By Tom Gayman’s count, he walked in the door of R&R Realty Group a little more than 32 years ago as employee No. 6. As of Monday, he was employee No. 1 (and only) at Performance Realty LLC, one of the few boutique brokerages operating in Greater Des Moines.

Gayman is parlaying a career brokering commercial real estate, overseeing its management, filling its spaces large and small, into his own shop. It is a lifelong dream of a lifelong resident of Greater Des Moines.

He opens the shop at a time when larger brokerages tend to dominate the local market, striking affiliations with international firms and making big plays in the market and striking out across the state. Gayman wants to keep his personal touch on the business at hand in Greater Des Moines.

“I have no interest in building this into a national empire,” he said.

Like many commercial real estate professionals, Gayman is an engaging guy, quick with a quip and a handshake.

“I just want to individualize the business a little bit,” he said. “I like working one-on-one with people. I’m going to stay with you until the thing gets done.”

Gayman specialized in industrial and warehouse properties during his three decades at R&R Realty; it hardly needs to be said that his brokerage will run the gamut of property types. Services will include tenant representation, land sales, site selection, and industrial and office leasing.

In 2013, Gayman was inducted into the Midwest Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. He has served on the Urbandale City Council since 2007 and he is the board chair of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority.