Doug Fecht, owner of Fecht & Co. Custom Shutters, in his Corpus Christi workshop, where he and his employees make the shutter magic happen. Fecht and his crew build and install shutters of all shapes, sizes, looks, materials and action. Yes, now even shutters operate by remote controls and smartphones! Photo by Suzanne Freeman
Doug Fecht checks on the long-term forecast from the National Hurricane Center each morning when he wakes up. Bad weather means good business for Fecht & Co., which manufactures and installs hurricane shutters in the Coastal Bend.
But he doesn’t need a hurricane to keep his crew of five busy. Fecht’s shutters are good for more than protection against wind and rain.
“Roll-up shutters and screens block out 97 percent of the heat and sun,” Fecht said. “They are pretty energy-efficient.”
They also can be installed with remote controls that link to smartphones or tablets, giving homeowners the ability to raise and lower them without ever leaving bed. In fact, you don’t even have to be in the same state with the shutters.
“You can be in New York City and hear about a hurricane coming and close your shutters — protecting your house — all from your phone,” Fecht said, lowering a shutter from inside his workshop at 3780 Bratton Road in Corpus Christi. With shutters closed, darkness falls on the expansive space filled with materials and power tools. “A lot of people working in the oil fields and for the refineries work all night and need to sleep all day. Close these shutters, and it’s night time.”
Fecht & Co. not only builds and installs custom shutters, it installs replacement windows and doors. Fecht can also install Force 12 hurricane screens, which can stand up to the strongest winds. While the screens won’t keep windows from breaking, they will protect the integrity of the home from wind and rain.
“I like to use the screens on the edge of a patio to enclose the whole area,” Fecht said. “You can bring all your lawn equipment inside the patio, enclose it with the screens. The screens are flexible, they won’t hit anything, they won’t break anything and they keep everything you take inside safe even during a hurricane.”
That’s a big change from when Fecht got started in the shutter business in 1982. Before Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, no building codes or standards existed for hurricane shutters. After Andrew, Florida adopted wind load codes, which Fecht adapted for his customers in Texas. The Lone Star State soon followed with its own codes.
Now, every home built after 1998 is required to have hurricane protection for windows. If you put shutters on any home, no matter when constructed, those shutters have to be approved by the Texas Department of Insurance.
Fecht’s experience in the shutter business is extensive, although he began his working life as a chemist. He has a biology and chemistry degree from Kansas State University.
“As a farm boy from Nebraska, sitting in a windowless chem lab all day was not for me,” Fecht said. “I had a friend in remodeling and home improvements who got into roll-up shutters in Kansas. I learned it there.”
He and his wife of 38 years followed another friend to Corpus Christi, thinking that Doug might find work in the oil fields. He soon received a call from someone who had heard he knew how to install roll-up shutters. That led to a full-time job and set him on track for opening his own business.
“I was working for another shutter company when they closed their doors, and I was out of a job,” Fecht said. “I knew all the customers and vendors. Within two weeks, I was getting calls to do shutters. Basically, I was asked to be in the business.”
Fecht is certainly satisfied with being in the business of protecting Coastal Bend homes and commercial properties. Though he made one other attempt at a different career by applying to veterinarian school, he decided he wanted to get married instead.
“I don’t regret a thing,” he said. “I’m still married to the love of my life, and that’s pretty great.”
He also loves living in the area, which is home to his three kids and a growing brood of grandchildren.
“I’ve been around a long time,” he said. “I care about my customers. I have a lot of repeat customers and people who call me for other things besides shutters sometimes because they know I’ll help them.”
No matter what the weather.
Located at 3780 Bratton Road in Corpus Christi, Fecht & Co. can be reached at (800) 400-7655.
