The Next Frontier of Motorization

BY SOPHIA BENNETT

Motorized window treatments are past the point of being a luxury and may soon be considered a necessity. Kevin Anderson, product and marketing manager for Insolroll, compares motorized window treatments to garage doors. For decades, garage doors had to be pulled or pushed open by hand. “Now, it’s really rare to find anybody who has a manual garage door,” he points out. “I know a lot of people in the industry believe it’s only a matter of time before motorization is considered standard.”

Furthermore, companies that can make it past the beginning stages with motorization and move into more complex projects have a bright future ahead of them. As home technology becomes more sophisticated and people gain a greater understanding of what motorized treatments can deliver, window covering professionals have openings to become involved in whole home automation projects, large commercial installations and more.

But window covering pros shouldn’t make the leap into major projects until they’re sure they’re ready. It’s important to ask yourself some honest questions about your experience and level of knowledge before committing to new or bigger projects. Even people who’ve done a couple dozen small jobs may not be fully prepared for the complexities of massive or multifaceted installs, says Matt Dugger, national sales manager at Insolroll. “Just like with most things in life, there are levels of understanding: simple, intermediate and complex. As the project size increases, so does the level of knowledge and understanding. The items you need to understand get more complex and the projects require more thought to be successful.”

Preparing for advanced motorization projects

The first thing any team or project manager should do before pitching themselves as a motorization expert is make sure they truly have the knowledge and skills needed to tackle bigger projects.

Gil Breef, owner of Shades by Design in Miami, made it his mission to become extremely knowledgeable about motorization because he believes that to be in sales, you need to be an expert on your product.

Gil Breef, owner of Shades By Design in Miami

Breef has found it very useful to establish a partnership with an electrician and bring them up to speed on motorized window treatments. “If you have a good relationship, they’ll know what they need to do for any future projects,” Breef says. He can send his electrician to a job site and give him some basic details of what the client wants, and they come up with a good plan for getting the job done.

Dealers looking to grow their motorization skills would be wise to find a mentor— someone to call with questions or ideas, says Dugger. “We do that internally among our sales staff. We also get it from our dealer base. There are a few people I talk to three or four times a month who are very savvy who call so we can bounce ideas off each other.” (For more details on finding a mentor, see page 22.)

Tip for installers According to Gil Breef, home automation companies that sell motorized window treatments often subcontract out the measurement and installation work. It pays to develop partnerships with A/V and other home automation companies.

Commercial projects await

Retailers and window treatment specialists who have mastered simple motorization installations may look to commercial projects as their next source of revenue. Office buildings and universities are increasingly interested in motorized window treatments. For institutions looking to lower their carbon footprint or save energy, motorized window treatments and their ability to help regulate solar gain are important. “Take a 25-story building that’s all glass,” says Dugger. “If everything is tied into a motorized system that’s also connected into the HVAC and lighting, there are huge savings to be had.”

Matt Dugger, national sales manager at Insolroll

Hospitals are also huge potential clients. “The biggest liability in a hospital is a patient getting out of bed and falling,” says Dugger. “I’ve had multiple conversations with architects where we talked about if window treatments are motorized, patients never need to get out of bed to open the blinds.”

“Sometimes I come in after a dealer who sold some higher-end motorization, and they’d say where they wanted the wiring, but they’d never come back and check it,” Dugger says. “A year later, they’d come back and look at where they hoped it would be, and there’s drywall and other stuff up and they don’t know where it actually ended up.” Obviously, this makes window treatment installs much harder to complete. Make sure you understand the flow of the construction process and are prepared to check on wiring and other installations at the appropriate time.

Sliding into home automation

There are two main ways to get into home automation: partnering with another company or offering those services in-house. Many whole home automation projects are handled by A/V companies, which may have expertise in home theater systems, video security, lighting and HVAC systems. It’s less common to find a company with expertise in window treatments, though, which gives retailers a good opening.

“In order to partner with an A/V company, you really need to offer competitive pricing,” says Breef. “You have to lower your margins to be able to provide good price markup to the home automation company.” If the project goes well, the reward will be repeat business.

Other potential partners on home automation projects include contractors, architects and interior designers. They need information on how and where to install wiring, build pockets for hardware and otherwise prepare homes for automation. These professionals may also provide the foot in the door at A/V companies—and become sources of future work.

The alternative to working with a whole home automation company is to become one. For brands interested in going that route, Breef recommends creating an automation team with qualified professionals. “I provide full automation systems, but I don’t do it myself,” he says. “I have a team with an electrician and a contractor on payroll. That’s what the client wants—they want turnkey. Don’t say, ‘I can sell you the lights, but I can’t install them.’” Focus on window treatments first, and once you’re a true expert, start adding products and services.