By MERLE ROSS
| BENICIA - Insight
Glass has moved into new quarters - again. In fact, this will be
the sixth time in 12 years that the company, which furnishes major homebuilders
with windows and doors, has moved in Benicia. This time, it has leased
two buildings on 6.1 acres at 3150 Bayshore Road.
"Because of the tremendous number of housing starts in the bay area, we have more customers," says co-founder and vice-president Craig Andres. "As a result, we have a large amount of new contracts that we will be working on in 2000." "We had more sales backlog in 1999 than any previous year by a ratio of almost two to one," he adds. "We were awarded the Mather Air Force Base project, a housing development of 1,800 homes. We have a 229-lot project in Monterey called Pasadera, where the homes will sell for $1.5 million-$4 million. We are also doing the Somerset projects in Brentwood and Rio Vista and 800 units in Brentwood Lakes." Insight Glass, which has been growing 40% a year for six years in a row, is a major supplier of windows and doors. Some of its customers include The Hoffman Company, Ponderosa Homes, and Shapell Industries. Selling Anderson and Marvin wood windows and Phillips vinyl windows, Insight Glass is one of the largest suppliers of windows and doors in northern California, from Healdsburg to Monterey, according to Mr. Andres. New showroom The increase in business has prompted Insight's move to the new property,which has a 52,000sf building in the front that the company will occupy. The 32,000sf building in the back has been subleased to Sequentia, a division of Kemlite Company of Tennessee. Larry Hazard of CRS in Walnut Creek
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handled the arrangements for both
companies.
The new facility will provide more warehouse space as well as more office space and a new showroom. "We will have a brand new showroom with a new frontage and all of our products on display," says Mr. Andres. No sulking Mr. Andres and two of his Chico State fraternity brothers, Tim Hammitt and Tom Baker, started Insight Glass in 1987. Even though they had no practical experience in running a business, they launched the company, because they were unhappy with the construction-related jobs they had at that time. "Our biggest strength was our youth," reflects Mr. Andres. "We didn't have 15-20 years of experience on how to do something. We started with a blank piece of paper. We just sat around a table and asked each other, "How do you think we should do this?" Despite the fact that Mr. Andres has encountered physical challenges - in 1995, he was struck by a car, which left him a paraplegic - he clearly hasn't let that slow him down. He believes he is the only salesperson in the construction industry in a wheelchair. "Even though something happened to me, my customers know I am the same person," he says. "You can sit around and sulk or get back into it." The payoff Mr. Andres' attitude and hard work - and the hard work of his partners - has paid off. From a modest 1,200sf office with one telephone, the company has expanded to 35 employees and plans to add five more. "Last year, we did over $16 million in sales, and this year, we hope to do over $20 million," says Mr. Andres. For more information, call 707-746-6571.
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