Why do garage door manufacturers design door parts to fail in five years or less, unless they are trying to build an instant replacement market?
The experience suggests there is always more behind a product than meets the eye.
Several years ago the chief executive officer of a garage door manufacturing company was talking with an engineer from another garage door company, whom he had befriended over years of serving on an industry board.
The engineer complained out loud that he faced the challenge to cheapen his company's product, by designing all parts on the door, to fail at five years. The failures lead to repeat business but the engineer lamented the loss of quality, which resulted from the move.[1]
When you build a cheap product, people will notice, even in a recession when the consumer may be more price driven than usual.
That compelling garage door purchase, which had such an attractive price tag, won’t come without some compromises in quality and in many cases, safety.
Jake Robbins, office manager for Access Garage Doors LLP of Portland said he runs into high customer dissatisfaction, when dealing with customers who have purchased "junk doors" that may be relatively new.
"It's depressing to see companies sell product like that, that fails so fast," Robbins said.
He said Access Garage Doors sells a garage door with the idea it's the last door a customer will ever have to buy.
Ken Vaughn of Pro Door LLC in Sterling, Colorado said last year he replaced two cheaply made doors, installed by the homeowner himself, which had been in place for less than a year.
"They seemed to be a step above a cardboard box," Vaughn said of the doors.
Historically, many companies have attempted to build their own replacement market, when they sell a cheap door, not designed to last a long time.
Dave Nelson of Advantage Garage Doors in Salt Lake City, Utah said he recently replaced a spring on a new garage door, which was only seven months old. He has found replacing lesser quality galvanized springs with a quality spring, with a lifetime warranty, from another company is a winning combination.
The industry standard for a torsion spring used to be 10,000 to 15,000 cycles, but now many average 5,000-6,000. By contrast, a galvanized torsion spring at the high end of the industry rates at over 30,000 cycles, with a lifetime warranty.
Designing garage doors to fail never works long term.
Another garage door executive tells the tale of encountering one such dealer on the island of Kauai in Hawaii a number of years ago. The executive approached the dealer about potentially selling his company’s doors.
"He told me that the only thing that kept him in business was replacing all of the garage doors on the island of Kauai every four years," the executive said.
The philosophy came back to bite the dealer. He went out of business.
It’s a good idea for anyone in the market for a new garage door to take a close look at the fine print and details of a warranty. If a door doesn’t have a warranty of more than five years and the parts have a very limited warranty, chances are you bought a very cheap door, someone is hoping to replace in a few years.
Look for value and safety in buying a garage door. In the end, you’ll get just what you pay for.
[1] http://www.martindoor.com/more/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=241
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