Garage Door Industry Trends for 2007

© 2007 Door & Access Systems
Publish Date: Spring 2007
Author: Tom Wadsworth
Pages 50-53


Garage Door Industry Trends for 2007
Highlights From the International Builders’ Show

Feb. 7-10, 2007
Orlando, Fla.

The garage door exhibits at the 2007 International Builders’ Show (IBS) featured few new doors, but used several new appeals to attract attention to the growing breed of upscale garage doors in the industry. Here’s a photographic review of some of the garage door highlights from IBS 2007.

CAPTIONS
REALLY BIG SHOW: Nearly 104,000 housing and construction professionals streamed into the Orange County Convention Center for this huge annual event hosted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). With more than 1,900 leading suppliers, the exposition was the largest in IBS history with a record 1,000,000 net square feet of exhibits. (Photo courtesy of NAHB)

START HERE: Overhead Door wanted builders to consider building and designing the house around the door. This idea demonstrates how important garage doors have become … even so far as being deemed the design centerpiece of the exterior of the home.

ALMOST NEW: In most garage door exhibits, few new models were displayed. Here, Overhead Door displays their Modern Aluminum Collection and the Courtyard Collection. Courtyard is the new name of the Renaissance Collection of insulated custom steel carriage-house doors. Another Courtyard model was featured on the NextGen Home at IBS.

PICKED BY PULTE: Clopay displayed its new Grand Harbor Collection, a special version of its Coachman Collection of steel carriage-house doors. Residential builder Pulte Homes has signed an exclusive agreement to install Grand Harbor on new homes starting in 2007. Grand Harbor features 2"-thick, 24-gauge construction with 1/2" UV-resistant composite overlays, 1-5/8" polystyrene insulation, and a vinyl backer.

NEW RAYNOR OFFERING: One of the few new garage doors at IBS was Raynor’s RockCreeke, a carriage-house overlay door. RockCreeke features 1-3/8" polyurethane-insulated steel sections (R-value 12) with “environmentally stable” overlay trim boards. (See Newslines, p. 6)

A NEW WAY OF THINKING: The large Wayne-Dalton booth promoted SystemWorks, an “industry first … whole home approach” that promotes the company’s garage doors, garage door openers, home control systems, and storm protection products. The company promoted the concept in signage and promotional materials and on apparel worn by booth attendants.

PARTNERING WITH THERMA-TRU: Wayne-Dalton announced a supplier agreement with Therma-Tru entry doors to provide complementary fiberglass entry and garage doors. Through this relationship, Wayne-Dalton will provide fiberglass-clad garage doors using a proprietary technology developed by Therma-Tru. (See Newslines, p. 36) Pictured: Wayne-Dalton’s fiberglass-clad 9800.

“LIVE” FROM THE WEATHER CHANNEL: Amarr Garage Doors used a unique booth activity to illustrate its partnership with the Weather Channel to promote wind-resistant doors in high-wind areas. (See Newslines, p. 36) At the booth, visitors could step in front of a green screen and videotape a “live” weather report from a hurricane location. Orlando was an appropriate place for the promotion; devastating tornadoes in neighboring counties had struck only five days before the show.

DOORS ON THE FLOORS: Several garage door manufacturers used additional ways to promote their products to the masses at IBS. Pictured: C.H.I. Overhead Doors used floor signs to grab pedestrian attention at the entrance to the South Hall. As in 2006, Overhead Door and Wayne-Dalton again used large banners and signage in the West Hall.

Official Attendance
2007: Nearly 104,000
2006: 105,263
2005: 104,112
Next year’s show returns to Orlando, Feb. 13-16, 2008.

DASMA Manufacturers at the Show
Amarr Garage Doors
Carriage House Door
Chamberlain
C.H.I. Overhead Doors
Clopay Building Products
Designer Doors
DoorKing
Jeld-Wen
Linear
Marantec America
Overhead Door/Genie
Raynor
Summit Door
Wayne-Dalton
Windsor Republic Doors