Neal Gary has owned a home in Hunter since 1978. After years of operating his world-class custom window treatments business downstate, his dream was to get up in the morning, grab his skis, and make a couple of runs down Hunter Mountain before heading to the office. So, in August 2015, he purchased a 27,000 square foot facility at 4750 Route 145, just south of the County Line in Durham.
Window Modes LTD. makes high-end, entirely custom, motorized (and manual) roller shades and drapery track systems. Window Modes’ products are made to measure and custom manufactured one piece at a time, from components made by trusted brands like Somfy, Lutron, Hunter Douglas, and Mermet. Their customers contract with the company to provide highly specialized window treatments for office buildings, hospitals, colleges & universities, and high-end residences. Window Modes is The Preeminent Window Treatment Resource for Architects and Designers.
An unsatisfactory merger in 2013 made Gary take a serious look at the real costs of running a manufacturing facility in Westchester County. He found that the property tax he was paying for 5,000 square feet in Mt. Kisco was 1 ½ times what he pays for 27,000 square feet in Greene County. He now maintains office and warehouse space downstate, but began manufacturing in Durham in January of 2016.
To date, Window Modes has created 2 full-time manufacturing positions on its way to 20 positions in the next 3 years. These jobs offer competitive pay, health benefits, paid vacation & sick leave, and a 401k retirement plan. The challenge is in training new hires to the quality standards required by the company and its customers. Gary says he has adopted this controlled growth strategy to “make sure each new hire has the skills and knowledge to make the right product, the right way, the first time. We need to focus our team on our core business of quality first, then expand our capacity as skills and experience increase”.
Window Modes, LTD. is co-located with two additional Greene County manufacturers: Advanced Yarn Technologies – a maker of custom woven fabric products, and Illumination Management – a producer of LED lighting for commercial applications. The three companies share a common power services and satellite connectivity infrastructure that the owner installed.
If you want to learn more about how to Make It In Greene, check out our free helpful business guides and contact the Invest In Greene team by email or phone at 518-719-3290.
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Topics: Success Stories
