Hi, I’m Evan Cooper, I do all the photography, videography, and most of the social media for Steve and Wood Window Makeover. Over time I think you will begin to see more and more blog posts coming from me and the Lynda (our office manager) so you can get a peek behind the curtain of this business.
I would like to start by saying that even though I am involved in this business and with this company that I still consider my perspective to be an outsider looking in. I was never a particularly crafty person and I’m not very good with my hands so repairing and building windows isn’t quite in my wheelhouse.
Enough about me, I’m here to talk about the window restoration business and the whole world of historic restoration. It’s funny how we can use social media to show you exactly what we want you to see to force this false sense of what it is that actually happens on our day to day. It’s almost like propaganda, even though we try to show all sides of the company on our social media, there are things that we don’t get much of a chance to touch on. The biggest thing that I want to talk about today is the drama.
The world of window craft, window restoration, and historic preservation is full of drama that nobody gets to see unless they are part of the company. It is absolutely bizarre to me and I never would have thought that it even existed. There are rivalries that stretch across the country, from north to south and east to west. From what I see the northern restoration people have their market locked down and if you want to break into that business you’re going to have to wait for one of those old men to die off and then take their place. Until that happens every move you make will be judged and if they do not agree with your strategies, you will be ridiculed, PUBLICLY. Social media is a hell of a thing and the historic restoration people and window crafters will absolutely torch you in posts, on message boards, or in the comments sections just to make it seem like they are your superior. If you don’t know about this, start reading the comment sections on some of our posts. These dudes are ruthless and quite frankly, very annoying and not appreciated. But honestly, as an outsider looking in it’s all pretty hilarious. Old people are weird and weirdly passionate about things to the point where they are essentially bullying each other over it.
Now there is also what seems to be an east coast west coast biggie Tupac kind of beef that I had no idea about. Ever heard of #fastsash? Me neither. But from my recollection, we were somewhat bullied by some west coast window makers in the most passive-aggressive way about what Steve calls his mobile sash factory. It’s fast and efficient and blah blah and we made a post about it because of course, we wanted to show it off because (excuse my language) it’s f*ckin awesome. For some reason that was big enough for these dudes to start coming after us by starting the “fast sash challenge” on the west coast. Why? I have no idea, to this day I’m truly unsure about what about our post about the sash factory got them so riled up. They even went as far as to mail Steve measuring tape or something like that as to imply that he doesn’t or didn’t know how to use it. Jokes on them because we did the fast sash challenge and blew them out of the water but that’s beside the point.
The last part of the drama and this is the really crazy one to me is the local drama. The subcontractors, the other companies that are somewhat in our area, and what seems like a close-knit community. I see it day in and day out, subs talking about other subs, or quitting being a sub to pursue their own careers in the business without being under an umbrella company of sorts. The quitting part is fine, but the drama that almost always follows is nuts! I have never seen a subcontractor leave and not immediately start talking a bunch of sh*t about the company. I don’t see understand why in this business the second you make some sort of change you have to burn all your bridges. Haven’t you guys heard of networking? You don’t have to like the person but at least pretend to if it’s going to get you ahead. (Also, most of these people are grown men and they should’ve grasped that concept by now in my opinion) BUT, here’s the crazy part, the people that DO pretend to like each other have these weird rivalries and everything is all good in person and the sometimes get along but when the doors close they absolutely hate each other. The small ways that they show each other that they hate each other all are kind of pissing contests. Who has the best gear, who did what first, who invented the technique, who got that picture first, and who can claim the most credit for all of those things. It’s so funny, it really is hilarious, do yourself a favor and look through all the window crafter/historical preservation social media pages and look for similarities, I guarantee you’ll find plenty, because like I said before, it’s all just one big pissin’ contest.
All of these things I’m writing about are just opinions I’ve formed while doing media in this world. I’ve eavesdropped on plenty of conversations (accidentally), people have left their mics on and accidentally said something that wasn’t meant for me to hear, and it is my literal job to look at the social media all the time so I see first hand how competitive and mean it can get. If you find this to be kind of hilarious like I do, just pay attention to the social media posts and always read the comment sections, and I guarantee you will be entertained. If you’re not already following us you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube all under Wood Window Makeover. Thanks for reading <3
