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Show ft. j i in .---'ju-'- " 5 "V i f i -'O p ! ( . f J L ."CM Jerry Diaz, owner of Mountain States Spa Covers, 520 W. 1400 South, Bountiful has made about 25,000 covers in the last five years. With no previous experience in making spa covers, Diaz started on a shoe string five years ago. r Mountain States Spa Covers turned into a Success ' By JAMS CARTER Clipper Correspondent When Jerry Diaz took over his sister's spa cover business in 1987, he had no idea that it would grow into such a large business. Now, as owner of Mountain States Spa Covers, 520 W. 1400 South, Bountiful Boun-tiful and having made about 25,000 covers in the last five years, Diaz is on top of the business. With no previous experience in making spa covers, Diaz started on a shoe string five years ago when his sister left the state. He purchased purchas-ed one sewing machine and some materials, then went to work, making mak-ing phone calls and getting orders from dealers. He flew his sister back to Utah to teach him the basics of spa covers, and he repaired many covers, giving him the opportunity to see how they were made. Because of all the repairs he made, Diaz was able to see the faults in the covers and perfect his own design to better suit the Moun-; Moun-; tain States climate. In the beginning, Diaz was working work-ing at a print shop while his wife, Debbie, and her parents were sewing sew-ing the spa covers during the daytime. After work, he cut out patterns pat-terns for covers in the spa shop. Eventually, there was too much work at Mountain States, so he" quit his print job to make covers full time. Diaz has designed a cover to weather Utah winters and hot summers. The covers are three and one-half inches thick instead of the standard three inches. He also changed the handles on his cover so that they are no-show handles. He offers eight colors: brown, rust, tan, sky blue, dark blue, gray, teal and burgundy. Diaz said, due to the high quality materials used and the construction of the covers, the company has few returns or rejects. Everything is made right in the shop. Trying to keep on top of what is best, Diaz has changed his materials about five ' different times. In addition to spa covers Mountain Moun-tain States also makes a coverall which is really cover for a spa cover. It is made of awning materials mate-rials and covers the spa and the cabinet. The coverall will lengthen the life of the spa cover. "I don't get that Monday morning morn-ing back-to-work feeling," Diaz said of his job. He likes to go to the shop where he works with his wife, his daughters Nina and Becky, his son Nathan and where his grandchildren grand-children are playing. "It is a fun and good atmosphere and the family working relationship is good" In five years there have been no real problems and they are all open to constructive criticism, ' Diaz said. He has found trying to solve problems immediately has helped him in working with dealers and customers. It is important to him to have a good relationship, even friendship, with his clients. "Honesty is still the best policy," he said, and he always tries to be fair and goes out of his way to satisfy satis-fy his customers. Having repaired hundreds of other companies' covers, Diaz said he knows that he offers a better quality cover in materials, construction construc-tion and design. Mountain States is working with a dealer from Montana as well as advertising in other states in the hope of expanding its business outside out-side of Utah. |
