Manufacturer, with demand from seniors surging, expands team and space

Feeling the pressure from what its CEO calls the “silver tsunami,” a manufacturer recently added 35,000 square feet to supplement its headquarters in north Sarasota. It also grew its manufacturing presence in Missouri by 65,000 square feet earlier this year.

The company, Harmar, is growing in terms of space, staff and sales as it works to keep up with the demand for its mobility and accessibility products. Examples of those products include equipment like wheelchair lifts for vehicles. 

“Our core customer is an aging-in-place senior citizen,” says Harmar CEO Steve Dawson.

“They call it the silver tsunami of aging seniors,” Dawson says of the baby boomers who are starting to need his company’s services and products. In fact, there were 55.8 million people age 65 and up in the United States in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – a nearly 39% increase from 2010.

Among Harmar’s top products are stair lifts, wheelchair lifts and vertical platform lifts. “We're the largest provider of this type of equipment in the U.S.,” Dawson says.

Harmar was founded in 1988 by Sarasota entrepreneur Chad Williams with one vehicle lift. It was acquired in 2012 by New York private equity firm Cortec Group, which invests in specialty business-to-business health care products and services companies.

One of Harmar’s major clients is the federal government, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Dawson, who says Harmar installs 800 to 1,000 lifts for veterans every month. The company also distributes products to a network of more than 2,000 dealers across the United States. 

While industry statistics show growth will likely continue at 8 to 9% over the next 20 to 30 years, Dawson says: “We’re growing at a faster rate than that, as we launch new products, add new customers and get into new territories.”

Dawson says Harmar is growing at about 15% annually in terms of sales. (He declines to disclose specific annaul revenue figures.) 

"Our challenge is how to manage our growth," Dawson says. "We have many opportunities to expand the business, and we have to be selective in where to focus in terms of products and markets."

Adding space

To meet the demand for its products, Harmar recently broadened its footprint in the two states where it runs manufacturing operations.

Harmar now has facilities totaling 270,000 square feet between Florida and Missouri.

The expansion in Florida comes three years after Harmar made another move that positioned it for growth. In 2021, the company relocated its Sarasota headquarters from 47th Street to a building with more space one mile away at 1500 Independence Boulevard, the Business Observer previously reported. This year, the company didn't have to go anywhere to expand.

In the Independence Boulevard building, where Harmar makes vehicle lifts and curved stairlifts, it added 35,000 square feet to supplement its existing 90,000 square feet, according to Dawson, for a total of 125,000 square feet. The new space is used for engineering, testing, research, development and warehousing.

Now, Harmar occupies 80% of the building, and Dawson says the company could take over the remaining 20%.

“I think at our growth rate, we'll continue to expand,” Dawson says.

Photo by Lori Sax

Sarasota is not the only place the company is expanding either.

In addition to Florida, Harmar has manufacturing operations in Missouri, where it nearly doubled its space earlier this year.

At the outset of 2024, Harmar was manufacturing vertical platform lifts and straight stairlifts in two different cities in the Show Me State. Then in February, it cut the ribbon on a new facility in Raymore, Missouri, where it merged the two locations. The company went from 80,000 square feet spread across two operations to 145,000 square feet under one roof, according to Dawson.

Harmar’s new Missouri facility includes almost double the office space it had before, an engineering lab, more conference room space, extra room for departments to expand and an employee training area.

“It’s important that our employees are comfortable and happy while here at Harmar,” Dawson says in a statement. “This new space…offers our team so much more room to grow and continue producing quality products.”

Increasing staff

Harmar has approximately 300 employees, split evenly between Sarasota and Missouri, according to Dawson. 

In both locations, space is not the only way the company is growing; Harmar is currently hiring for positions ranging from engineering to customer service to manufacturing to accounting.

While Dawson says it is impossible to count how many staff positions are tied to the expansions, he reports the overall plan is to keep growing. 

“We've increased our staff by 35% over the last three years,” Dawson says. "We continue to hire and expand the business.”