insight
photos courtesy Air Vent Exteriors
AWNING SHOP manager Shekina Schwartz with Bob Carnes
Tenacity ‘R Us Air Vent Exteriors bring quality and craftsmanship to its sunrooms, awnings, pergolas, windows, and doors.
B
ob Carnes likes to tell the story about how, in the late ‘80s, a few years after the Arden-based Air Vent Exteriors had been in business, he contracted with a customer to build a sunroom—at the time, no one in Asheville offered sunrooms—only to learn that the sunroom materials manufacturer would not deliver to the mountains. So Carnes drove to Philadelphia himself, loaded up the truck with the sunroom materials, and drove it all the way back in order to build the sunroom. He wound up doing this several more times before the sunroom manufacturer would finally deliver the product to Asheville. The story is emblematic of Air Vent Exterior’s dedication to its customers and its tenaciousness in making sure each client gets exactly what they need. Carnes moved to North Carolina from upstate New York in 1984, having worked in the home improvement business since he was a teenager (in New York his father had operated Air Vent Aluminum), and subsequently started Air Vent Exteriors with a business partner, Dave
Woodard, since retired, in 1985. As Carnes puts it, “The initial seed was planted after hearing and reading about what a wonderful place Western North Carolina is for quality of life and climate, etc. After a couple of exploratory/vacation trips, a need was recognized for a progressive exterior specialty company.” Locally owned and operated, Air Vent Exteriors designs and installs sunrooms, awnings (both commercial and
“Our annual gross sales have reached a level that we once thought were unattainable in a small to midsized market.”
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| December 2016
residential), pergolas, replacement windows, and entry and replacement doors. The company touts the fact that it does not subcontract the work and all products are installed by specially trained craftsmen; and that