If you happened to be leafing through the fall issue of the New York Times Style magazine, you might have noticed something. There, among Geoffrey Beene sweaters and Walkers shortbread, was an ad for a sunroom.
Well, not exactly a sunroom. High-end glass rooms, most often conservatories (this one’s called a “garden room”), now compete for discretionary dollars that might otherwise go to cars, jewelry, or vacations.
With its pitched roof and classy details, a conservatory is not just a sunroom by another name. Mike Francis, vice president of K2 USA, a subsidiary of British conservatory maker K2, says the rooms his company builds in its Holland, Mich., factory are priced at anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 installed, very close to what some all-season sunrooms go for. “It’s the upper end of the sunroom market,” he says, “but it’s not double the price.” K2 USA sells direct to consumers from its two Michigan showrooms and also distributes to sunroom dealers throughout the United States.
In times past, conservatories had to be imported from Europe, especially the U.K., a process Francis describes as risky and expensive. Now that they’re made here, the product is less costly and more readily available.
If conservatories have a kind of cachet that sunrooms don’t, it might be because of the rooms people like Mark Barocco are building. The one-time sunroom franchisee started Renaissance Conservatories after deciding he wanted to create, in Barocco’s words, “beautiful spaces.”
The company, in Leola, Pa., builds rooms out of mahogany, cedro, and other fine woods. Every job is custom. Leads come through architects, word-of-mouth, or ads in upmarket magazines. Six figure projects are typical. Barocco says cost is determined by the level of detail. Renaissance installs throughout the country, with its own crews. The company’s installed a number of projects on Manhattan penthouses. Barocco calls his conservatories “additions that complement the home, but don’t look anything like the home.” Elegant and individual.
“We are the very upper end of the market,” says Barocco, who insists the satisfaction he derives from building such rooms trumps “getting rich.”
Robert Reichek used to run ads seeking installers for his sunroom business. Then he’d wait. Two to three months would pass, sometimes longer, before a suitable candidate could be hired.
Reichek, owner of Four Seasons Sunrooms of San Luis Obispo, in California, no longer waits. With the help of Four Seasons, he set up an internal training program.
Helping Reichek teach new hires is Lance England, a technical services rep for Four Seasons. England, a onetime general contractor as well as sunroom installer, takes trainees out and shows them how to build a room from start to finish. Reichek says it takes an experienced carpenter 30 to 90 days to master the process, and six months to a year to install without supervision.
Building sunrooms is more complicated than installing roofing, siding, or windows. Permits are often required. Foundation, electrical, and sometimes even plumbing work is involved. Loose fasteners, inadequate sealant, or — especially — a failure to properly attach the room to the house can cause leaks. Leaks mandate service calls. And kill referrals.
“The leak is a telltale sign of poor installation,” Reichek points out — but not the only sign. “You go to a jobsite and you notice that two windows are a half-inch higher than the other two windows. When a client notices, you’re in trouble.” In such cases, the client can reasonably demand that the room be taken down and properly reassembled.
Reichek says the best experience he’s had with installer recruits has been with those open to learning the specialized process of sunroom construction. “You want people with experience in remodeling but the aptitude to take on a new challenge. Installing, he says, is a balance between the quality level that forestalls leaks or service problems and the speed that ensures he makes his margin. “I pay more than most construction companies,” he says, “because I believe we can do things more efficiently and produce more profits than any other form of construction.” But only with the right installers.
