The federal tax credit for energy efficient windows has stimulated activity in the 24,000-square-feet manufacturing facility of Gorell Enterprises, causing Tyson Schwartz, VP of Sales and Marketing to predict growth between 10 and 25 percent in 2009 sales.
Schwartz sets Gorell’s sales goal this year in the range of $40-50 million and has been calling employees back to work, with the previous high level of 300-350 workers in site, Schwartz says. That demand for workers at the Indiana County company has been spurred by recent federal legislation that allows a $1,500 credit against taxes for the cost of energy efficient windows, products that Gorell manufactures with qualifying U-values (.3) and solar-gain coefficients (.3), as well as validations from the federal agency leading the energy conservation effort.
“We’re certainly happy,” Schwartz says. “We wouldn’t have brought anybody back this year if we didn’t have that tax credit.”
Gorell is a winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star Partner Award for the last six years, sharing it with Pella Windows in the last two years and as sole winner in the years before. The company has also received the DOE’s annual award for sustained excellence in each of the last four years.
The turnabout in demand for Gorell’s high-quality replacement windows, which are sold through a network of dealers and home remodelers, is allowing the company to recapture much of the momentum it lost abruptly when chaos in the housing and finance markets stemmed sales growth that had lifted the company during the decade until last year. Although somewhat hidden in the retail outlet market, where it doesn’t appear on the shelves, the company has built a brand identity within the trades that replace windows and through the endorsements of the National Council for the Prevention of Crime and its mascot, McGruff the Crime Dog.
“We have about 350 employees when we are hitting on all 8 cylinders,” Schwartz says. “Right now we are hitting on 6 or even 7 cylinders and quickly gaining speed. Of the people we laid off, we have about 85 percent back to work.”
Source: Gorell Enterprises, Tyson Schwartz
Writer: Joseph Plummer
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