What with mortgage rates at historical lows and the Inland Northwest residential real estate market still percolating, one might assume that the window industry herewhich accounts for a sizable number of manufacturing, distribution, sales, and installation jobsalso must be humming.


The reality ispardon the punless clear.


The Spokane areas two primary window makers have been experiencing strong growth recently, and some retailers here also are seeing encouraging sales upswings. Reports are mixed, though, and some of the scattered sales increases are being attributed more to the addition of new customers and niche-market gains than to broader economic or real-estate market factors.


Interest rates are so low that theres an incentive to build, but theres a disincentive in that nobody is really fearing interest rates moving up, says Mark McVay, marketing director for Window Products Inc., the big vinyl window manufacturer.


That missing sense of urgency doesnt seem to have hurt Window Products, which boosted its sales by more than one-fourth last yeardue partly to a couple of acquisitions, but also to some new businessand expects that double-digit growth rate to ease only slightly this year.


I think were going to continue to grow at about the same pace, probably between about 20 percent and 25 percent, through the rest of 2003, judging by current demand, McVay says.


The vinyl-window maker, which in mid-December employed about 340 people at five locations, including one each in Idaho and Utah, has continued to expand its work force since then. It now probably has between 360 and 380 employees overall, all but about 65 or so of those in the Spokane area, McVay says. Were hiring pretty aggressively in Spokane, he adds.


Window Products serves 11 Western states, which keeps it from being dependent just on the Inland Northwest economy, and recently moved a Salt Lake City plant into larger quarters.


VPI Quality Windows Inc., a Spokane Valley maker of vinyl windows and patio doors that now employs about 100 people, had revenue growth of about 30 percent last year and hopes to be up within a few percentage points of that growth this year, says Burke Blevins, president and majority owner.


The market, in general, has been on an upward trend over the last 10 years, Blevins says. The last year has been softer for the window-products industry nationally due to the economic slump, he says, but adds, Our business has remained very strong as we have added new customers.


There was a degradation that bottomed out in the first quarter of this year, Blevins says. Now were seeing a steady recovery. He says he expects the industry also to rebound gradually.


VPI, which occupies a 50,000-square-foot facility at 6120 E. Sharp, caters mostly to the remodeling and replacement markets, although many of its products also go into higher-end, custom new homes, Blevins says.


The company doesnt extrude the vinyl components for its windows, but rather has them made elsewhere and shipped here. It then cuts and welds the pieces to the required dimensions, makes the insulated glass units that go into the frames, and assembles the windows. Like Window Products, VPI sells its products throughout the Western states.


An investor group led by Blevins formed VPI in 1993 after buying the assets of Vinyl Products Inc., which had been in business here since 1983 and was a spinoff of Thermoguard Insulation Co.


Distributors and retailers


Steve Taylor, general manager for the Spokane branch of Seattle-based Pella Northwest LLC, which distributes upscale Pella brand wood window products, says that branch had a fairly soft spring.


There are certainly some markets that are very strong, that are exploding, but the Northwest isnt one of them, he says. He adds, though, The second half (of the year) is appearing to be a whole lot stronger than the first half.


Pella Northwests Spokane branch occupies about 16,000 square feet of office, showroom, and warehouse space in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, at 3808 N. Sullivan, and employs about 20 people. It caters to the residential and commercial markets, and serves a large inland region that includes southern British Columbia.


The company plans to introduce a new composite window product made by Pella in this region next year, expanding beyond its traditional wood-window lineup. The new product, called Impervia, will compete directly with vinyl and aluminum windows and should provide a strong boost to sales, Taylor says. It already has been rolled out in the Southwest and is doing well there, he says.


Sierra Pacific Windows, an Anderson, Calif.-based window maker that operates a Spokane Valley distribution facility, has experienced solid, if not spectacular, sales growth in the Inland Northwest recently, says Mike Shelby, the companys Lacey, Wash.-based regional manager.


Were definitely up, probably around 20 percent so far this year over the first half of last year, he says.


Sierra Pacific makes wood and aluminum-clad windows for the residential and light-commercial markets. Shelby says the companys sales have been flat in the Spokane area, but have grown in some areas of Idaho and Montana, such as around Coeur dAlene, Sandpoint, and Whitefish.


A big driver for us has been the continued activity in the resort areas, he says. Our target market is upper-end housing, and as long as that stays strong, were strong.


Sierra Pacific, like the manufacturers here, distributes its products throughout the western U.S. It operates a 6,000-square-foot office, showroom, and warehouse facility at 9612 E. Montgomery and employs six people here.


Chuck Kelly, part-owner of 54-year-old Valley Glass Inc., at 222 S. Pines, says, Were busy. Our business has continued to grow the last two years, since he and two other investors bought the companys assets.


Valley Glass sells several brands of vinyl and wood windows to homeowners and some contractors, in addition to other products it carries, and has a commercial division that its seeking to build up to match its much heavier residential volume, Kelly says.


The company, which employs 15 people, boosted its revenues by 33 percent last year, and theyre up another 12 percent through the first half of this year, he says. He attributes that growth, though, to better salespeople and greater emphasis on sales, rather than to low interest rates and a thriving residential real estate market.


Mike McVay, president of Spokanes McVay Brothers Contractors Inc., a sizable distributor and installer of replacement windows and siding here, says he considers the window market, nationally and locally, to be comparatively soft.


Remodeling activity in Washington state fell off sharply last year, he says, citing building-industry statistics, while information hes gleaned through a national franchise network suggests that much of the rest of the nation has been experiencing a similar slowdown.


Low interest rates dont seem to have provided much of a boost to the remodeling market, at least recently, McVay says, because realistically they have been low for quite some time. Many homeowners, through multiple mortgage refinancings, have tapped out the equity they otherwise might have had available for major home-improvement projects, he says.


McVay Brothers business grew modestly last year, and was soft in the first quarter of this year, but has shown promising gains over the last three months, so it looks to me like were on the uprise, he says.


There isnt a readily accessible source for independently compiled national statistics on window sales. One national manufacturer of vinyl windows estimates, though, that windows sales will reach about 60.5 million units in the U.S. this year, up from 59.5 million in 2002.


Of the projected total sales for this year, vinyl products are expected to account for about 35.4 million units, followed by wood at 19.6 million units, and aluminum at 5.5 million units, the company estimates.