The focus is on the details.

When Ray Gonzalez founded Resources Property Management Corp. in 1987, the company started out managing one 8-unit condominium. Today, the firm, located in West New York, New Jersey, is responsible for managing 22,000 units of commercial and residential property, with an aggregate portfolio value of over $5 million.

While several property management firms failed over the past six years, the RPM Group has grown from a one-man operation with a $50-a-week lawn care contract to a million dollar plus operation with a staff of approximately 30 providing day-to-day professional asset management systems and services for some 23 co-ops and condo board of directors.

Gonzalez, 39, who came to the United States from Cuba at the age of seven, stated that personal service was one of the keys to the successful expansion of his company.

"We have personal contact in providing service for the board of directors of a property and can be reached 24 hours a day," said Gonzalez. "I'm proud to say that if something concerns a client at midnight on a Sunday night, it concerns us, too."

RPM's services include everything that is needed to keep a multiple housing complex running smoothly from security, doors, concierges, parking lots, janitorial, maintenance and snow removal services, to maintenance of financial records, payroll administration and collecting owners/shareholders monthly payments.

We offer clients complete services for an entire development for one contract and one fee," Gonzalez said. "What I've learned from my previous work experience is to try and concentrate on the positive and eliminate the negative. We want to make the client feel they are the only clients we have, so we share the same sense of urgency or accomplishments as our clients."

Gonzalez noted that RPM also counsels its boards regarding mortgage financing, refinancing and risk management.

"We try to focus on detail, when you do everything you're the one who's responsible," said Gonzalez, who graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn with a degree in economics. "If I do all the serving, I'm responsible, the buck stops here, I can't blame anyone else."

One of the main reasons for RPM's success at a time when others are failing, Gonzalez stated, may be due to the stability and lack of turnover among RPM staff. Unlike many other companies in the field, rather than hiring people on an hourly basis, RPM pays weekly salaries plus overtime and additional compensation when its workforce is called on to handle additional contracts without more employees.

"I tell them that if business is good, I eat steak, and you eat steak," said Gonzalez. "By the same token, if things drop off, we all get by on beans and rice."

The majority of RPM's clients are in Bergen and Hudson Counties in New Jersey, though the firms does have clients in Morristown, New Jersey and Orangeburgh, New York in Rockland County.

"We're adding clients but we're not production-oriented, we're quality-oriented," said Gonzalez. "We plan systematic growth, and, at times, we've had to tell some clients they have to wait 90 days."

RPM has been recognized for its success by receiving three awards since 1989 in recognition of its service, including two from N. Y. Habitat Magazine.

In 1989, N. Y Habitat Magazine awarded RPM for excellence in crisis management, and in 1992, the magazine recognized RPM with its management award for excellence in finance.

Gonzalez stated that the 1989 award was for RPM's work with a 289-unit co-op in West New York which was in deplorable condition. RPM came in and straightened out the record-keeping so the board knew what was going on, and the firm also oversaw $3 million in much needed capital improvements.

RPM was also recognized in 1992 when the company received the Associated Builders and Owners Award for outstanding management.

"We don't rest on our laurels," Gonzalez said. "Everyday, there is a different need and a different approach. We have to live for the moment and resolve problems as they arise."