If you’re an avid reader of my blog, you know that a few years ago I made a pledge to bring you good news in the industry, along with the bad—and unfortunately the last few years have brought a great deal of the latter. But I hope I have been successful in highlighting some bright [...]

I have to admit I’m a newbie to the AMD annual convention, though I’ve been with this company for 14 years, and have served as editor of DWM/Shelter since DWM was formed ten years ago.
Samantha Carpenter, former editor of Shelter, was lucky enough to go to AMD each year, and this year I took over [...]

So I wasn’t going to weigh in on Donald Trump’s comments about ordering windows from China. We’ve done news coverage regarding his statements (CLICK HERE for the latest) and theses speak volumes on their own.
But I just watched him talk for about 12 minutes on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and many of his comments dealt with [...]

The introduction for our lead story this week is the quote, “If you’re in this room you get a gold star because that means you’ve survived [the housing downturn and recession].”
And I think it’s so important to remember that I wanted to start this blog with that same quote as I share some of my observations [...]

Hopefully you’ve all seen our video reports last week from GlassBuild America, but I thought I’d share a few more items of interest at the show. Be sure to look to future issues of DWM
 
for more detail, but here are some bullets to wet your appetite.
First, on products:
If you stopped at the Owens Corning booth [...]

Once in a while, I receive calls from consumers seeking advice in their window purchases. First off, I always tell them that I can’t recommend a particular product, but sometimes they are just looking for someone to listen. That’s what a particular widow seemed to want when she called me a few weeks ago.
I have [...]

If you’re like me and you work in the window industry, every time you see an ad for a window company ad you probably pay closer attention. Have you ever been to a major sporting event and seen an ad from your competition on the right field wall, for example? Admittedly, not many companies spend [...]

A few weeks ago I told you about my observations from attending the day-long lead-safe work practices certified renovator course (CLICK HERE for that story). Since we published that blog, I’ve received an outpouring of comments from readers about it. And, though I hesitate to write another blog about lead paint, I can’t resist, as [...]

Before you skip this article thinking this is an article just for people who work primarily on a mobile basis, think again. Yes, considering a cell phone policy is crucial for those constantly on the road such as installers, but what about sales reps? Don’t they live on their cell phone while constantly traveling from [...]

When the EPA issued a memo recently stating it would not enforce the lead certification requirement until later this year it created some confusion. So to clarify, if you’re already certified as certified renovator you still have to follow lead-safe work practices. However, if you are not trained as a certified renovator, the agency will [...]