Bill Kenney figured there might be some minor glitches with the cubicles being installed by Smarter Interiors during James River Insurance Co.'s recent move.

But he wasn't concerned.

James River Insurance had worked since 2003 with Smarter Interiors, a full-service business furniture dealership that provides design and installation of new and remanufactured office workstations.

On the Saturday of the move, Kenney called Smarter Interiors' owners Gregory Campbell and Randy Alderson to help out with the minor problem.

"They were here within minutes with their service guys," said Kenney, the insurance company's senior vice president and chief information officer. "They wanted to make sure everything was OK. That level of customer service is nice because you know they care about what they do."

Campbell, who created Smarter Interiors in 2000, said he knows how complicated corporate moves can be.

"You have to be in the early stages of that decision process," he said. "We were able to do that with James River when the insurance company first opened. We sold them remanufactured cubicles for about 50 people. The quality is so good that you don't know it's remanufactured, and people like the fact that it's recycled."

Campbell and Alderson's customer base has grown to more than 200 clients since 2000. Revenue has increased tenfold in the past four years, Alderson said.

"We've networked with architects, designers, moving companies and engineering firms to get a good referral base," Alderson said.

RoseMarie Bundy, president of Evolve Architecture in Richmond, has worked with Smarter Interiors on projects for James River Insurance and Owens & Minor Inc. Her company provided the interior architecture and design.

"Greg and Randy are very responsive to their clients' needs," she said. "They are good listeners, very down-to-earth. They have a good understanding of what the client needs."

The two are "easy to work with. They make the process fun," Bundy said.

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Creating Smarter Interiors wasn't Campbell's first entrepreneurial venture.

In 1990, he was one of the original founders of Open Plan Systems, a remanufacturer of office workstations that was bought this year by HMU LLC. Campbell left Open Plan in 1997.

"I didn't like the direction the company was going," he said. "It was growing too big. I wanted to work for myself."

Campbell met Alderson in the early 1980s, when the two worked for industry competitors. Campbell was a sales representative for Richmond furniture dealer Morton Marks & Sons, and Alderson was a vice president for Williams Contract Furniture.

"We crossed paths and became friends," Campbell said.

Alderson later left Williams and joined Morton Marks & Sons just before Campbell's departure.

"At the time, recycling office cubicles was a new concept," Campbell said. "I saw the opportunity that existed on the remanufacturing side of the business and left to start Open Plan."

Alderson joined Open Plan in 1991. But he left in 2002 when he became Campbell's partner at Smarter Interiors, whose office is in the Dabney Center Industrial Park in Henrico County.

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Smarter Interiors tries to set itself apart from its competitors. One way is carrying product lines from office furniture maker Allsteel, Campbell and Alderson said.

Since they started representing the account, Campbell and Alderson have seen sales of Allsteel's Reach product, a combination storage and divider system used in conjunction with office workstations, "take off like a rocket ship."

The system was a hit with Owens & Minor, which used the product in its corporate headquarters in Hanover County. Smarter Interiors also has worked with several of Owens & Minor's distribution centers.

"We were happy we chose Allsteel and Smarter Interiors," said Wayne Dishman, Owens & Minor's director of real estate. "They have been extremely easy to work with, and they are very knowledgeable. What they say they are going to do, they do with a smile on their face."

Campbell and Alderson are always on the lookout for new products at the Chicago furniture show.

That ongoing quest helped them when they worked with Page Auto Group's controller, Suzanne Murray. Smarter Interiors provided furniture for the showroom at the company's West Broad Honda dealership and also for Murray's office.

"I'm picky," Murray said. "It took me a year to pick out office furniture. Greg and Randy went to the Chicago furniture store and e-mailed me photos of different pieces. I got exactly what I was looking for."

Most people, she said, would not have gone to such great lengths to help her with suggestions.

"They are easy to work with," Murray said. "Now I have a beautiful office that is very functional."