Starting in a garage, Door and Glass Innovations grows into new Fall River space

If you install windows and doors, and you like a challenge, Fall River is the place for you, Paul Pavao said.

FALL RIVER – If you install windows and doors, and you like a challenge, Fall River is the place for you, Paul Pavao said.

“You get into a building and you have granite walls, 20 inches thick,” he said. “There are variables with everything.

“Luckily, I have guys with a lot of experience. They figure things out.

“And I like a challenge.”

In that, Pavao is lucky. His company, Door and Glass Innovations, just dedicated its new headquarters at 144 Robeson St. His company has grown steadily since he started it in a garage six years ago. He now has 15 employees filling 10,000 square feet, and he sees room to grow more.

Doors and windows aren’t simple anymore.

Pavao, this past week, spent one morning in Boston installing automatic doors, another morning in Bristol, putting doors on the police station that satisfied the federal building code under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He would return to Boston later in the week for another job.

“We do a lot of automatic doors and handicapped doors,” he said. “That is a constant call.

“But being in this location, right in the city, we’ve gotten more into the glass side of things, especially the residential side with broken or fogged windows, mirrors, frameless showers.

“I’m more familiar with the automatic door side of the business. Luckily, I’ve got glass guys here with a lot of experience. They can figure things out. They’ve taught me a lot over the last few years.”

The challenge in the business has been keeping up with changes in the building code and improvements in materials. Besides a raft of regulations dealing with ADA issues, building inspectors look more closely now at doors and windows for safety and their ability to trap heat.

“Our vendors help keep us in the loop on what is going on,” Pavao said. “They keep us educated on building codes.”

The company crew also builds its own double glazed thermal windows so it can customize them and also offer customers repairs that are usually completed on the same day.

They learned to do that because they were asked to do it, Pavao added.

“When you see a demand, you try to fill it,” he said. “That makes a business grow.”

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.