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Industry Profile
Keeping It Real
O'Hair Shutters is passionate about delivering quality wood shutter
panels and components for local customization.
Photography by Jim Robinette
D&WC:
Please give a detailed description of your company and
its history.
T. Brant O’Hair:
O’Hair Shutters, Ltd. is a Texas partnership located
in Lubbock. We manufacture interior window shutters made of real
wood. The company is family run, now in the third generation.
Although our shutter manufacturing began in 1963, the company had
its origin in 1939 as a retail shop fabricating custom wood blinds.
Our first shutter production employed just 20 workers in a very
small shop. We’ve since grown to 250 people in a 40-acre plant
site.
D&WC: Who are your customers?
What parts of the country do you service?
O’Hair:
O’Hair Shutters supplies unfinished panels to custom shutter
specialists across North America, and we supply shutter components
to panel builders overseas.
Although we don’t produce a finished product, we supply local
specialists who do the custom fabrication, finishing and installation.
Our customers usually cater to interior designers in combination
with direct retail.
D&WC: What best describes
your niche in the marketplace?
O’Hair: Our niche is based
on the understanding that custom shutter work requires custom capabilities
at the local level. Our customers are experts in trim carpentry
and custom finishing. They handle the custom portion of the work
much better than anyone can from far away.
Our expertise is in volume millwork production. With our volume
(1,000 panels per day) and the state-of-the-art machinery it supports,
we’re better able to produce precision millwork at a reasonable
cost. So our niche focus is to serve local shutter specialists with
millwork that they customize. Homeowners and designers will find
their best value with our local shutter customers.
D&WC: What are some of the
key factors involved in your growth and success?
O’Hair: We’re known
for product quality, but we’re also passionate about service.
When customers call our 800 number a live person answers, and 90
percent of the time that service agent can handle any questions
or problems.
When our current shipping schedule (posted on our Web site) isn’t
fast enough (normally seven working days), we have an expedite service
available. Our reputation for taking care of customers is excellent.
We receive thank-you letters from customers often.
D&WC: What are your strengths
in the marketplace?
O’Hair: Our greatest strength
is in the quality of our panels. We’re known to build very
straight and strong shutter panels. We can build wider and taller
panels than most, and yet our louvers close tighter than practically
any other shutter. We build panels up to nine feet tall without
mid-rails, so we give homeowners a much more open view through the
louvers.
We’ve learned the secret of straightness and strength by focusing
on woodworking know-how. We dry our lumber in-house, which gives
us better control for stress-free lumber. Then we use radio-frequency
curing to produce an all edge-grain, edge-glued product. This is
the key to straightness.
Our panels have tenoned louvers and rails and a tilt rod linkage
rather than staples. These are the keys to strength. Our panels
even withstand the abuse of commercial installations. Few companies
can make that claim.
D&WC: What trends and cycles
do you see occurring in the industry? How is your business addressing
them?
O’Hair: The wide-louver
trend is sill progressing. We’re selling mainly three-inch
louver spacing now, but our four-inch spacing is growing in popularity
and we’re getting requests for five-inch spacing. This trend
will challenge installation methods with depth clearance issues.
D&WC: What distinguishes
you from the competition?
O’Hair: Through all the
promotion for wood substitutes we’ve remained committed to
real wood. After decades of woodwork, we’re still in love with
its natural beauty and are passionate about using it. In spite of
all the hype about the various faux products, real wood is still
the best and most appealing material for shutters.
D&WC: Do you educate your
customers?
O’Hair: We offer training
in shutter customizing at our facility in Lubbock. Rather than a
class format, we use the one-on-one method to teach panel processing,
frame fabrication, finishing, hardware and installation.
We’ve recently begun training on our new Customizer™ software
for use in the home. Our customers will take notebook computes on
sales calls to input product selections, installation design and
measurements. They’ll be able to print sales contracts, custom
work orders and material orders on-site. The Customizer even has
a “Draw Shutter” feature to show homeowners how their
windows will look.
D&WC: Where do you see yourself
and your company five years from now? Are there additional areas
within the industry that you would like to get involved in?
O’Hair: The most challenging
area for future development in our industry is arch-top shutters.
The vast majority of arched shutters is still handmade. This is
expensive, inaccurate and slow. Quarterburst™, our sunburst
shutter for half circles, was the first sunburst made using computer-controlled
machining. Quarterburst is readily available, very precise and reasonably
priced.
In about two years we hope to have horizontal-louvered panels with
arch tops for eyebrow arch windows. These will be produced with
the same type of computer-numeric-controlled machines. This will
add new excitement to our company, turning arch window problems
into solutions.
O’Hair Shutters, Ltd.
P.O. Box 2764
Lubbock, TX 79408
(806) 765-5791
(800) 582-2625
Fax: (888) 765-7140
www.ohair.com
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