Paradise Exteriors of Boynton Beach, Florida specializes in premium windows, doors, and roofing to protect property during severe weather. We sat back down with Chief Operating Officer Anthony Beckner this month to learn how the family-owned and operated company continues to provide a safe haven from storms.
An influx of new homeowners to the state has had a notable effect on business. “In 2022, Florida had the highest amount of move-ins in the country,” Beckner says. “Everybody wanted to come to Florida.”
Many of these new arrivals have concerns about potential property damage. “The early forecast is for a hyperactive 2024 Atlantic hurricane season,” he says.
In addition to providing preventative measures, the company also gets a great deal of business after storms hit customers’ homes. Paradise Exteriors’ new office in St. Petersburg, Florida has seen an extraordinary amount of activity due to the extensive hurricane damage the area suffered in 2022. “Hurricane Ian hit the west coast pretty hard,” Beckner remembers. “That caused the St. Petersburg office to have a lot of growth. And so that kept us really busy there, repairing homes after that hurricane with new windows and roofs.”
Florida homeowners are unfortunately seeing the potential for storm damage reflected in their insurance prices. “Florida homeowners now pay four times the national average for home insurance,” Beckner says, “and they’re saying Florida home insurance rates could increase up to 23 percent in 2024 after they already increased around that same percentage last year.”
Paradise Exteriors is there to assist customers who are dealing with these sky-high rates. “These windows and roofing systems are going to help lower these increased insurance premiums that you’re getting.”
These systems also reduce stress and headache when a storm is approaching. “You don’t have to put up plywood, be there [to close] shutters, or any of that, along with all the other benefits of the windows and the roofing systems,” says Beckner.
One of these additional benefits is that the company’s products are energy-efficient, which is good news for both the environment and the wallet. “Along with inflation, you have the energy costs that have been increasing, and they’ve been increasing since 2021 at rates much higher than before the pandemic; they’re increasing by about 10 to 20 percent a year. By upgrading your home with new, energy-efficient windows and doors, you’re going to see a reduction—typically of 30 percent—on your energy bills. And, with a new, properly ventilated roofing system, that will also help with the reduction of energy costs.”
The company actively supports Floridians looking for ways to save money. “We’re really working with our homeowners to provide that information on how to help with their inflation cost and rising cost of insurance rates and energy rates,” Beckner says. “These windows, doors, and roofing systems quickly pay for themselves with the savings that you get.”
The State of Florida is also offering support, and the team is eager to educate potential customers about what help is available. “With My Safe Florida, any eligible homeowners that currently do not have hurricane protection for their roof or for their windows are eligible to apply for a grant,” he says. “For every $1.00 they provide, the state provides $2.00 toward the actual cost of the mitigation project, and that’s up to $10,000.” Paradise Exteriors is an authorized contractor for the My Safe Florida program. “We are happy to be part of that and helping homeowners with that program.”
This commitment to the customer is foundational to the company. “Customer service [is] still top priority at Paradise Exteriors. We believe that’s the top thing that sets us apart,” says Beckner. “We select the highest quality products with our manufacturers and provide the best warranties and also back that with our own warranties that we add. Having the top customer service of the industry is very, very important to us.”
The company is working to improve the customer experience even more. “We’re currently working with a new [customer relationship management software package] that we’ve been working with for over a year to provide a better customer experience, from the authorization of the contract to the final installation,” Beckner explains.
This software “has more automation to where the homeowners will be able to see what the status is of their project in a portal as well as other automation progress updates on their project and pictures of their finished product,” he shares. “It will be a great portal that homeowners can use that we don’t see anybody else in the industry utilizing currently. We’re excited about that.”
The team is also proactive in offering customers the best financing possible. “With the large increase in interest rates right now, a home is seeing interest rates in the upper seven percent,” he says. “Paradise Exteriors has worked with our lenders to offer interest rates as low as 4.99 percent, and we have same-as-cash financing for up to 18 months. So we really work hard on the financing side to provide lower rates than what’s offered other places in the industry, especially on unsecured loans.”
Customers may also be able to take advantage of property assessed clean energy (PACE) funding, a tool for financing energy-efficient and renewable energy projects. “We still work with PACE lenders such as Ygrene to provide PACE funding for homeowners that may not qualify for traditional financing,” Beckner explains. “As long as they have equity in their home, they are able to get a loan to upgrade their windows, doors, and roofing systems.”
After financing is secure, homeowners may be pleasantly surprised at how quickly the work is completed. “The shipping times have been reduced drastically,” he says. “They’re down to two to three weeks to get windows, where they were 12 to 16 weeks in 2021 and 2022. So that has made a large impact on how quickly homeowners can get their windows and doors installed.” Two years ago, it typically took between six and eight months to complete a project, “and now we’re seeing projects installed within the same month. So that’s really making a big difference for homeowners.”
The company is now expanding its offerings to include metal roofs. “We have recently installed some of our first metal roofing systems,” Beckner says. “The great thing about metal roofs is the insurance companies allow you to keep a metal roof longer than they would a shingle roof.” Homeowners may be able to keep a metal roof for up to twice as long, in fact. “But we see metal roofs are typically double the cost of shingle roof,” Beckner adds. “So it just depends on how long people want to stay in their homes and if they want to invest more for the look of the metal roof, for the more modern aesthetic that it has.”
Paradise Exteriors continues to grow its presence throughout the state, having expanded to the outskirts of Orlando. Previously, the company’s reach was limited to portions of the east and west coasts of Florida. Now, “we are working with a new manufacturer to where, by the end of this year, we will be able to help homeowners in the rest of Florida,” Beckner tells us. “So, we’ll be able to help everyone from Orlando, to Jacksonville, to the Panhandle, and we’re very excited about being able to finally expand to assist homeowners.”
That is not the only exciting news for the team. After reporting on the birth of Beckner’s daughter in a previous article, this time we are happy to announce the birth of a new son. Now, the Beckners will be busy installing storm protection and growing the company—while keeping up with a growing family as well.
