Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Impact podcast, brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherri Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: So good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact podcast, and we are doing a special episode today about diamond Glass. And we have a special guest with us today, Adam Dovey from Dovey Windows and Doors. Welcome, Adam.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: Glad to be here.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it would be great if you could be here, be here, but we've got you on the phone, so that'll have to do. But we have done a couple of episodes already about Diamond Glass, but that was before people were actually buying it and installing it. And now it's a real thing. Like, we've got products out in the field, we've got people placing orders, and for those that may not be familiar with it, Diamond Glass, it's a product that PGT, which is now Mitre brands, went into partnership with Corning, and it's using ATG Glass, which stands for architectural technical glass. So that's actually a fusion drawn glass that's in a laminated unit. And so it's lighter, it's clearer, and it's more scratch resistant than regular glass. And so we're super excited about having this out there finally, after many, many years of development and testing. And so, Adam, before we get started, tell us a little bit about you.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Like, where are you located? Over in Port Orange, which is about ten minutes south of Daytona beach. That's the big landmark city. We're more of a central Florida east coast company. We specialize a lot of big river houses and the ocean houses and what I like to call the fun stuff. I grew up doing this. My dad was one of the very first PGT dealers, back when there were used to be vinyl tech back in the early eighties.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: And just grew up in the industry. So I've got a predisposition that's different than most when it comes to windows and doors. I always enjoyed it. I like, as cheesy as it sounds, I like being part of the fabric of my town. I can go up and down any road and see jobs that I've done that I've helped design, and it gives me the warm and fuzzies. But it's something that I'd like to think I'm pretty good at. I've been doing it now full time for officially 28 years, unofficially, for give or take, 36, 37. So a little bit of experience.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say so.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: I've gotten to the point where I've got a great team around me, which I've, I used to joke, windows and doors are the easy part. It's the variable of employees and customers that give you the challenges. And I couldn't be happier. Right now I've got everybody from our GM to our COo to all the way down to the installers out in the field. Really good group of people that are all like minded and have the same mission, to put out a good product at a good price and again, feel good about yourself at the end of the day.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Aw, that's amazing. It's so fun to talk to people who have all this depth of experience because I'm still a newbie, I'm less than four years, so.
No, that's awesome. And we actually met you. Our team did a road trip a few years ago when we launched our certification programs and your team had earned several. And so we were happy to drop in and meet you guys. And I think one of your installers actually hung around because we were running a little bit late and he was done for the day. But he's like, nope, I'm sticking around for my prize. And so that was a fun experience to meet with you guys then.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. And they still talk about that.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: The interaction with PGT, you guys are one of the few companies that really, you're a monster company, I think 3.1 billion, give or take, that acts like a much smaller, almost local window and door company, which is again, half the fun. I mean, that's why it's so easy to talk to you. That's why it's so easy to be part of the pilot programs for us. Things like diamond Glass, because you're very well set up to make things comfortable from honestly, to get go.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Oh, thank you. That's awesome to hear. And so what made you decide to become a pilot dealer?
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Truthfully, I think Dean gave me the nod and said, you're going to do this?
[00:04:13] Speaker B: And I said, absolutely, that sounds like Dean.
[00:04:17] Speaker C: So 15 years ago, we were some of the first rollouts for the bifolding door. I actually have that on my restaurant over the bar and that was a fun learning curve. The product that we have today, I'd like to think I was instrumental and in the field, high pressure learning, because again, if you're not involved in the front end, then you're just kind of getting toted around as the wind blows. I really enjoy working with PGT. I really enjoy that. And I appreciate that you guys take the dealer seriously. I think I have a different position more than other dealers because I do know everybody over there. And the diamond glass specifically, among other things, was probably the most excited I've been or any of my guys been for a rollout. I will confidently say to date, even more so than the current generation of vinyl window and door, which was a huge, huge product rollout after the old 400 500 series. That was a game changer. This is even more so.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: So when did you first start hearing about diamond glass and then when did you start installing it?
[00:05:17] Speaker C: Diamond glass? I was lucky to be on the. To have everybody's ear. Maybe two years ago, two and a half years ago. Well before anything was really solidified, just hypotheticals, we were lucky enough to be one of the first, I think first seven or eight rollout dealers. And as soon as I got permission, actually it's funny, we ordered a couple jobs under the assumption they were diamond glass. And I might have pushed the envelope a little bit too much because part of what I was selling to the customers and the dealer or the builders was this latest and greatest rollout. We actually delayed two jobs to wait for the diamond glass to be officially available. But yeah, I was on board 100%, because again, you don't get to be part of a lot of paradigm shifts. This is one of them. The weight of hurricane impact windows and doors, it's staggering to anybody that really has never lifted a sliding glass door panel, a 408 or a 4100. I tell a lot of people go out in your driveway and try to lift the back of your truck off the ground and they all laugh and they giggle, but it really is close to that amount of weight. It's really staggering. Yeah, we were on board and from day one, as soon as they gave us the green light and allowed us to order it, we were on there and we got our first official house a couple months ago and everything was cracked up to be.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: I was just going to ask, so what has the experience been? I mean, there's always a learning curve, right? You mentioned that like, okay, this is a brand new thing. We've never had built this before. We've never handled this before. So what's that experience been for you?
[00:06:41] Speaker C: PGT has a way in window of getting things right. But there are always a couple of hiccups. It's not a secret. We're all in the industry, we know how this works. We've had a couple on the first job that was delivered and two of the guys came out to the window. Guys or Ilab guys came out personally the job site and saw it through, identified a couple issues that they might change and work through it. Nothing dramatic, nothing game changing, just a couple pieces of glass that gotta get switched out. But all in all, really not a rough roll up, not like it could have been. I will tell you, and not to interrupt that. The best part about it was the anticipation. So it's my job to sit behind a desk nowadays and push paper. It's not as much fun as being out in the field like the old days, but we have a lot of my guys that are getting up there in age. They're in their forties, early fifties, and this was something I pushed pretty heavily. And installers, if you get to know most of them, their livelihood depends on good quality products showing up, because time is money. And a lot of them are very cynical because it very rarely happens, not just with certain manufacturers, but across the board. And I remember the first delivery we got of this, I had installers coming up to my office to knock on the door and say how wild they were. And that's hard to explain. You can impress an owner, you can impress dealers, you can impress a lot of the stuff, but to impress installers that are unloading the truck for the very first time, enough so to where they take the time to walk over and knock on your door, that's when I think we really knew we had something special, because it changed their livelihood.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Right. And that's the, the biggest issue in the business is finding quality installers that can do the work and do it well. And it is a lot like these panels are heavy and they're big and they're not easy to manage. And, you know, you have to be pretty strong in order to manage it. So it can reduce a lot of headaches and a lot of potential injuries, reduces the wear and tear on the hardware, all of it. It's just easier for homeowners too, right?
[00:08:57] Speaker C: Yeah, the operation. So the neat thing I like is a lot of these doors. For example, the window 8100 was designed for just insanely heavy glass. And now we have glass that weighs, or impact glass that weighs a lot less. And yet nobody skipped window. Didn't say, hey, we're going to now downgrade everything else. We still have top of the line hardware, the tracks, everything's designed to take that amount of weight. And what my guys saw, the first job we installed, it's almost surreal how it rolls, how they lock. It doesn't make sense to somebody, to an average homeowner. They're just going to see it as a very nice store to somebody in the industry. It was hard to sit there and we're all smiling like goons at each other because it didn't make sense how easy it was to install. And these was a door. So four foot by nine foot panels, insulated impact, and two guys installed it. Typically that would be a three guy job. And at the end of the day, they were smiling. It was very surreal. But, yeah, that's a very nice surprise that everything stayed at the caliber where it was. And you just lighten up the door to allow it to be as cheesy as this sounds. The best door that it was designed to be, and it really shows.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: So some of the other benefits that diamond glass has is the clarity. Did you guys notice anything about that in this application?
[00:10:12] Speaker C: It was a turtle glass, so it had shield max and gray tint. The turtle glass inherently has the visible transmit of a certain level, so clarity on this one wasn't an issue. But I think a lot of that's going to be more valuable on things that are not direct oceanfront. So you can do regular glass, but I've seen the samples and I've seen the comparisons. Every little bit matters. I mean, it's the big picture kind of thing. So you make a more comfortable house, rather than just saying, hey, flip on a light.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Right? And then also the other benefit, too. And I don't know if this shows up as soon as you install it or if that's something that comes down the line later. But the scratch resistance factor is much better with the diamond glass as well.
[00:10:51] Speaker C: So we've been pretty lucky. Haven't had a lot of it. The neat thing, and I'm not sure which product lines you do, but even on top of that, you guys are starting to put the protector film on top. So as a whole package, the lines were upgraded to think, start to finish. Not just Onesie twosies here, but no, I've told a lot of these guys to be aware of that, especially during construction. Time will tell again that the first one we did, the house hasn't been stuck yet. That's the real litmus test, to see how wild and crazy the stucco guys get. And then the cleaners clean it off the glass. But I'm optimistic for it. I don't really know how to test or something like that, other than to just cross my fingers and blindly say if PGT says it's so, then it must be so. But so far everything else with the diamond glass has passed the mustard and I feel confident this will too.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: That's awesome. And so I think that's kind of it. Is there anything else you want to add?
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Actually, yeah. One more thing back to the installer part of it. So I have a couple guys that are about my age, mid forties, early fifties, and I don't think enough of this was focused on that you are able to change or you're changing the careers of some of these guys that all they've done their whole life is install windows and doors. There is no my second career or anything like this. But to give them something that makes it a little easier is hard to explain because it's nothing that's ever expected and honestly, it's nothing that's ever happened. And the years I've been doing it, my dad, it's only gotten heavier. And this is going to give a couple of the older guys that really are typically the craftsmen that have the knowledge to really fine tune. I mean, you got these doors that are worth as much as a new BMW, but they know how to do it. This gives them the opportunity to stay in the game and make a difference instead of having to retire out early or quite frankly, get hurt. So that, I think hasn't been touted enough. The real world implications of guys in the field, not just the dealers and the owners that you talk to all the time, but the guys that really matter.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Well, I know in the episode I did, and this was probably like three years ago, I recorded an episode with Dean and Kenny about diamond Glass and that it was going to be coming. And Kenny said, you know, it's one of those problems that nobody thought we could fix. You know, they do a lot of dealer interactions and how can we make our products better? How can we make it better? And the feedback was always, can you make them lighter? And nobody thought it could be done and then boom, we've done it. So it's very exciting for you guys and for your team and that's the focal point, right? Is like, let's not tax the labor force unnecessarily. If we can figure out a way to make this better, then let's do it.
[00:13:28] Speaker C: Yeah. And again, even the new labor force coming in, these kids that are coming out in their early twenties, mid twenties, there's a lot of other things they can do to be able to be part of the window and door industry. Typically came with a lot of caveats and said, hey, I going to have back problems. You're going to have this. It is just like working in an industry or a mill. Now we can mitigate that again. Still crazy heavy. 4100, 400:120 panels are always going to be heavy, but to have grown men sit around a job site giggling. Don't tell him I said that.
Because of how surprised everything is. It's. You don't often get to be part of a game changer, but I think this is a pretty darn cool project. Kudos to Dean and everybody on that team. I know behind the scenes the work that went into getting to this point, and it is by no stretch of small feet. So all the millions and the headaches and the sleepless nights they put in, I would say thank you very much. You saved me a lot of headaches.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and that's the idea, right? Is that you make a difference in whatever it is that you're doing. And, you know, sometimes it's big and sometimes it's small. And this is amazing. So I'm so thankful for your time today. Thank you for being one of the brave ones to take on new products. You know, that's not always an easy thing. Sometimes people just like the same old, same old and they know what they're getting and they know what they're going to do. And, you know, it takes a special person to really embrace the unknown and to be on the front side of that adoption curve.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: And to have the mindset of, yeah, let's take it, let's tackle it. Let's figure it out. So we really appreciate you and your business and I appreciate your time today.
[00:15:01] Speaker C: Thank you very much. And it's a partnership. That's what I always say. And this is proofs in the pudding, so to speak. This is. This is a really good thing. And I'm always flattered when you guys choose me for stuff like this. And hopefully it's good on both ends.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: That's awesome. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you so much, Adam. Have a good day.
[00:15:17] Speaker C: All right, bye.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Okay, bye.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: The clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: One of the missions of Mitre brands.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window indoor brands deliver regionalized expertise and products backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
