Susan Marvin Sees Through the Recession

“You can’t get numbers on the replacement market nationally, but it is probably the healthiest of all the segments,” Marvin says. In better times, her company estimated that 55 percent of its sales were for replacement, remodeling, or renovation projects, and 45 percent were for new construction, but the balance has shifted even further toward replacement projects now.

One particular corner of the replacement market where Marvin has made its mark is in historic renovation. Many of the old windows at the University of Minnesota have been replaced with Marvin windows, for example. And for the Convent of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Marvin supplied approximately 440 custom-built windows in a large variety of shapes and sizes, including 22 windows with an angel-wing design.

“Some of our more noteworthy competitors are unable to address that market’s needs, or just don’t bring the service and product package together as well as we do,” Susan Marvin says. “We’re really good at it.”

From Switchboard to President’s Office

George Marvin started the Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company in 1912. His son, Bill (Susan’s father), led the company from 1960 to 2001. Under his leadership, Marvin’s window business grew exponentially, first serving the new-housing boom after World War II, then expanding into the replacement and historic-renovation segments.

Marvin touted its unusual practice of making every window and door “to order,” rather than manufacturing standard sizes for inventory. In the early 1980s, its “Made to Order” advertising campaign was misunderstood to mean that it specialized in custom work. But the company was happy to fill the custom orders that flooded in, and it soon developed expertise and a solid reputation in that niche as well.

Today, Marvin Companies, a holding company, operates three businesses: Marvin Windows and Doors (all-wood and aluminum-clad products), Integrity Windows and Doors (made with Ultrex, a durable fiberglass material that undergoes a Marvin-patented acrylic finishing process), and Infinity Replacement Windows (also made with Ultrex).

Together, the businesses have eight plants around the United States (Marvin Windows and Doors operates five, including one in Honduras). They sell products in the Americas, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, and employ 5,000 people. Marvin Windows and Doors, the largest of the companies, doesn’t disclose its revenues publicly, but reportedly had revenues of $600 million in 2006.

Susan Marvin, 54, has been president since October 1995—thought it’s not a role she sought. Her first job, in sixth grade, was working the Marvin lumberyard switchboard. Later, in the manufacturing plant, she fitted sash parts together for nailing. “My dad said I wasn’t particularly good at it,” she says. “Maybe I missed defects in the wood or something. I think he thought I was better on the phone.”