With a depressed housing market and high interest rates, most door and window fabricators are seeing softer demand these days. But with the first day of spring less than a week away, window fabricators are hopeful that the market for doors and windows will pick up as it usually does this time of year. During […]

With Energy Star 7 looming on the horizon, I am seeing fabricators considering one of three main paths. The Wayward Sons With requirements becoming more difficult and costly to meet, some fabricators are simply not going to do it any longer, but they will “carry on” (like the song by rock group Kansas) with an […]

I read with great interest a recent company news article in [DWM] about how a Temperance Business Hires a Life Coach to help employees reach their personal goals. This article focused on MI Windows & Doors and how they are utilizing a life coach to help individual employees identify their life dreams and tie those […]

With things slowing down temporarily, door and window executives are finally able to catch their breath and refocus their companies’ plans for steady and sustained growth. In talking to the leaders of various companies, I have found there are three key areas that are being evaluated for possible change. Sourcing With the recent supply chain […]

I just had dinner with a customer who was eager to talk about the state of the economy. “What is happening to business?” he asked. “I have not seen it this slow in some time! What is going on? We need to discuss the state of the economy and what I need to do to […]

Forecasts are tough. Don’t you just love it when the weatherman calls for a 50% chance of rain? How can he be right? How can he be wrong? So, let’s talk about the forecast for the door and window industry. Overall, 2022 proved to be a very good year with most door and window fabricators […]

Well, it is hard to believe that Christmas 2022 is almost here already. As the year winds down, it also appears that the insane demand for fenestration products is also normalizing. This will give us time to catch our breath, spend time with family, reflect upon our accomplishments, and prepare for what I believe will […]

In talking to my customers, business in November is just like any other November. In other words, it has been very busy up until Thanksgiving, but since the turkey was cooked it’s been more like “Tanksgiving.” During the past two years, business was not seeing the normal holiday slowdown as door and window manufacturers were […]

Take advantage of Section 179. The 2022 Section 179 deduction is $1,080,000 (that’s one million, eighty thousand dollars). That’s a full 30k increase from last year. This means your company can buy/lease/finance new or used equipment and write off the full cumulative purchase price on your 2022 taxes. This can result in big tax savings, […]

It’s November already! With the year winding down and the demand curve leveling out, many window and door fabricators are getting caught up on back orders. Before you know it, spring of 2023 will be here. Even with reports of new COVID strains in the news, it is quite apparent that public life is almost […]