After the waters recede, slow, painful recovery

BACK ON TRACK: Wendy Field and Scott Dickerson are the owners of SD Concept Engineering in West Warwick. Ravaged by flooding, the company has begun to find its footing. /
BACK ON TRACK: Wendy Field and Scott Dickerson are the owners of SD Concept Engineering in West Warwick. Ravaged by flooding, the company has begun to find its footing. /

(Editor’s note: This is the third installment in an occasional series on SD Concept Engineering Inc.’s efforts to recover from the March 2010 floods)

All the signs point to recovery at Scott Dickinson’s car-engine fabrication business.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Dickinson is leaning over the open hood of a late-model SUV, in the midst of finishing the installation of a high-performance engine. At another end of his shop, an employee is doing the same to a 1971 Monte Carlo muscle car. After these projects are complete, Dickinson has a waiting list of others.
But things aren’t quite what they seem.
Yes, SD Concept Engineering Inc. has come a long way since 12 feet of water flooded the West Warwick garage last year and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts and equipment.
The muck has been wiped away. In fact, the shop is nearly spotless, not a smudge of grease or anything else in the place. New tools and equipment are arranged neatly.
The building’s electrical system has been rewired. Even a 1,000-horsepower engine that was submerged in the deluge has been rebuilt piece by piece for a customer.
But the historic floods of 2010 still weigh heavily on the minds of Dickinson and his wife Wendy Field, SD Concept’s co-owner.
“We still need to move,” Dickinson said recently.
For nearly a year, the two have scoured Rhode Island for a new garage. But what they’ve found so far is too pricey, in poor condition or in a bad location.
Then there’s the fact that they own the 3,600-square-foot building where they’re located now, just a few dozen yards from the source of their problems – the Pawtuxet River.
Some neighbors in the industrial park have moved, or closed for good. But Dickinson and Field soldier on. The mortgage has tied them to the spot.
So every day, they keep an eye on the weather, wondering when it rains if they should sandbag the doors at the shop. The flood waters haven’t returned since last April, but there have been tense days where the river has come close to overflowing.
“It gets to be too much,” Field said.
One thing the river hasn’t damaged is SD Concept’s strong reputation among hot rod and muscle-car enthusiasts in and outside Rhode Island for crafting quality, high-performance components.
Many of Dickinson’s clients know what happened to the business, that some customers lost property, including cars, in the deluge. But they still call, looking for Dickinson to fabricate superchargers or custom engines that can command tens of thousands of dollars. “That’s because we treat their cars like they’re our own,” Field said.
Dickinson figures he has a waiting list of three months worth of jobs, like one guy in Colorado, who wants SD Concepts to build him a dragster. That’s for the future, though.
Right now, Dickinson spends a lot of his time catching up on projects that were set back months by the floods.
Dickinson hasn’t even had time to repair his own souped-up, late-model, orange Challenger that had become the company’s trademark. It, too, was swamped in the shop during the flood.
In one area of the shop, Field pointed out a 1,000-horsepower engine valued at about $30,000 that is nearly complete. It was almost in the same condition a year ago, before it was ravaged by the deluge. Dickinson has spent months rebuilding it at his own expense.
With the business having to absorb those types of costs, how is it surviving?
“I have no idea,” Dickinson said. “Technically, we shouldn’t be here.”
“It has taken drive and determination,” Field chimed in. “This is our livelihood.”
Dickinson and Field figure the company lost about $700,000 worth of equipment, parts and products. But after a year —including countless hours of phone calls with adjusters – they’ve received only about $325,000 through their flood-insurance policy.
SD Concept was rejected for loans by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
And the threat of future flooding is hindering SD Concept.
Before spring 2010, Dickinson had the ability to work on more projects concurrently. But until the company moves, he’s concerned about taking on too many jobs at one time. He wants to be able to move the vehicles and components quickly out of harm’s way if flood waters are predicted.
They’re confident about SD Concept’s future, though, even spending $30,000 to purchase a new CNC (computer numerically controlled) machine to replace the one damaged in the flood.
Because much of their focus has been placed on rebuilding the business, there’s also been a toll on the family, Field said, especially on Field and Dickinson’s 15-year-old daughter.
Still, Field said, in many ways it’s been a good learning experience for the youngster.
“It’s a lesson that life isn’t always easy,” Field said. “But we’ll look back on this 10 years from now and say, ‘Yeah, that was tough, but we survived.’ ” •

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