Custom Exteriors, Inc. Comparative Summary

Jeff Kendall and Kevin Gundry started Custom Exteriors, Inc. in 1997 with a simple objective in mind: to provide and install the best possible home improvement products alongside the best possible service. “It all starts with our mission statement: We want this to be the best home improvement project and experience our customers have ever had,” says Mr. Kendall. “That philosophy is backed by a lifetime warranty on everything we sell and install.”

Custom Exteriors’ expertise is multi-faceted—the Pleasanton-based company takes a full-service approach to home enhancement, specializing in windows, doors, stucco and stone, attic insulation, and roofing. It also offers free, in-home evaluations and estimates, and its showroom has gained recognition as one of the region’s most complete and accommodating. “We’re convinced we have the best showroom in the Bay Area,” says Mr. Kendall. “Customers can come in and get a real feel for our company.

“We have something called the ‘wall of install,’” he continues. “It shows people how, for example, a retrofit window is put in from start to finish, and it explains how a new construction window compares as well. Customers can come see the types of products we sell here and witness how they’d be installed in their home.”

Custom Exteriors has completed more than 12,000 Bay Area jobs since its inception, a consistent presence that Mr. Kendall attributes to the loyalty of his customers. “They’re our biggest award,” he says. “Sixty-five to 70 percent of our yearly business comes from referrals of satisfied customers, which says a lot.” The company has also garnered praise from the home improvement industry’s national media— Window & Door magazine named it “Number One Consumer Window Company” in 2006 and “Installation Company of the Year” in 2009.

Custom Exteriors employs every person on its crews, including estimators, so there are no subcontractors complicating a job’s progress. It also prides itself on buying the best-quality products available on the market—like superior caulking, low-expansion foam, and top-brand windows and doors—because, as Mr. Kendall says, “we want our customers to live with their installations trouble- and maintenance-free for as long as they own their home.”