Hurricane Shutters Made From Corrugated Plastic
Safezone has manufactured a storm panel made from corrugated aluminum or high-impact corrugated plastic which when used, help reduce soaring insurance costs. Read more about this here.
Safezone LLC builds, installs hurricane shutters
By LAURA RUANE • lruane@news-press.com • June 1, 2008
The five-month hurricane season that begins today isn’t the only thing keeping Safezone LLC busy.
True, the company manufactures, sells and installs storm shutters. It also performs two routine shutter inspections yearly for customers, and recently has diversified into the manufacture of decorative and protective metal railings for balconies
“Compared to last year, this season is busier,” said Jim Spadorcia, vice president/sales and marketing and a shareholder in the privately held company. “It does surprise us, with the economy the way that it is.”
Perhaps not all of the demand is surprising, Spadorcia added quickly. People are discovering hurricane shutters help reduce soaring insurance costs. Typically, the shutters will pay for themselves in five years, he said.
Lori McMorrow, who lives in a condominium in Naples, recently had Safezone install impact-resistant glass windows at her home and storm shutters on the lanai. She’s looking forward to the extra protection these will afford. Her main motivation, however, was to acquire homeowners insurance coverage from a desirable company.
“The carriers are getting very selective: One by one, they’re starting to require (storm) mitigation as a precondition,” McMorrow said.
About 35,000 homeowners have had free inspections for windstorm resistance, and have been approved for matching grants of up to $5,000 to strengthen their homes through the state’s My Safe Florida Home program.
May 31 was the last day to apply for grants. As of May 21, 84 percent of the homes inspected had no shutters for windows and doors, said Kevin Cate, a spokesman for the state Department of Financial Services, which oversees the grant program.
“Of 10,722 homes completed to date through the My Safe Florida Home program, 93 percent of homeowners have opted to protect their openings (windows, doors and/or garage doors) with grant monies,” Cate said.
Safezone owners got into the hurricane shutter business in 2005 by buying 7-year-old Nolen Shutter Co. in Fort Myers. They’d frequently hired Dustin Nolen and his company for shutter work through another business they owned: Naples-based Spectrum Contracting. It was a logical extension from Spectrum’s work, which concentrates on restoration services to high- and mid-rise condominium complexes.
Nolen continues to work in the business, and owns a stake in the company. Safezone launched its first big marketing campaign, “Get in the Safezone,” last September.
Although its main sales and administrative offices are in Naples, Safezone bases its manufacturing and warehousing in a 10,000-square-foot facility in Jetport Commerce Park off Daniels Parkway south of Fort Myers. Altogether, the company employs 200 estimator/salespeople, manufacturing workers and installers.
Besides Spadorcia and Nolen, company owners are John Schallert, Robert Valentine, Terry Wilson and Rich Baldi.
Relatively few local companies manufacture as well as sell and install storm shutters, Spadorcia said. He had no data, but guessed perhaps 20 percent of the region’s companies do all three tasks.
On the manufacturing side, Fort Myers-based Croci North America is known worldwide for its shutters. In February, Croci broke ground on a new 120,000-square-foot headquarters on Adelmo Lane. It wholesales its shutters.
Safezone’s retail customers are about 50 percent residential, 50 percent commercial, with the latter including high-rise condominiums.
The company recently replaced the storm shutters at the Monaco Beach Club high-rise building in Naples, and is in the manufacturing phase for storm shutters and railings for Marbelle Beach Club on Marco Island.
For Safezone owners, it was important to manufacture the shutters it installs, Spadorcia said. “You can control the quality so much more. Having all of the materials on hand also means if someone calls for service, we have minimal down-time.”
A typical shutter job at a 2,000-square-foot, single-family home takes three to four weeks, from the order to completed installation, Spadorcia said. It can range in cost from about $5,000 to $45,000, depending on the shutter type, number of windows and doors and other factors.
Safezone makes three basic kinds: Storm panels of corrugated aluminum or high-impact corrugated plastic, which the homeowner takes out of the garage and screws on; accordion-style shutters that open and close like a bi-fold closet door and roll shutters.
The roll shutters, which are the most expensive and the most versatile, can be operated with a hand crank, by a wall-mounted switch or by remote control.
The manufacturing part of the process includes cutting extruded aluminum sheets, and forming them into storm panels, connecting slats for roll shutters, and bending and welding aluminum to form the “hoods” from which roll shutters descend.
Materials are bought locally or elsewhere in Florida whenever possible; a company in Bonita Springs provides motors for the roll shutters.
The finished product heads to the job site clad in bubble wrap.
Upgrades Safezone is working on include oval peepholes in the slats of the roll shutters. It also aims to branch out into the business of installing in-line electrical generators that can operate the air conditioning, the roll shutters and home appliances. An in-ground propane tank would fuel these generators.
Spadorcia’s face brightens at the mention of railings. Safezone got into that business in January, and uses Kynar- or powder-coated anodized aluminum to form railings that please the eye as well as protect.
“You can draw a picture or have someone draw a picture of what you want, and we can make it.”
The most frustrating part of the business, he said, is hearing how people got a low price from another company, but got “products that aren’t going to really protect them.”
Generally one gets what one pays for, he said, adding shutter shoppers at minimum should check proof of licensing and bonding, and affiliations with such entities as the International Hurricane Protection Association and the My Safe Florida Program.
“When you know you’re not cutting corners, and doing something that involves someone’s safety,” Spadorcia said. “It gives you a feeling of accomplishment.”