The nugget., April 18, 2018, Page 7, Image 7

Wednesday, April 18, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
LakeView Millworks marks over 15 years in Sisters
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Without much fanfare, and
over a period of a decade-and-
a-half, LakeView Millworks
has quietly and steadily
evolved into one of Sisters’
keystone businesses.
The business occupies the
entire upstairs space on the
west side of Town Square —
which is an easy fact to miss
unless you look up and see the
variety of business signs that
denote LakeView Millworks’
multitude of products and
services. And then there’s a
2,500-square-foot shop in the
Sisters Industrial Park.
“We’re a full-house mill-
works house for everything,”
owner Brad King explained.
“Doors, hardware, custom and
non-custom. We’re doing cus-
tom pre-hanging in the shop.”
They offer trim packages,
windows, skylights and hard-
ware — including electrified
hinges and door-handles that
allow a homeowner or prop-
erty manager to unlock doors
remotely by cell phone.
King said there are two
representatives working on
the door and window side of
the business — Ken Roberts
and Scot Fetrow. Fetrow is a
long-time Sisters resident and
a well-known contractor. His
background and skill-set is
opening new opportunities for
Lakeview Millworks.
“With his expertise, we’re
looking at getting further
involved in installation,” King
— himself a licensed contrac-
tor — said.
That approach to adding
services reflects King’s some-
what unorthodox, but highly
effective, approach to keep-
ing his business adaptable in
a constantly changing market-
place. It starts with the people
he employs.
“You have to have good
employees or you can’t do any
of this,” he said. “Our whole
company has been built on our
people and their skill-set.”
He means that literally. In
several instances, he’s moved
into particular product lines
and services not because
he had a particular plan to
do so, but because a quality
employee presented himself or
herself and he created a posi-
tion and a mission for them.
“People came to me when
they were down and out in the
last downturn because they
needed a job,” he reflected.
His strategy was to figure
out what they could do —
and then move decisively in
that direction. The question
is always, “How can we gen-
erate revenue based on the
skill-set of the people we have
here?”
It turned out to be an effec-
tive diversification strategy.
“We have many revenue
streams because of it,” King
said.
And they also have an
enthusiastic crew that buys in
to the mission.
“We’ve got a really good
crew that are working really
hard,” King said. “They’re
loyal, they want to make it
work — and they’re excited
about what they’re trying to
do.”
That’s the way King got
into the business of selling
and installing blinds — doing
business as BestVue Blinds.
They carry a variety of brands
at a variety of price points,
including Hunter Douglas,
Graber, Alta and Norman. And
they also do custom shutters,
in the shop now run by Gilbert
Porraz. Jeff Young handles the
installations.
“He’s a past master and
doing all the installs,” King
said.
Shelly Clemens is the sales
representative for BestVue
Blinds. She adheres to a com-
pany philosophy that King has
lived by for his entire career:
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
LakeView Millworks is built around its employees.
“What makes a good sales
person? Ethics,” he said. “One
hundred percent: ethics. They
don’t pretend they’re someone
they’re not. And they’ll never,
never force a customer to do
anything they don’t want to
do.”
King says that one of
Clemens’ standout qualities is
that “she really listens to the
client.”
For their part, both
Clemens and Ken Roberts say
that the tone is set at the top.
“It all comes from him,”
Roberts said of King.
They stand behind their
product and their work, and
hold themselves accountable
for their customers’ satisfac-
tion. If something goes wrong,
they make sure it gets fixed,
because that’s what a cus-
tomer should expect.
“They don’t care who
screwed up,” King said. “At
the end of the day, there’s a
customer paying for this.”
Even though their exten-
sive showroom is on Cascade
Avenue, it’s upstairs and easy
to miss. King notes wryly that
“We’ve been here (almost) 16
years, and people just don’t
know we’re here.”
But Clemens notes that the
word is getting out, because
she gets a lot of repeat and
referral business, which she
takes as an affirmation of the
emphasis they place on cus-
tomer satisfaction and provid-
ing a quality product at a fair
price, installed correctly and
on time.
Look up! We’re in Sisters to serve you!
You don’t have to go to Bend to get the highest quality doors,
architectural millwork, windows and window coverings
Quality Custom Doors & Windows
Architectural Millwork
Rogue Valley • Windsor • Simpson • Oregon Door
Kolbe • Cascade Windows
Emtek • Rocky Mountain Hardware
Our team members use their expertise to help you find the perfect windows, doors and entryway
to reflect your personality and style. We can craft doors to your specification as to design and
wood species. Complete interior millwork packages are also available.
LakeView Millworks is locally owned – we love to serve our neighbors!
A division of Lakeview Millworks
Visit our Sisters showroom
Your HunterDouglas Showroom!
141 E. Cascade Ave., #202
A&I Manufacturing
Stop by and visit our showroom: 141 E. Cascade Ave.
The whole second floor of the Town Square building | CCB #210187
541-549-0968 | www.lakeviewmillworks.com
BestVueBlinds.com | 541-588-6201