Seeing Growth: Its specialty is hard-to-produce shapes

THOMASVILLE

At Custom Window Products LLC in Thomasvillle, rectangles and squares tend to take a backseat to half rounds, ovals and elliptical shapes.

Custom Window Products, a division of Custom Glass Products Inc. in Salisbury, is a supplier of architectural window shapes to vinyl-window manufacturers.

"The customer will actually provide us with the specific shape, and we will go ahead and try to figure out how to bend it," said Scott Cristina, the company's general manager.

Custom Window is one of a handful of companies on the East Coast that specialize in shapes for vinyl-window manufacturers, Cristina said, and the company offers shapes that are hard to produce. The oval, for example, is a shape that is difficult to bend in vinyl and still look cosmetically appealing.

The company makes window frames with special shapes, then adds glass from Custom Glass to complete windows. Special shapes are a growing trend in new residential construction. The average wholesale price of completed windows is $100 to $500 depending on size, glass options and grid options.

Custom Window added a second shift to its production operation early this year as a result of increased business. It is also expanding its product line, adding architectural accents such as decorative panels for the commercial- and residential-construction industries. The accents will be marketed to building-products distributors. The company does not sell directly to the public. Cristina founded Custom Window in 2005 with business partners Steve Reeder and Doug Cross. Reeder is the president of Custom Glass, which bought Custom Window in February 2007.

The company's first year was a challenge. As a startup, Custom Window had to demonstrate its ability to bend very small sizes of materials and deliver on time as it tried to establish a customer base.

But the company was helped by the fact that the overall new-construction market in the Southeast was very strong in 2005.

"We knew regionally being able to ship probably within 300 miles to different window manufacturers, we could do a really good job," Cristina said.

The company landed key accounts its second year in business, including Magnolia Windows & Doors in Baldwin, Ga., and Comfort View Products in Newnan, Ga. With trucks delivering product to Georgia twice a week, Custom Window quickly established business with other companies in the Atlanta area. The company's customer base grew, and now includes HK in Durham, Atrium Windows and Doors in Welcome, and PGT Industries in Salisbury.

Today, 12 employees work at Custom Window's production shop at 109 Sunrise Center in Thomasville.

The core of the business starts with Angie Davis, the office manager who communicates directly with customers about their orders.

Cristina wants errors caught long before employees are in the final production stages to avoid the waste of time, labor and materials. This includes early inspection of glass coming into the production shop.

At the same time that Custom Window gets all the information needed to produce a frame, it orders custom-glass products from its parent company, Custom Glass, for delivery to the production shop the next day.

"The real key to this business is having the glass fit the frame right the first time," Cristina said.

Glass is the most expensive aspect of the business. If glass does not fit in an insulated window, the entire unit has to be remade. This could affect delivery times and result in the loss of profits.

When a problem arises, Cristina said, the company uses it as an opportunity to learn what happened so that it will not reproduce the same error.

Custom Window prides itself on fast turnarounds. It delivers products within three to four days, depending on the destination. Cristina said that if the company has to back order a product, customers are notified at once, then he decides on the fastest way to get the product to them.

"Plenty of times, I come in at 4 in the morning and have a pickup truck packed with a couple of things that have to be expedited, and I drive it down to Georgia," he said.

"Those little things like that really endear the customer to you, especially when you're driving that far."

Comfort View Products used to do its own special shapes, but decided to hire Custom Window for economical reasons, said Gwen Dunn, the purchasing manager for Comfort View.

Dunn said that the company provides quick delivery and good, quality work.

"They are just good people to work with -- easy people to work with -- and that makes a big difference in my job," she said.

The recent trouble in the housing market nationally has affected business somewhat at Custom Window.

Cristina said he saw a slowdown during spring 2007, but orders have been good the last two months.

Custom Window is also in a seasonal business. Orders tend to pick up in the spring and fall off in the winter.

In addition to expanding into architectural accents, Custom Window is doing research and development in other areas that show promise, including vinyl and composite fencing and decks.

"It's just different ways to take a look at how to utilize the equipment in the building industry and carve ourselves out a niche," Cristina said.

■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com
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