The Day Road company joins Inc. magazine’s prestigious 500.

Unlike the televisions they sell, employees at Bainbridge company Visual Apex have endured more than a few fuzzy days.

Like Sept. 11, 2001, the day the company had by coincidence chosen to launch into the infant plasma television market, but instead watched with shock as terrorist attacks threw the country into upheaval.

And Dec. 17, 2004, when a fire destroyed part of the company’s Day Road headquarters, forcing 24 employees to spend the next several months squeezed into the 1,000 or so square feet of space that remained of their office.

“It was pretty crowded,” said Paul Gilmore, one of Visual Apex’s three owners, of the post-fire work environment. “I got to know what everyone ate for lunch. But we never shut our doors.”

The company, which sells plasma TVs, projectors, LCDTVs and audio video accessories online. has since moved to a building across the street. But even now, Gilmore, who along with partners Charlie Moore and Jeremy Meyer, sits at the helm of a company that will generate an estimated $30 million worth of business next year, spends his days in a modest office only a few feet away from his employees.

Despite the setbacks and despite selling the instruments that broadcast so much drama to living rooms around the globe, folks at Visual Apex are perfectly content to plug along quietly out of the spotlight.

It is that workmanlike effort, along with good timing and a commitment to good service, that employees say has helped propel the company to unexpected levels of success just five years after that first, unforgettable day.

That success – most notably its three-year sales growth of 370 percent – also has led to Visual Apex’s inclusion on Inc. magazine’s Inc. 500 list, which ranks the country’s 500 fastest-growing private companies.

They landed at number 389 on the list, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year.

Companies must be based in the U.S., privately held and independent to qualify. This year’s list measured revenue growth from 2002 through 2005.

While Gilmore said the company is honored by the ranking, he and his partners consider accolades, like financial success, to be a byproduct of doing the right thing.

Which is why, when asked about the company’s secret, he balked.

“We didn’t…,” Gilmore began, before pausing to reframe his statement. “We still don’t have a business plan. We believe that if you do a good job and treat people well, business will happen.”

That starts with the way Visual Apex employees are treated.

Many employees lead busy lives, Gilmore said, and the company does its best to accommodate their schedules. If someone has a personal obligation that conflicts with work, the staff finds a way to cover for them.

“If it’s important to my employees, it’s important to me,” Gilmore said. “I’ve worked at companies where people felt they had to lie about why they couldn’t come in. We don’t want that here. We want people to feel like they can be honest.”

The rule applies to everyone.

Gilmore, who is married and has three children, said he has never had to miss one of his kids’ school events or plays.

He and his family moved to the island from Port Ludlow after Visual Apex got going. His wife already worked here and Bainbridge was a good “mid-point” between the three owners’ homes. Moore lives in Gig Harbor and Meyer in Seattle, but Gilmore said the company will stay on the island that gave it its start.

In addition to customer service, technical expertise is stressed. The company is constantly seeking out and testing new products and has forged partnerships with major vendors like Panasonic.

Visual Apex sells a “professional” line of products as opposed to “consumer” products found in larger stores like Best Buy. There are a number of differences between the two lines, but the main difference is that Visual Apex caters to home theater enthusiasts.

Tech Support Manager Dave Marchetti puts himself in that category and admits his enthusiasm for the products he sells does have its drawbacks.

“I’ll be tweaking the picture at home,” he said. “And my wife will roll her eyes and say, ‘Can we just watch the movie please?’”

In the competitive world of internet marketing, Visual Apex has relied largely on word-of-mouth advertising to boost its sales.

“We’re competing with huge companies to sell expensive products online,” said Elizabeth Dourley, Visual Apex’s director of sales and marketing. “People have to trust us.”

Dourley has been with the company from the beginning and said positive – and especially negative – customer reviews go a long way toward establishing an online company’s reputation.

Which is why when they make a mistake, she said, they do what they can to make it right.

Following 9-11, the company also noted that entertainment habits changed. People traveled less and invested more money in their homes.

“People began to build these beautiful cocoons,” Dourley said. “And we certainly benefitted from that.”

In the overall television market, Gilmore said there’s a battle going on between plasma and LCD. The debate can get pretty technical and includes terms like “black levels” and “burn-ins” that could confuse some, but in the end Gilmore believes there will be a market for both technologies.

As for Visual Apex’s future, he is equally optimistic.

“We’re not trying to be everywhere,” he said. “We’ve found our niche. As long as we stay focused on service we’ll continue to grow in the right way.”