By Laura Jean Whitcomb

Frank O’Donnell (left) and Jon Blodgett (right).

Bigger isn’t always better. When you’re considering building from the ground up or a major renovation, bigger can sometimes mean less customer service and less product knowledge.

That’s why many local contractors forgo national retail chains or online storefronts to work with Blodgett’s Sash & Door, Inc., located on Mechanic Street in Lebanon, N.H. Blodgett’s, co-owned by Jon Blodgett and Frank O’Donnell, has been doing business with homeowners and general contractors – including Trumbull-Nelson – since 1987.

Both Blodgett and O’Donnell have decades of experience with the wide range of products they provide: doors, windows, kitchen cabinets and accessories, lighting and countertops.

While attending Keene State College, Blodgett worked at Perkins Lumber in Keene, N.H., to help pay for his education. He started out working in the lumberyard, driving and unloading trucks, and after graduation became the manager. In 1979, he signed on as a sales representative at the Sharon, Vt., branch of V.P. Winter Distribution Company.

“I called on lumber dealers to sell pre-hung doors, exterior doors and moldings,” recalls Blodgett, “and I put more than 60,000 miles on the car every year.”

Blodgett’s Sash & Door’s excellent customer service may also have something to do with their current revenues of $3.5 million.

Wanting to cut down the time spent in the car, he later decided to take a position as a store manager and sales representative for Pella Windows in White River Junction, Vt., in 1982.

In 1985, Blodgett was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. He drew upon his years of sales experience and construction knowledge to create Closet Crafters, a company that specialized in the installation of wire shelving.

“There was a construction boom in the late 1980s and the company grew from just me and one truck to four guys and two trucks. Some days we installed shelving in condominium unit after condominium unit, visiting more than 80 condos a day,” says Blodgett.

The work, unfortunately, was rather monotonous and Blodgett began to consider selling the products that he started out with years ago: doors and windows. Like Closet Crafters, Blodgett’s Sash & Door was initially run out of Blodgett’s home in Lebanon, N.H., and later moved to the company’s current storefront on Mechanic Street in 1987.

O’Donnell has a similar background in the millwork product industry. The Needham, Mass., native started his career at V.P. Winter Distribution in 1975, selling doors, windows, molding and hardware to lumber yards and retail stores. Perkins Lumber, Blodgett’s employer at the time, was one of O’Donnell’s clients, and the two struck up a friendship. (Blodgett later signed on at V.P. Winter, and the two worked together as sales representatives for a short while.)

O’Donnell moved up the ladder at V.P. Winter over the years, eventually leaving sales to become the manager of a distribution plant in Sharon, Vt., in 1989. He supervised a team of 25 employees and a large sales territory covering both New Hampshire and Vermont.

He kept in touch with Blodgett, who, during their days at V.P. Winter, had discussed starting a business together. In 1992, O’Donnell was ready to make the move and, on April Fool’s Day, he joined Blodgett as co-owner of Blodgett’s Sash & Door, Inc.

Blodgett’s first year in business resulted in $600,000 in sales, a number that quickly grew to $1 million in 1989. Although windows and doors are still the main source of revenue for the company (about 80 to 90 percent of sales), Blodgett’s has branched into different product lines including kitchen cabinets and countertops, hardware and lighting.

“We all work hard. Our dedication, coupled with the economy turning around and the boom in construction helped make us successful. Each year we grow even more,” O’Donnell says.

Blodgett’s Sash & Door’s excellent customer service may also have something to do with their current revenues of $3.5 million. “Customers appreciate our level of service and our ability to act quickly,” says O’Donnell. “We know our business. It’s all we do, day in and day out.”

Blodgett agrees. “When you come in the door, you get waited on. Everyone behind the counter knows what they are talking about,” he says. “You’d be surprised at the number of people who want to do business with a smaller company because of the better customer service and more extensive product expertise.”

Although the two share ownership of the company, each owner has different management responsibilities: Blodgett covers kitchens and baths and O’Donnell heads up doors and windows. Over the year, the team has witnessed changes in the popularity of particular product lines and has expanded the business accordingly.

“When we started selling kitchens, we might have sold one or two Corian countertops a year,” recalls Blodgett. “Now we sell about 30 a year.” Corian, because of its seamless and nonporous surface, stain resistance and lifetime warranty, has become the countertop of choice for many homeowners, restaurants and businesses with food preparation areas.

Other tried-and-true brands include Norco and Andersen windows and patio doors, Therma-tru Doors and Cabico cabinetry. “Very little callback is important to us and to our customers,” says O’Donnell. “No one wants to have any problems after installation.”

A staff of seven employees is ready to help everyone, from homeowners to commercial enterprises. Blodgett estimates that 70 percent of their business comes from contractors, including companies like Trumbull-Nelson.

“We’ve sold quite a few kitchen cabinets to Trumbull-Nelson,” says Blodgett, “and worked on several private home projects with them in Enfield and Hanover. We even provided the kitchen cupboards and Corian countertops to Shelley and Larry (Ufford, T-N’s president) for their farmhouse in Norwich, Vt.”
O’Donnell recalls recent work with Trumbull-Nelson on the Dream and Do Farm, a state-of-the-art dairy farm, also in Norwich. The project included construction of four separate barn buildings, totaling approximately 25,000 square feet. Blodgett’s Sash & Door reviewed blueprints, estimated pricing and delivered more than 100 windows to Trumbull-Nelson.

“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Trumbull-Nelson,” says O’Donnell. “On larger scale jobs it helps if you don’t have to start from scratch with education on the products. Trumbull-Nelson has excellent project managers who are knowledgeable, great to deal with, professional and treat us well.”
You could say that Blodgett’s Sash & Door and Trumbull-Nelson have a similar customer service philosophy – grow the business by treating customers and clients the way you’d like to be treated. It’s a philosophy that works.