This isn’t our first rodeo. Over three decades ago we invented field service software to run our own HVAC contracting business. dESCO grew from there, to 30,000+ users. Now, we’ve built the ideal product from the ground up, made it accessible from anywhere on web and mobile, and renamed it FieldEdge. Here’s our story.
Guts and a phone booth
Our original founders George and Glenn Slay were HVAC contractors and fearless entrepreneurs. Before they even had an office, George called Carrier from a phone booth and sold them on giving his small company Island Aire a rep contract. And that’s where it all began. The first users’ meeting was held in 1979. In the photo, George and Glen Slay are in the back row.
Compressors by day, computers by night
The founders personally serviced customers during the day and at night, wrote software that would help them get a handle on their rapidly expanding business. Fellow service contractors got wind of this and wanted the same kind of software help. So Island Aire started a new division, Coastal Computer Corporation, to sell the industry’s first service software system.
More bang for the buck, on every platform
Competitors saw opportunity and entered the market, but we always stayed a step ahead.
- When all the systems in the 80’s were on DOS requiring expensive five- or six-figure hardware, we converted to the THEOS platform so contractors could digitize at a fraction of the cost.
- When Windows became a less expensive way to go, we redesigned our product once again.
- We were first with an electronic dispatch board in the mid 90’s.
- We were among the first to offer an affordable mobile solution in the early 2000’s
- Now we’re at the cutting edge again with FieldEdge, combining the dESCO legacy with the latest cloud-based technology
From dESCO to FieldEdge
In the mid 1990’s, Dean Schreiner, who started with the company as service manager, bought out the Slays and renamed the company dESCO after his initials: Dean Egon Schreiner. Evolving based on what our customers told us they needed, dESCO’s system became the national leader, the most comprehensive and versatile service package on the market, with complete QuickBooks integration. A new management team purchased the company in 2015 to keep us growing and evolving. Some of our oldest ESC systems, in place for 20 years, continue to work and we continue to support them. Island Aire has continued to be a customer all along, and helped test and refine the new FieldEdge.
Our award-winning Customer Success Team
We’re particularly proud of our recent Stevie Award, which is like the worldwide Oscar for customer service. It puts us in good company, alongside DHL, Delta Airlines and Vizio. Most important, our customers swear by our award-winning “Customer Success” team. They have many years’ experience, understand the contracting business, and know how to help customers take full advantage of our software.
