Durabuilt: Innovative, Resilient, Forward Thinking & Customer Focused The company known for its windows and doors turns 30 by Nerissa McNaughton with photos by Rebecca Lippiatt
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t that moment, 19-year old Harry Sunner didn’t have anything nice to say to his father. He had just stepped off the plane with his family, transplanted from his friends and life in England. The plane rolled onto the tarmac and deposited the Sunners in Edmonton’s -34oC November weather. The teen, whose father thought Canada would offer a brighter future, was not impressed. That was in the mid ’90s. Did Sunner ever warm up to his new country? “I love Edmonton. It was the right decision to immigrate to Canada, but I will never accept the cold,” he laughs. Durabuilt Window Systems launched in Edmonton in 1988. In 1994, after going through a partnership with the previous owners, the Sunners became the sole owners of the company and promptly began the production of PVC windows, which were tooled by hand with 12 employees in a 10,000-squarefoot shop. “At the time there was not a lot of interest in PVC,” says Sunner. “Everything was wood and aluminum.” However,
as the Sunners would prove time and time again, looking to the future, not the status quo, was the key to success. As the PVC market gained traction, the innovative company that knew very minimal about manufacturing – more so, were not fully equipped with the necessary tools to meet the growing demands – took on the great opportunities to allow their dreams to become realities simply with just their determination, vision and ambition. By 1998, the company outgrew its location and evolved into Durabuilt Windows & Doors. The third facility (which included manufacturing of doors) boasted a whopping 26,000 square feet. The growth never did slow down. A fourth move in 2002 brought the square footage to 60,000, and a second design gallery was opened on the south side of Edmonton. A fifth and final move took place in 2004, establishing a head office to oversee what would become several locations across Western Canada, and bringing the production space to 190,000 square feet to date.
Durabuilt Windows & Doors | Celebrating 30 years
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