|
Port City Glass celebrates 15 years and keeps growing
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
In 1991, Blake Pearce and Alton McCullough left the banking industry to become entrepreneurs. They exchanged their suits and ties for the more casual business attire of the construction industry, and it was within that industry that they formed Port City Glass & Mirror Inc. in Charleston.
Fifteen years later, the company, which began with just Pearce and McCullough, now has 25 employees, plans to hire about four more during the next 12 months and continues to grow. Last year they expanded their King Street Extension facility by 3,300 square feet, bringing the facility’s total size to about 10,000 square feet.
Port City Glass specializes in cutting and installing glass for everything from windows to tabletops, from shower doors to interior walls. The bulk of their business is in the commercial sector, where they install storefronts, office windows and other glass fixtures, plus the metalwork related to them. The company also provides glass installation services for homes.
The company buys its glass from suppliers such as Coastal Glass Distributors in North Charleston and Atlanta-based American Flat Glass Distributors.
Some of Port City Glass’ projects include the Saks Fifth Avenue building in downtown Charleston’s Majestic Square, the North Charleston Performing Arts Center, the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory building in West Ashley, the Hollings Marine Laboratory on James Island and the eWall Street office complex in Mount Pleasant.
The original Port City Glass was founded in 1967 by Buddy Smith Jr. and closed when Smith retired in 1985. When Pearce and McCullough revived the business and its name six years later, they brought in Smith as a mentor, Pearce said.
Over the years, Port City Glass has seen many of its competitors, ranging from large regional glass companies to small mom and pop establishments, come and go. Pricing pressures due largely to rising labor and materials costs did many of those competitors in, Pearce said.
North Charleston-based Charleston Glass Co., which has served the Charleston area for more than 40 years, remains Port City Glass’ major competitor, Pearce said.
Yet Pearce says his company continues to hold its own, focusing on quality service, competitive pricing and maintaining an employee pay scale ranging from about $8.50 to $20 an hour, including benefits.
Commercial builders once regarded glass as a commodity and little more than that. However, in the early 1990s the International Building Code required that glass contribute more to a building’s safety and energy conservation, Pearce said.
Changes in building codes have led to changes in the glass industry. Single-pane glass, prevalent in the 1960s, has given way to double-pane and coated glass to help reduce heating and cooling costs, Pearce noted.
“The biggest changes in the local glass industry are the full implementation of the International Building Code that includes the hurricane and impact codes originally developed for Dade County, Fla., and the Energy Building Codes that address the energy gain/loss of different types of insulated glass in buildings,” Pearce explained.
Heat-treating processes and other technological advances have strengthened glass and reduced the amount of radiation passing through glass. As a result, glass industry professionals have become more than glass installation experts and suppliers. Architects and general contractors now hire them as consultants on their building projects, according to Pearce.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version