Modern Windows Make the Difference in Vintage Remodel

When it came time to remodel his personal home, Mark Williams didn’t need a second thought when it came to doors and windows. “If you cut me, yellow and black will come out,” Mark says, laughing. “We’ve been building since 2004 – Pella is the only window company I trust.”

With nearly 20 years of success and more than a handful of awards, Mark D. Williams Custom Homes stays busy as one of the premier homebuilders in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region.

“We do probably four or five high-end new builds a year, then a handful of remodels—I think of the hundred homes I’ve built, 98 of them have been with Pella,” Mark explains.

Mark credits the relationship he’s been able to forge with Pella as a reason for why he has chosen them for virtually every project his company has taken on.

“I’ve had the same sales rep for 13 years—however long Andrew has been there,” Mark explains. “Like anything, it’s a relationship.”

And this relationship paid off, with Mark’s company having the opportunity to build a home for Ed Engelbrecht, the owner of Pella’s local distributorship.

“I was pretty fortunate to be working with Ed,” Mark admits. “If he was going to do something on his own home, he was likely going to use someone who was a big Pella supporter – and I don’t think there’s anyone who advocates more for Pella than me.”

Choosing Pella allows Mark to focus on relationships with his clients as well, taking some of the guesswork out of a build by having solutions ready to go.

“Not having to even guess what you’re going to use for windows makes a difference,” Mark says.

“I think that people, when they’re having us build a high-end custom home, it’s pretty personal for us,” he continues. “We may be planning a room around a newborn – and we know about it sometimes before anyone else in their family does.”

Mark considers building a home a “super intimate, and very emotional process,” so it’s no surprise that he again focuses on relationships to build trust in his capabilities – and Pella plays a part when it comes to windows and doors.

“I’ll tell them, ‘98% of the homes that I’ve built, 98% of them have been Pella,’ and pretty much the questions stop after that,” Mark says. “At that point, we just have the architect and the Pella rep get together and figure out what could fit their needs.”

When it came to Mark’s own home remodel, it was always going to be Pella – and of course, the choice once again came down to that single attribute that gets so much credit.

“We went with Pella for all the same reasons that we’ve already talked about, relationship,” Mark stresses. “Pella’s amazing with their relationship stuff. I do believe that from the top down, you can see it – there’s no accident that their values align with my own.”

But of course, that’s only part of the equation – a relationship can open doors, but it won’t keep the elements out, you’ll need a real door for that. As always, Mark knew where to turn.

“They’ve got a great product, so it’s not only the people – you still have to have the product to back it up, and Pella does,” Mark says. “It fit the style I had perfectly.”

Matching modern innovations with 1910’s craftsmanship and construction could be a challenge, but once again, the solution was waiting.

“It’s an old house—and we obviously wanted to make it look like it wasn’t a remodel,” Mark explains. “They fit architecturally, and that’s something cool about Pella – they can do contemporary, they can do traditional, they can do retrofit – Pella was able to match it exactly how we wanted it.”

Creating a door of this magnitude with seamless transition from the great room to the patio and entertaining space was no small feat, and automating it made it even more complicated. To bring the architect and clients’ vision to life, Pella, AFT Construction and their automation vendor for the build got straight to work. Leavitt said, “We chose to work with Pella Architectural Solutions on this project because of their exceptional customer service and ability to create a unique product. We knew we could rely on the team’s expertise to help create the automated, custom multi-slide door design that we were looking for.”

After the technology and products were configured on paper, the teams worked together to build an entire mockup offsite. This included building a full size, replica wall to ensure that the automation and multi-slide patio doors would perform outstandingly for years to come.

No ounce of quality or service was spared. In constant communication, the teams complemented one another with a keen focus on attention to detail and meticulous execution. The result is nothing short of jaw dropping.