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| industry profile
Better,
Faster, Easier
Providing homeowners and businesses with a better way to protect themselves
is what Lookout Shutters is all about.
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Hp: Please give a detailed description
of your company and its history.
Wayne Trundle: In 1999 my father-in-law,
Bernie Roberts, and I began talking about ways to improve the many products
being used for hurricane protection. With our many years of experience in
both engineering and construction as a guide, we set out to seek new ways
to make improvements on current products and/or design new products altogether.
Our initial goal was to design and build custom machinery to produce new
products for manufacturers in the hurricane protection industry. Our ideas
for new products were quite different from the normal products being produced
by the many manufacturers in the industry. As you can imagine, trying to
change the old way of thinking in this industry to a new approach met with
some resistance. After several attempts to get someone to think in a new
direction and failing, we decided to make it happen on our own.
Lookout Shutters, Inc. started in business in January 2000 as a small family
business with high hopes to make a difference in the hurricane protection
industry. We have now grown to employ a dozen workers in a 45,000-square-foot
plant and to service dealers from as far north as Connecticut all the way
around the coast to Texas. We are currently looking to place distribution
centers in some key locations (two in Florida, one in the Carolinas and
one in Texas). We are projecting to do upwards of $5 million in sales in
2005.
HP: What hurricane protection products did you handle initially? What
products do you handle today?
Trundle: Our first product design was
for a clear accordion blade that mates with existing aluminum extruded blades
to allow light in and give the ability to see out. That product is now being
produced exclusively for the High-tech Association’s HT-100 System.
Next, we developed what has become the flagship product of our company,
The Lookout Clear Storm Panel. With panel widths from 15 to 57 inches you
can cover most openings with only one super lightweight panel. This Lexan®
XL-10 product is backed by a 10-year warranty from General Electric.
Next, we designed and developed our new Composite Shutter System offering
Standard Colonial, Sliding Colonial, and Bahama shutters. In keeping with
our leading-edge thinking, we designed our composite shutters to be the
most consumer-friendly to operate. With a simple turn of a handle, you can
lock the shutters into place and that’s it. There are no bars, brackets
or braces to be added.
All of our shutter systems operate from the inside so there’s no need
to get out on the roof or on a ladder to protect second- or third-story
openings.
HP: Give a percentage breakdown of these products. What one product or
line stands out above the rest?
Trundle: Our Clear Panel represents
about 70 percent of our overall sales and the Composite Shutters are steadily
climbing to approximately 25 percent, while the Clear Accordion Blades carry
five percent.
HP: Is your business computerized? Do you have a company Web site, and
how is it used to communicate with customers?
Trundle: Yes, we are constantly updating
our Web site (www.lookoutshuttersinc.com) with new photographs and current
information that pertains to the hurricane protection industry and our products.
Customers can learn about our product features and can e-mail us with questions
and inquiries about dealers in their areas.
HP: Who are your customers? What parts of the country do you service?
Trundle: We are a manufacturer, therefore we sell wholesale to dealers who
do the retail sales and installations. We service dealers in most areas
on the East Coast from Connecti-cut to Florida as well as the Gulf Coast
over to Texas.
HP: How many salespeople do you employ?
Trundle: We have several outside sales
representatives who cover various regions, and we are looking to add several
more in the near future. We are always on the lookout for energetic, highly
motivated individuals who can catch the vision of the future and come on
board with our sales team.
HP: How has your segment of the industry changed since you first began?
Trundle: As we all know, the nation’s
building codes have been going through some major changes in the past few
years. We saw the changes on the horizon and set our goals to develop products
that would meet the new standards that we knew were coming. When the new,
tougher codes finally did come, our products were already tested and approved
to meet the new requirements.
Our products are all completely engineered and tested to meet the requirements
of the latest building codes. These codes include IBC, IRC, TDI, and the
new Florida Building Code (including the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, which
is the old Miami Dade code).
HP: Where do you see yourself and your company five years from now? Are
there additional areas within the industry that you would like to get involved
in?
Trundle: With the implementation of
the various new code requirements and the forecast by the hurricane professionals
for increased storm activity over the next few years, we see a great potential
for Lookout Shutters to capture more and more of the market and experience
dramatic growth.
As consumers become more educated about their need for hurricane protection
and the many products that are offered, we are confident that the Lookout
Shutters products will give them exactly what they are searching for. With
that in mind, we have set our long-range sights on broadening our product
awareness in the marketplace with aggressive advertising and increased focus
on consumer sales.
As far as new areas to get involved in, we have a few more new ideas up
our sleeve. Here’s one for you: How about an automated sliding colonial
shutter? You could push a button and they would slide closed; push again
and they would slide open. We’re working on that and many more fresh
ideas for the next generation of Lookout Shutter products.
HP: What best describes your niche in the marketplace?
Trundle: We offer the premiere clear
panel in the industry. It’s the one-piece clear panel that’s guaranteed
to stay clear. It “takes the impact and bounces right back.” Our
“one
panel for one window” approach is a first in the industry.
We also feel that we have given the consumers what they want; protection
that’s easy to put into place that won’t make them feel like they
are locked in a dark dungeon, not knowing what’s happening around them.
HP: What are some of the key factors involved in your growth and success?
Trundle: When consumers begin searching
for hurricane protection products they learn very quickly that there are
thousands of products to choose from. As they narrow their search for the
type products they really want, they ultimately find our products fill their
needs and desires. With our consumer-friendly product lines, Lookout Shutters
has become recognized as an innovative leader in this industry and our dramatic
growth is proof of our success.
HP: What are your strengths in the marketplace?
Trundle: We feel our strengths are
based on reliability and dependable service to our customers, as well as
the in-house engineering and technical support we offer. It’s not enough
just to manufacture the best hurricane protection products; you’ve
got to follow up with excellent customer service and support.
HP: What advice would you give to other hurricane protection professionals?
Trundle: To give the consumers what
they want you have to think in new ways. With today’s technology, people
expect better products not the same old tired products that have been dressed
up and given a new name. To quote the great Albert Einstein, “You cannot
solve problems with same level of thinking that created them.”
The market is flooded with products that are adequate for the job, but in
this day and age people want better, faster, easier; they want and expect
more. You simply must move beyond your current way of thinking and seek
new ways to give the people what they want. We at Lookout Shutters have
built our whole existence around this philosophy.
HP: What trends and cycles do you see occurring in the industry? How is
your business addressing them?
Trundle: Architects are constantly trying
to improve exterior design without adding cost to the job. One way that
has become common practice is to add faux facades and trims at corners and
around window openings. This presents major problems for mounting hurricane
protection over these openings. With all of the changes in architectural
design and the need to blend hurricane protection with style, we are looking
to debut our next line of great products in early March. We will offer a
fully adjustable “H” header and “F” track that will
allow installers to precisely match any number of build-out trim conditions.
Installations can be done neat and clean, matching perfectly to whatever
built-out trim schemes they have to work around.
HP: What distinguishes you from the competition?
Trundle: Integrity and innovation.
We have built our business on forward, leading-edge thinking that has lead
us to produce some of the most innovative, premiere products in the hurricane
protection industry.
My deep personal Christian faith calls me to live by higher standards that
include my business dealings. Our company policy is to be truthful in all
matters, even if the truth could make us look bad. We conduct our business
with honesty and integrity and we are highly respected in the industry,
even among our competitors.
HP: What other issue do you see as important to the hurricane protection
industry?
Trundle: Egress! The current building
codes require that every home must have a means of egress. For example:
bedroom windows must be of adequate size so that a person can crawl out
through the window opening in the event of an emergency. However, the code
also requires those same openings to be storm protected against flying debris
from hurricanes. Most code-approved storm panel systems, or plywood if you
like, are attached from the outside, thereby locking a person in the home
and literally violating the egress codes.
The No. 1 reason that I started Lookout Shutters was to provide homeowners
and business owners better ways to protect themselves and their families.
Locking folks up in their homes in dangerous situations is not our idea
of the best way to help. That’s why all of the products that Lookout
Shutters offers can be made to operate from inside the home. That means
that when trouble occurs, an easy exit is quickly available.
The people who buy our products are more to us than just consumers with
money to spend; they are real people with families and loved ones who put
their protection needs in our hands. We will always do our very best to
be worthy of their trust.
Lookout Shutters, Inc.
1268 Mauldin Rd.
Calhoun, GA 30701
(877) 200-0234
fax: (706) 602-6922
www.lookoutshuttersinc.com |
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