Twenty years of flagpoles, and nothing else

How the company started

Jerry has been working on flagpoles since around 2006. Off Duty Flagpoles itself was founded in 2017, and the name is a nod to where he came from. He spent his career in the fire service, and the work habits that came with that carried straight over: turn up when you said you would, do the job properly, and leave the site the way you found it.

The mission has not changed since the beginning. Sell good American made product, price it fairly, and give people better service than they expect. That is not a slogan on a wall. It is the reason customers who bought a pole years ago still call when they need a halyard replaced.

Why we only do flagpoles

Plenty of companies will sell you a flagpole as a sideline. Jerry's view, stated more bluntly than we will repeat here, is that a lot of the people selling flagpoles do not actually understand the product. They can quote you a height and a price and cannot tell you the butt diameter, the wall thickness or the wind rating, which are the three things that decide whether the pole survives.

That gap is the whole reason this business exists as a specialist. We are not spreading attention across six trades. Every hour of the working week goes into flagpoles: selling them, setting them, repairing them and stocking the parts. It is why we can look at a photograph of a failed pole and usually tell you what went wrong and when.

What we will tell you that others will not

Two examples that come up constantly. The first is that internal halyard poles are not quieter than external rope and pulley, despite being sold that way. An internal system carries a counterweight and retainer rings inside the shaft and those parts knock. A covered external system is generally quieter.

The second is the warranty. Our one-piece poles carry a lifetime warranty on the shaft, and our telescoping poles carry a lifetime warranty on the locks and swivel rings. But the shaft warranty is conditional on flying the recommended flag size and not exceeding the pole's wind rating. We say that before you buy. A lot of sellers mention it only after something has failed, and that is precisely how people end up feeling cheated.

Where you will find us

We are based in Rockville, in Parke County, and we work across the Midwest. Terre Haute and Crawfordsville are close to home, the Indianapolis metro is a regular run, and commercial work takes us as far as Lafayette, Bloomington and the northern suburbs. Jerry also works the Indiana festival circuit through the season, which is where a good number of customers meet him for the first time.

Who you actually talk to

Jerry answers his own phone. If he is up a pole he will call back, and every enquiry gets a response within 24 to 48 hours. For commercial work we ask 50 percent down before a job goes on the schedule. For residential work we ask that the product is paid for before we schedule the install. Everything else is settled on completion.