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feature
For Midwest, Better Times Beckon
Some Midwest Glass Shops, Glaziers, See
Light at the End of the Tunnel
by Megan Headley
The Midwestern commercial glass industry may not be out
of the dark yet, but reports are that there’s light ahead.
“It’s looking better right now than it has in a few years,” says Jim Pegg,
president of Architectural Glazing Systems in Mount Morris, Mich. “Things
are looking much better; you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The glazing contractor reports that design activity is picking up in his
region. 
“Architects are starting to get a little bit busier here in this area.
It’s looking much brighter. I’m very optimistic that this year is going
to be much better than the past couple of years,” Pegg says.
“As far as activity I see a lot more estimating, better than last year,”
says Mike Carlson, branch manager of Midwest Glazing & Allied Glass
in Davenport, Iowa. “It seems to be better. It could be a lot better,”
he adds, “but I see a maybe 30-percent increase.”
“It was pretty slow in December and January until about the middle of
February and the last couple of weeks have been pretty good,” says Larry
Willsher, owner of Northland Glass in Clear Lake, Iowa. Willsher admits
the area did see some warmer weather in February, which may have helped,
but primarily he has been doing interior work.
“Generally we don’t do a lot in the winter up here just because of the
weather and because the town that we live in is a tourist town,” he says.
“There’s not much going on in the wintertime, although we generally keep
busy. But this year we had about six weeks of hardly anything. That kind
of killed us, but we’re going again now.”
That things are beginning to pick up is keeping Willsher optimistic about
the rest of the year.
“I feel good about what’s coming. I hope things keep going our way,” Willsher
says.
Pat McGonigal, division manager of Glass Contractors Inc., a fabricator
in Omaha, Neb., says that “up” might be the trend for business later this
year, but it’s not quite the case now, for much the same reasons that
Willsher mentioned. Overall, McGonigal says, “It’s still pretty slow.”
He adds, “The weather’s getting better, so we’re seeing a little bit of
an increase here, but it’s mostly interior work we’re seeing.”
Still, he adds, “We feel like everybody’s positive and things are going
the right way. Will it be better than last year? We hope so but not necessarily
planning on it. But we feel like the future is brighter.”
For Brian Schermetzler, manager of Ellerman Glass LLC, a glass shop in
Manitowoc, Wis., “Commercial work is still very slow.” Moreover, he says,
“Residential work, new homes, is very slow—but remodel work is doing well.”
Ellerman Glass provides services for automotive, residential and commercial
glass customers, giving the company an overview of the industry. “I see
the residential sector gaining, and I also do see the commercial gaining,
but very slightly,” Schermetzler says.
Jim Jankauskis, business unit manager for shower doors for Foremost Groups
Inc. (which is planning to launch a business unit in the Midwest), agrees
that residential remodeling remains the hot spot. “Business conditions
in the whole United States and Midwest are really challenging right now,
but we’re seeing some improvement in the housing market and remodeling
sectors recovering,” he says.
W.A. Wilson Inc. is one of those seemingly rare companies that has moved
from other areas of the glass business into commercial glass products.
In January the glass distributor, which has facilities in Canton and Columbus,
Ohio, sold its auto glass assets to Mygrant Glass. President Bob Hartong
says, “We’re very much focused on the commercial side, between our insulating
and tempered and metal line. That’s where our focus is.”
Even with that concentrated focus, Hartong says the company is facing
a challenging year ahead.
“[Business] is certainly difficult, and off to a slow start so far this
year. Really we had a nice up-tick in the third or early fourth quarter
of last year, and then toward the end of the year it really seemed to
have dropped off,” he says.
Dennis Branner, owner of Branner Glass Co., a commercial and residential
glazing contractor in Springfield, Ill., says that so far, business in
2011 has been “terrible,” and his expectations for the rest of the year
remain low.
Branner adds, “It’s getting a little bit better, there are a few more
jobs out there for the bidding right now, but it’s just as slow as you
could ever imagine.”
When asked about his expectations for his flat glass business in 2011,
Hartong says, “I really do think it’s going to be difficult for the first
half of this year. I think third quarter we’ll probably see things pick
back up. What we forecast for this year is probably a very similar year
to 2010.”
Architectural Billings
Hold Steady
After showing positive momentum during the fourth quarter of 2010, the
American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Architecture Billings Index (ABI)
slipped almost four points in January. As a leading economic indicator
of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve
month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.
AIA reported the January ABI score was 50.0, down from a reading of 53.9
the previous month. This score reflects stable demand for design services
(any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings).The new projects
inquiry index was 56.5, down sharply from a mark of 61.6 in December.
The Midwest average was 56.4.
“This slowdown is indicative of what is likely to be a very gradual improvement
in business conditions at architecture firms for the better part of this
year,” says Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA, AIA chief economist. “We’ve been
taking a cautiously optimistic approach for the last several months and
there is no reason at this point to change that outlook. There are still
too many firms that continue to see weak market conditions to expect a
dramatic increase in the demand for services in the design and
construction industry. ”
Trending Topics
Pegg’s optimism for 2011 may stem from the fact that the glazing contractor
has pursued institutional projects. “It seems like there are more schools
out for bids right now, and there are airports in our area that are doing
additions and remodels,” Pegg says.
Hartong is seeing continued demand from government projects—and energy-efficient
products as a result.
“Certainly, with the government’s push for everything to be green-building,
all the high-performance products [are in demand],” Hartong says.
McGonigal’s company, meanwhile, provides “a lot of heavy glass, a lot of
specialty colors and interior finishes with artwork.” As far as demand,
the fabricator simply keeps getting requests for more custom finish work.
With residential remodeling showing a glimmer of activity, Schermetzler
says that Ellerman Glass is supplying residential products for now. “We’re
doing more shower door work because people are putting their money back
into the homes instead of buying new homes, so they’re remodeling kitchens
and baths first,” he says.
Willsher agrees that the focus seems to be on remodeling, especially in
the tourist town on the lake in which he works. “I’ve sold seven glass shower
doors in the last week—high-end, heavy glass,” he says. “Two of them are
for the same new house, the rest of them are for remodels.”
“We see an opening [for shower doors] in the Midwest and Chicago, after
several different manufacturers have either closed the doors or pulled out
of the region,” Jankauskis says. “We will have a full line, as we’re seeing
a trend as everyone else has toward the frameless doors.”
Jankauskis acknowledges that it seems like more companies are looking at
closing their doors than opening, but Foremost believes now is the time
to launch. “There have been a couple companies that have closed their doors,
and we feel that this is the time [to fill the void],” Jankauskis says.
Ahead of the Curve
Many of these Midwestern glass companies are taking a fresh look at their
business and marketing plan, without going to the extreme of Foremost and
W.A. Wilson.
Pegg reports that Architectural Glazing Systems will be looking at growing
its office space in the year ahead in preparation of a business boom. “This
is something we’re going to be looking at,” he says. “We definitely need
to renovate our building … and we would like to hire additional people this
year.”
Ellerman Glass LLC is focusing on drawing in new customers.
“We’re focusing more on advertising,” Schermetzler says. “We did radio last
year and now we’re upgrading signage.”
Branner Glass, meanwhile, is chasing after new customers. “We’re looking
at different areas,” Branner says. “We’ll widen our geographic area a little
bit, but that’s not something that we like to do.”
Northland Glass is getting an early start on its spring marketing as residents
return to their lake homes. “We do a couple home shows in March and that
usually kicks us off, but we’re kind of getting started early this year,”
Willsher says.
For Glass Contractors Inc., the goal is to continue to improve the company’s
interactions with new and existing customers. “We’re definitely trying to
be more customer service oriented, and better at what we do,” McGonigal
says. “We’re just trying to refine our processes and make it easier for
customers to do business with us.”
Top-notch customer service is about the best thing a glass shop can offer
at a time when customers are browsing for deals.
Megan Headley is the editor of USGlass.
USG
© Copyright 2011 Key Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
No reproduction of any type without expressed written permission.
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