also, steel building manufacturers operate at the behest of steel mills, which can shift production to favor bridges, automobiles, or household wares. Warehousing thus must accommodate up to six months of milled inventory.

“We have no crystal ball. We simply do the best job we can,” says Charles.

Charles Dean, who relies on ethical business practices to see his family through, is convinced that the business future demands that we all learn to speak Spanish and he doesn’t believe that NAFTA was the answer for Florida.

The Deans satisfy their creative urges with intra-industry tours and information exchange. They understand the value of generating fresh ideas and recycling equipment. They freely call on the local economic development office for assistance. And equally appreciate cooperation among employees and family members.

“Always, I have aspired to work with my parents. Always, my desire has been to have our children join in the business,” says Charles. And, surrounded by his family in his family’s business, Charles Dean has seen his aspiration fulfilled and his desire met.

S. Alison Chabonais is a freelance business writer.