Award Metals Still Feels Like Family

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

Award Metals employees clearly love their customers and are dedicated to growing their relationships with their community to exceed expectations.  

Award Metals, with headquarters in both Baldwin Park, California and Fife, Washington is one of the West's largest manufacturers of sheet metal products for the construction industry. Established in 1962, it manufactures and distributes a wide array of products for the roofing, concrete forming, ventilation, drywall and stucco markets. 

Award Metals manufactures and distributes from 3 plants located in Baldwin Park, California, Fife, Washington and Portland, Oregon. With its large customer reach, Award Metals still remains the family owned company known for quality products and excellent service. The company’s value and commitment to family, customer service and community are obvious in the interview answers from these three Award Employees.  

Award Metals is a business unit within the Gibraltar Building Accessories Division and is frequently associated with Norwesco, another Building Accessories Division company. The two companies share distribution areas and produce similar product lines. Many of their products are manufactured at the same facilities and are supported by the same dedicated services teams. 

Amanda Jackson says she loves “the ability to grow within the company and the relationships I have built with my colleagues and customers.” During the 13 years she has worked at Awards, Amanda says, “We have grown as a company to continue to stay focused on what is needed for our customers within the industry.”  

Amanda’s co-worker, Virginia Whelan, echoes that the company culture is centered in the growth and development of their employees, stating, “I have worked at Norwesco for 15 years in April. I started off as the receptionist and moved to customer service about six months later. I was an extremely shy person. Answering phones and talking to people was out of my comfort zone. I have grown so much working for Norwesco.” 

Virginia also resonates with Amanda’s love for her customers, sharing, “I love working with my customers and creating lasting relationships. It’s sad when they leave or retire, but gives us an opportunity to grow and connect with our new contact. Far above the relationship with customers is the relationship with my co-workers. That is what keeps me where I am and happy in my job.”  

Virginia reminisces, “One of my most favorite customers was retiring, and we as customer service sent him a card and a few special gifts. He still checks up on us and it is so good to hear from him. Just an example of the closeness we create with our customers.”   

The importance of taking care of the customers long-term as a team resonates in the Award Metals culture, along with manufacturing high-performance building products that last.   

“The employees who have a strong sense of ownership in doing their best every day in meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations” states Raymond Hobart, a coworker of Amanda and Virginia, talking about what he loves about working at Award Metals. He believes that Award Metals’ success can be attributed to “keeping a culture of family for our teammates and customers.” 

For Raymond, the best part of working for Award is interacting with his teammates and customers. He enjoys “working together every day with each other’s best interest in mind in achieving best-in-class service and products.” Raymond, when asked about his favorite experience with a customer responded, “The consistency in daily feedback from many of our customers on the great service that our inside customer service team provides every day in meeting and exceeding their expectations. They talk about the feeling of family, along with partnership, and mention how many years they have worked with individuals like Amanda Jackson and Virginia Whelan out of our Fife Facility....”  

These three Award team members are excited about continuing to strive for excellence in the future and improving their company for their customers. 

Amanda says she is eager “to continue to watch and be a part of the continuing improvements, [and] to be the best for our customers and our community.” Raymond adds, “Our commitment to being better every day, striving to raise the bar on best-in-class service and products,” drives the company to improve for customers and employees to provide the best service. Award Metals is always trying to do right by their people and give it their all. “I have always been proud to be a part of Award and Norwesco,” says Virginia.  

Award and Norwesco are two business units with the Gibraltar Building Accessories Division. To learn more about the Gibraltar Building Accessories Division and the companies they represent visit www.gibraltarbuildingproducts.com 

Learn more about Construction Solutions , a campaign to learn from contractors and provide solutions for their building product needs visit  their directory page or visit their website at www.gibraltarbuildingproducts.com.