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7th Time Honoree on Elite List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

Baton Rouge, LA – For a 7th time, Window World of Baton Rouge has been named to the annual Inc. 5000 list – a prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list spotlights America’s independent small and midsized businesses and conveys a unique perspective of the most successful companies within the U.S. economy’s most dynamic segment. A ranking on this prestigious list has become synonymous with entrepreneurial success. Window World’s ranking showed a growth of 62% from 2014 to 2017, with a total sales volume of $80.6 million last year. The company has offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana.

“Window World is exceptionally proud to be recognized once again on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation,” said Jim Roland, CEO of the Louisiana company. He continues: “Our employees understand that by doing the right thing, at the right time, the right way, we achieve tremendous results. It’s a key concept underlying how our organization has redefined our industry, and it has helped make us the number one window replacement company in America. We are honored to celebrate our repeat appearance on the prestigious annual list and the tremendous team accomplishment it symbolizes.”

About Inc. 5000: The Inc. 5000 is a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Started in 1982, this prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success.

Window World Named on 2017 Inc. 5000 List

6th Time Honoree on Elite List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies Baton Rouge, LA – For a 6th time, Window World of Louisiana has been named to the 36th annual Inc. 5000 list – a prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list spotlights America’s independent small and midsized businesses and conveys a unique perspective of the most successful companies within the U.S. economy’s most dynamic segment. A ranking on this prestigious list has become synonymous with entrepreneurial success. Window World’s ranking showed a growth of 61.08% from 2013 to 2016, with a total sales volume of $67.1 million. The company has offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana.

“Window World is exceptionally proud to be recognized once again on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation,” said Jim Roland, CEO of the Louisiana company. He continues: “Our employees understand that by doing the right thing, at the right time, the right way, we achieve tremendous results. It’s a key concept underlying how our organization has redefined our industry, and it has helped make us the number one window replacement company in America. We are honored to celebrate our repeat appearance on the prestigious annual list and the tremendous team accomplishment it symbolizes.”

About Inc. 5000: The Inc. 5000 is a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Started in 1982, this prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success.

The 2017 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2013 to 2016. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2013. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2016. The minimum revenue required for 2013 is $100,000; the minimum for 2016 is $2 Million.

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures, Inc. is the only major brand dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, with the aim to deliver real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. Winner of the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in both 2014 and 2012. Total monthly audience reach for the brand has grown significantly from 2,000,000 in 2010 to over 13,000,000 today. Visit Inc. online at: www.inc.com

By Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

There are over 200 Window World franchises in the U.S. and collectively they rank as the largest home remodeling company in the nation.

The brightest star among them all is a family-owned, local company that continues to break its own sales records year after year.

Baton Rouge-based Window World, led by CEO Jim Roland, holds the distinction of being the number one window replacement company not only in Louisiana, but number one in the entire country as well. And sales volume for Roland’s Window World enterprise continues to grow.

“I believe the accomplishment is a testament to the quality of our products, the lifetime warranty we offer, and the service we provide,” said Roland.

His Window World customers must agree, because Roland says that more than 50 percent of his business comes from referrals, a fact in which he takes great pride.

Also a source of pride for the Louisiana native LSU graduate is the inclusion of three of his children in the business. As part of the company’s workforce in Baton Rouge. Daughter Sarah Roland and his sons Macon and Jacob Roland are certainly learning from the best in the business — Jim Roland, founder and CEO of the number one Window World franchise in America.

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By BR Staff | Great Baton Rouge Business Report

Fifteen businesses based in the Capital Region have made Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Resource Environmental Solutions, a Baton Rouge-based company that restores and preserves wetlands, was the highest-ranking local business, coming in at No. 399. RES has seen its revenue go up 856% in three years, from $1.2 million in 2007 to $11.3 million in 2010. Other area companies making the Inc. list are: Tillage Construction at 1,032, General Informatics at 1,042, inoLECT at 1,473, Gulf South Technology Solutions at 2,355, LANtec of Louisiana at 2,541, Barrister Global Services Network at 2,771, Arkel International at 2,790, Medical Management Options at 2,999, D. Honore Construction at 3,129, PreSonus Auto Electronics at 3,292, Window World of Baton Rouge at 3,407, Starmount Life Insurance at 3,672, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers at 3,715 and The Newtron Group at 4,136. Overall, 42 Louisiana businesses made the list. Townsend, a lafayette firm that operates a network of addiction treatment centers, is the highest-ranked Louisiana business on the Inc. list, coming in at No. 276.

From Renovations Resource Guide

“Upgrading your windows by replacing them with energy-efficient windows just makes sense,” says Jim Roland, president and CEO of Window World. “Besides saving money on energy bills, a lot of people are now focused on going green and decreasing their carbon footprint. Plus, in uncertain economic times, more and more homeowners are thinking about renovations to fix up what they have. They want to continue building equity into their current home and see our windows as a cost-effective improvement that can help with resale value in the future.”

The current tax credit of up to $1,500 for his energy-efficient windows, due to expire at the end of 2010, is also an attractive incentive, he points out.

Roland’s Baton Rouge-based Window World dealership sells and installs more energy-efficient replacement windows than any other outlet in the United States. The key to success, he says, is that Window World has continuously presented its customers with dependable products, reliable service and great prices.

Window World offers homeowners upgrades and options in styles and energy efficiency and installs windows in every type of home and neighborhood, from homes in the Country Club of Louisiana to low-income housing for Jefferson Parish Housing Authority. The high-performance vinyl window is rot-resistant, maintenance-free and guaranteed for life.

While Window World’s price point advertising of $189 for an installed double hung window generates leads, nearly 50% of its business comes from customer referrals. “There’s no better recommendation than a neighbor who bought from us,” Roland says.

Those recommendations tend to be persuasive. Roland’s closing rate is 75% in an industry that averages 25%. More than 50,000 Louisianans have purchased over 300,000 windows from his dealership.

Roland’s business model depends on standardizing pricing, volume sales and vigilant cost containment, much of which he attributes to the volume purchasing power of Window World’s buying cooperative, composed of franchiser’s 200 dealers.

Roland predicts that window sales in the capital city for 2010 will be the highest in the company’s 30-year history. “The technology and options for our windows just keep getting better. So, basically the question comes down to, ‘Why wouldn’t you replace your windows in order to save money?’ “ When consumers do the math, he says, the conclusions is usually a phone call to Window World.

From Annual Report

According to Window World’s Jim Roland, everyone in Louisiana who wants to save money on energy bills could one day have the same window in the world… his.

Thirty years ago, Roland entered the replacement window market in Baton Rouge selling Magnetite windows, his proprietary magnetic sealing insulated windows. While his company still offers that original product, the addition of Window World high-end replacement windows to his product line in 2002 opened the door to exponential growth.

By 2005 his company dominated the replacement window markets in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and had opened another operations center in Houston. When Hurricane Katrina hit, installations surged from 1,400 units per month to more than 10,000 within a 3-month period. Today, Roland’s Baton Rouge-based Window World dealership sells and installs more replacement windows than any other outlet in the United States. The key to that success, says Roland, is that Window World has continuously presented its customers with dependable products, prices and service.

“Our best strategic decision was to keep our prices the same after Katrina, despite the huge increase in demand,” Roland recalls. “In fact, we have not changed our prices since 2002, even now.” Even more impressively, Roland solved the post-Katrina labor challenge by recruiting dozens of experienced window installers from the Midwest and Rust Belt to help his company keep up with the massive demand. Many of those installers remain part of the Window World delivery model.

Window World offers homeowners upgrades and options in styles and energy efficiency and installs windows in every type of home and neighborhood, from homes in the Country Club of Louisiana to low income housing for the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority. The high-performance vinyl window is rot resistant, maintenance free and guaranteed for life. “Upgrading your windows just makes sense,” Roland says. “Besides saving money on energy bills, many people are now concerned about going green and decreasing their carbon footprint. Plus, with the housing slip, more and more consumers are looking to fix up what they have.”

Direct sales to residential consumers is Window World’s bread and butter, but a growing part of the business is commercial retrofit, replacing windows in large apartment complexes, hotels, nursing homes and governmental housing. Phillip Bonner, project manager of the New Orleans division of Milton J. Womack, Inc., General Contractor, has worked with Roland and Window World on several projects that required more than 100 windows each. “We have had very aggressive schedules on some of these projects and Window World has come through on time and even ahead of schedule,” said Bonner. “I have only good things to say about them and their price, product, quality and production.”

While Window World’s price point advertising of $189 for an installed double hung window generates leads, nearly 50% of its business comes from customer referrals. “There’s no better recommendation than a neighbor who bought from us,” Roland says. Those recommendations tend to be persuasive.
Roland’s closing rate is 75% in an industry that averages 25%. More than 50,000 Louisianans have purchased over 280,000 windows from his dealership.

Roland’s business model depends on standardized pricing, volume sales and vigilant cost containment, much of which he attributes to the volume purchasing power of Window World’s buying cooperative, composed of the franchiser’s 200 dealers.

Roland predicts sales at his Houston dealership will eclipse those in the Capital City in 2009; yet, he remains bullish on Baton Rouge as the company’s headquarters. “You can grow your business in Baton Rouge,” he says confidently. “Look at our growth. There are great people available here to recruit, and it’s a great place to do business.”

BY ANNA THIBODEAUX | Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

At the warehouse loading dock of Window World of Baton Rouge, Rick and Pauline Hiller picked up a big order to install in a house in New Orleans.

It’s one of many jobs the couple picks up six days a week as independent contractors. Although it sounds like hard work, the Hillers are grateful for the opportunity.

Two years ago, they answered Window World’s “Help Wanted” ad for installers. The move represented a huge gamble at the time, but there seemed little choice as the Hillers had lost nearly everything to a failing economy in Cleveland. They cashed in what lit- tle they had left and raised $700 for gasoline and food to get themselves, some clothes and their two “babies”—Siberian Huskies named Sierra and Jasmine—on an all-or-nothing trip to Baton Rouge.

Little did they know the key role they would play at Window World, which had been deluged with orders after Hurricane Katrina’s destruction in 2005 flipped Louisiana into reconstruction. Nearly overnight, businesses were struggling with an unprecedented labor shortage that continues today. “Labor disappeared and everyone in the world was competing for what was still available, and this was probably the toughest single labor market in U.S. history,” says Jim Roland, company CEO and president. “You had an entire city of homeowners trying to re- model and nowhere near enough qualified craftspeople to handle it.”

Solving what he calls the “labor puzzle” became one of several key strategies that catapulted the company into booming growth. When the orders started pouring in, Roland says he set his sights on the Midwest and Rust Belt for help.

Newspaper ads were placed in Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis—mature markets that had long ago recognized the benefits of energy-efficient windows. Roland figured he would attract experienced window installers, and he did.

“We were able to find a lot more craftspeople in those areas than we would have ever been able to recruit here,” he says. “It was heaven for them and heaven for us.”

But it took a lot of work to make it happen. Roland made long-distance recruiting calls every evening for six months and then arranged living accommodations for installation crews in the tight housing market.

The Hillers were among many who responded to the ads, but Rick’s 20-plus years of experience “landed them a stack of job orders from Window World.” He trained his wife, and she stepped in as his partner.

“We’re just so happy to be here and grateful to be working and getting back on our feet,” Pauline says. “Don’t take anything for granted because you never know when it can be gone tomorrow. The people of New Orleans know that better than anyone and we certainly relate to how they feel.”

Window World certainly shared in the success, too. Today, it employs 30 full-time employees and uses nearly 40 independent subcontractors. Those figures grew from eight full-time employees and five installation crews.

“It’s a very enviable position considering the labor shortage the rest of the industry is suffering through,” Roland says. It’s an even greater compliment, he says, that he now sustains that workforce through referrals. After Katrina, sales soared from a projected $6 million in 2005 to $26.2 million, marking a 300% increase that has been holding firm. The Baton Rouge store also became the top dealer from among Window World’s 195 in the U.S.

Roland especially attributes the company’s success to offering customers dependability amid Katrina’s chaos. While many rebuilding were swindled out of thousands of dollars by sham contractors and others who never fulfilled their contracts, he says his company did jobs as promised and remained available to solve any problems.

Many others raised prices for work and materials, while Window World prices remained the same before and after the storm, which was significant since 85% of the company’s business comes from New Orleans. He maintains no other contractor of any size can make that claim in post-Katrina New Orleans.

“We’ve certainly been real blessed,” Roland says. “We are very proud of how our company and all our people have re- sponded to this unique challenge.”