Category: Custom Projects

We heart color!

Dunbarton has a long history of custom color projects. Our Dunbarton Partner, El & El Wood Supply, is working with a client whose project’s design team requires a durable factory finish with unlimited custom color options. Dunbarton’s Pre-Finish Hollow Metal and RediFrame® solutions were selected and continue to meet the challenge of this multi-phase project. The UC Davis Student Housing project in Sacramento, California, is unique due to several factors. We began working with the architect group in 2019, so the Dunbarton products could be used for this project in the specified prefinished custom color. RediFrame® is finished in a state-of-the-art paint assembly line with electrostatically applied, baked-on enamel. Dunbarton paint finish meets or exceeds the 200-hour salt spray test per ASTM–B117-97 and finished a 700-hour humidity test per ASTM–D1735-87. Dunbarton’s paint standards more than met the architects’ benchmarks, so the project was approved. We provided a mock sample of the RediFrame with their UC Davis Smokey Blue custom color in mid-2020, and once approved, production began on the project. Shipping started at the end of 2020, and Dunbarton awarded Phase 2 of the project in 2020. There was a color change for Phase 2 as this is for a different dorm on campus to a light green and tan. Like many businesses worldwide, Covid threw a kink in the production and installation during this time. We found that during Phase 1, our customer and ourselves could not over-commutate details on the size of the project. Therefore, we worked with El and El to set up a process to expedite the flow of Phase 2, ensuring their customer’s deadlines were met and didn’t fall behind schedule.

While we say no project is too large or too small, we should also add no color is too common or unique; this week, we are painting Show Stopper Red for a different client! Working with your local sales representative, like in this project EL and EL, is the best method to ensure your custom color matches up perfectly with your project spec. Additionally, having a knowledgeable, hands-on, Independent Sales Rep Agent like Jeff Halverson at Unified Solutions and Jeff’s Dunbarton Regional Sales Director, James Decker, are all tools available to ensure the standard and special projects get completed without a hitch.

Visit El and El Wood Supply’s website for more information on their full offerings!

For more information on RediFrame® or adjustable RediFlex® frames, visit our website. You may also order samples of Dunbarton’s standard colors via our website here.

Stay tuned for completed project pictures, but here is a sneak peak of the UC Davis project from Phase 2!

UC Davis Dorm Phase 2
UC Davis Dorm Phase 2
UC Davis Dorm

We go the extra mile

            At Dunbarton, we pride ourselves on providing “Your Complete Opening Solution,” and sometimes that means taking extra steps necessary on unique projects, even if it’s only two doors.  

            A new customer account, Autovol, a modular builder from Boise, Idaho, needed two STC-Rated openings. Dunbarton had done some testing years ago with flush wood doors and Rediframe in conjunction with Masonite. Our Customer Service Director, Blake Seymour, and Northwest Regional Sales Director, Mark Haavisto, reviewed the request. Multiple vendors were contacted and quoted us the doors to meet the STC requirements. In the end, we worked with a local-to-Dothan, Alabama vendor to purchase the two STC labeled doors through Masonite. Our local driver, Terrence Nelson, then picked up the doors. Marsha Finney, one of our customer service technicians, worked diligently to locate the necessary special hardware to complete the architect’s requests, ensuring the automatic door bottom sweeps, weatherstripping, and threshold met their standards combined with STC requirments. 

            Once we had the doors on-site, the physical work began. Dunbarton is proud of the longevity of many of our employees and many of those employees were involved in this project! One such employee is Gary Strickland. Mr. Gary, aka BoyBaby,  began with Dunbarton on September 27, 1999. He is a paint technician and was responsible for hand spraying these doors along with Chance Zamora, aka Pokey Bear. Another long-time employee, Patsy Watkins, assembled the door units and hardware as well as packing to ship safely to the customer. Bill Bookman, quality control technician who has been with Dunbarton for over 20 years, oversaw the construction ensuring it met the quality standards of Dunbarton. Leonard Jackson, a Dunbarton employee of over 40 years and long-time supervisor, oversaw the entire project on the plant floor. There were so many hands involved for just two doors! But our customer had a problem, and we knew we could be the solution! We were able to provide everything our customer required for their opening. 

Note from our customer: We received our final order for Santa Maria today. I so much appreciate adding the two STC doors as well to this shipment. Please thank your team for such a smooth process. Your doors look great and met all of our expectations.