Dockerty Health Care Services is growing beyond its old stomping grounds of Michigan by slowly expanding its presence into Wisconsin.
The Berrien Springs, Michigan-based, family-owned operator has 12 campuses and has expanded into Wisconsin, with a focus primarily on assisted living and memory care services. It is currently ranked 130 on the Argentum 150 list for 2026, up from 142 in 2025.
CEO Tim Dockerty doesn’t have a target portfolio size in mind for the company, instead he seeks to continue growing with small communities in rural markets.
“If you develop a great reputation, you’re going to probably perform well for a long time,” Dockerty told Senior Housing News. “It’s also how we started, so it’s the model that we know.”
Demand is growing in the rural markets in which Dockerty Health Care Services operates. That has allowed the company’s leaders to increase its footprint since 2001.
Dockerty Health Care Services holds an 88% occupancy rate across 12 campuses. The company’s business strategy hinges on reputation and Dockerty added he will avoid buying properties that previously had a poor reputation.
“Reputation, both good and bad, becomes very strong and very recognizable in a small community, and so maintaining a good reputation in each of those communities is really valuable to us,” he said. “It’s very difficult to change a bad reputation.”
Dockerty focuses on staffing as its primary method for maintaining its reputation, and as such sets out with goals of retaining them for years on end. The executive director is the focus in these instances, he said, with the goal of keeping them within the company for at least 10 to 15 years. By doing so, he added, they become engrained within the community and the reputation spreads.
“If you have high turnover in any positions, let alone your executive director, it’s very hard to have a high standard work in that building,” Dockerty said.
To prevent turnover, Dockerty Health Care Services remains in constant communication with its community leaders and delivers on what they need to do the job effectively, including company ownership being readily available to help where needed.
“If they need help from one of the owners, such as myself or my brother, we can step in and help,” Dockerty said. “They can just pick up the phone and call us, as opposed to having layers of bureaucracy that’s trying to make decisions.”
