Clearview National December 2014 - Issue 157 | Page 50

doors&wi ndows

Looking Beneath
The Surface
At Doorco
The ‘Doorco’ stand at this year’s FIT
Show implied that a new exhibitor
was taking part selling a wide range
of composite residential doors and
also featuring a nicely appointed FS,
or Folding Sliding door. It was an
impressive display and exhibitors and
visitors alike looked on bemused at
this apparent new kid on the block.
»»In fact, DoorCo is
essentially a renaming of the
Capstone Door Company, on the
surface involving little other than
a name change, with even the
VAT number remaining the same.
Behind the scenes however, there
is much happening and a whole
lot more to look forward to in the
coming days…
Capstone remains a key,
core product under the Doorco
umbrella, the company continuing
under the ownership of Dan
Sullivan who together with partner
John Collins has been involved
with the domestic door market for
many years. Their initial business
was supplying container quantities
of Capstone doors to large
fabricators then expanding into
door distribution from UK stocks.
In the last 18 months, the offer has
included a pre-prepared product,
something that has dramatically
increased the customer base as
well as margins, simply by adding
value.
The company’s investment
in achieving this has been
substantial with a spend of more

than £500,000, resulting in the
factory becoming one of the
most advanced composite door
facilities in the country. Two CNC
machines, an edge bander and a
paint line allow DoorCo to offer
an almost limitless customisation
service to its customers.
In addition to manufacturing
personnel, the support and
management team has also
doubled in size to ensure that the
company has the right technical,
administrative and financial
skills.
But whilst a great deal has been
achieved to firmly plant Capstone
in the hearts and minds of UK
trade buyers, the Doorco brand
represents a whole lot more,
as Dan Sullivan explains: “It’s
actually very simple. Capstone, as
popular as the brand has become,
represents just one door product
– composite residential - and our
future is about a range of doors of
all types. Doorco means just that –
there are many more opportunities
out there for door products and we
intend to look at all of them: we
are a door supplier.“

50 » DEC 2014 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

At this year’s FIT Show, the
company rolled out new products
that included a 68mm rebated
composite door solution and
a folding sliding door system
manufactured in aluminium.
Rather than use the bi-fold tag
for the latter, Dan has reverted
to a term used before these doors
became popular in the past couple
of years, one that actually is more
descriptive and appropriate:
“Folding/Sliding or ‘FS’ is
another way of distinguishing
Doorco’s products from those of
our competitors,“ he says.
Dan explains further: “We
could not have offered this
product under the Capstone
name as it is UK made. Other
new concepts that are due for
launch over the next few months
are also made by other supply
partners, further explaining why
the Doorco brand was created; we
are a complete door company –
it’s part of our DNA.”
A more recent innovation
that both illustrates Doorco’s
continuing commitment to both
Capstone and to innovation is the

Doorco 6/4 Combi, a composite
door that allows fabricators to
make seven popular door styles
from just one door blank.
Manufactured using a unique
midrail that has the woodgrain
pattern running through from top
to bottom, the 6/4 Combi may be
manufactured into a number of
popular styles including: Six Panel
Solid; Twin Vertical; Twin Top;
Twin Top with Mid Panel; Half
Glazed; Full Glazed; and Four
Glazed (twin and bottom).
“All this is with absolutely
no sacrifice to the aesthetics
of the door or its quality and
specification,” explains Dan “This
design innovation is absolutely
unique to the 6/4 Combi and
another exclusive benefit to
DoorCo customers. It is also,”
he continues “just the tip of
the iceberg. The domestic door
market has barely been touched
in the UK. We intend to change
that.”

Wishing you a merry
Christmas and a
prosperous New Year