Georgia CEO sat down with Edward (Ed) J. Gaffney III, owner and president of Automated Door Ways Inc. and Overhead Door Company™ of Columbus, GA. 

During our one-on-one, Gaffney takes us inside his business of providing area residents and business owners with new garage doors that not only improve aesthetics and property values, but now come with the latest technology to allow remote function to open, close and receive deliveries when no one is available to sign for packages. We also learn about the ongoing Ugly Door Contest for Columbus residents that started in June and will commence in September with a free garage door installation for one lucky resident. 

Company Brief

Edward J. Gaffney III is owner and serves as president of Automated Door Ways Inc. established in 2005, and the Overhead Door Company™ of Columbus GA established in 2014. There are two locations in Columbus, Georgia along with a third office that is being established in Pensacola, Florida. Gaffney’s headquarters are located at 307 38th Street, Columbus GA, 31904. He and his team serve residents throughout Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and the Florida panhandle offering automatic doors for new builds, replacement automatic doors as well as preventive maintenance on existing automatic doors.

Overhead Door Company of Columbus™ provides leading residential and commercial door solutions to homeowners and business owners in the Columbus, Georgia area. 

Automated Door Ways, Inc. is an Authorized Distributor of Horton Automatics, Record Doors, the Ingersoll Rand product lines, and Assa Abloy. They carry a full line of Door Hardware, Hollow Metal Doors, and Door Accessories. 

Gaffney’s businesses are staffed with an expert team that has over 14 years of service helping homeowners and business owners choose the garage door that fits best with their personal taste and the style and design of their home and/or building. The services offered span professional sales, installation, maintenance, and repair services.

Gaffney offered, “I founded Automated Door Ways Inc. in 2005 and as a result of my success, established my franchise and distributorship for the Overhead Door Company nine years later. As part of the distributorship, we have an exclusive territory to serve the residents throughout Columbus. I had to gain exclusive rights to serve this area. This is the most prestigious line of garage doors in the US.” 

“We received the Eagle Award for the last three years. We expanded to a second location in Columbus and are in the process of opening another office in Pensacola, Florida right now, which will be our third office.”  

“Today, we’ve grown to over 50 employees and are continuing to grow. Out of that number, we have a fleet of service and installation vehicles manned by approximately 30-35 employees that work in the field regularly.”  

“Here’s the thing that separates us. We show up when we say we are going to show up. If we are running behind, we call you. You will know when we are headed your way. That combined with quality products helps us stand apart from the competition including independent contractors. We represent the Overhead Door Company who is the first maker of the overhead garage door, so we are able to offer the very best in products.” 

“We are in the service industry which has traditionally lacked good customer service. When you work with us, you receive exceptional service. We come with a badge, in uniform, and our trucks are lettered. We are in an industry that is not always professional. At Automated Door Ways and Overhead Door Company of Columbus, we bring professionalism to the industry, and into our communities.” 

Leveraging Technology to Accelerate Service

Gaffney explained, “Automated Door Ways, Inc. uses SageQuest Electronic Dispatch software and couples this technology with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology in order to provide the best service possible by providing our customers with accurate and reliable appointment times.”

“We also have a technology program that the corporation put together for us that allows us to take a picture of your home and garage door. Then you can overlay different styles of garage doors on your home and see what your home would look like. This helps ensure you select the right style of garage door for you, so you know you are getting something you will like.” 

“Our latest rollout is a new phone app we offer to customers. This allows you to see if your garage door is open or closed. You can open your garage door with remote operations for deliveries, which is really important in our world of fast home deliveries. We anticipate that Amazon, USPS and FedEx will all have an interface to this system in the future so they can facilitate deliveries that alleviate the threat of theft that is common today.”

The Ugly Door Contest

Gaffney shared, “The Ugly Door Contest is the way to bring awareness to our company. We advertise in radio, television and Columbus CEO. It’s easy to enter and will yield a free installed garage door upgrade to the winner. People take photos of their garage doors and send those in. We have three judges that review all the photos of the least desirable garage door. Then we offer the winner a remodel. We also market the before and after of the garage doors to bring awareness to value of upgrading garage doors.” 

He continued, “Garage doors are the largest moving objects in your home. A lot of homes have the garage facing the front. That’s what people see when they are approaching you. We can change the whole look of your house by changing your garage door. We thought the contest was a creative way to get this point across to the public, being a little lighthearted about it but driving home the importance of that home improvement. In comparison to other forms of remodels, a new garage doors is relatively inexpensive compared to a new kitchen, new tiling, etc.” 

“The Ugly Door Contest started in June and runs through September so there is still plenty of time for everyone to send in their pictures.”  

“If you want to participate, go to www.odccolumbus.com to upload your photo.” 

“We’ll announce the winners in mid September. Afterwards, we tear down the old garage and replace it with a new one.” 

Gaffney concluded, “Our highest priority is satisfied customers. We are proud to serve the residential, commercial and industrial needs of folks throughout the Southeast, while offering the latest technology and functionality to enhance the garage doors ability to do more for you. Our customers remain our number one priority. We work hard to earn this business to service the needs for all of area home and business owners.”

“If you have a garage door that needs replacing, I encourage you to enter the Ugly Door Contest. You might be the lucky winner this year.” 

For more information on the Automated Door Ways Inc. visit their company website at: http://automateddoorways.com/.

For more information on the Overhead Door Company™ of Columbus GA, visit their company website at: https://www.overheaddoor.com/columbus-georgia.