From the building element company founded by their (in-laws) parents in 1983 to a specialist company for patio roofs, awnings, sun roofs, roller shutters and more: Marina and Meinhard Berger took over the family business around 23 years ago, expanded it into a master craftsman’s business for sun and weather protection technology and gradually added patio roofs and conservatories to the business area. Today, thanks to numerous additional qualifications and master craftsman titles, SUW Berger GmbH has grown into a broad-based and highly qualified team, which has also had a spacious showroom at its new premises at Zeppelinstraße 23 since 2018. We spoke to Marina and Meinhard Berger about the special features of their family business and the challenges of digitalization in coronavirus times.
You are a real family business and have not only taken over the company from your (in-law) parents, but have also long since integrated your sons Marcel and Manuel into the company. What makes working in the field of sun and wind protection technology so special for you – also as a family?
Now we can live out the team concept even better. It was always important to the actual company founders Marianne Zobel and her husband Maximilian to sell the customer what is best for them with as much cordiality as possible. As we run the family business today, we naturally take a lot of work home with us. But the fact that our fitters also spend a lot of time together in their private lives shows how good the atmosphere is in the team as a whole.
You moved into new premises in Zeppelinstraße in 2018 to mark the company’s 20th anniversary. What facilities do you and your customers normally find here – i.e. outside of coronavirus times?
Thanks to our generously designed exhibition, we can actually show everything the heart desires in the outdoor living sector. And in such a way that the customer can be served a cup of tea or coffee directly from the original and not from a brochure. In addition to seven different patio samples as well as front doors and windows with their respective exterior and interior shading systems, we will even be showing smart home solutions from Somfy and Loxone. From the simple operation of a roller shutter to complex home automation with shading, lighting, heating and ventilation, we can subsequently fully automate almost any home.
In addition to wind and sun protection, another aspect is now particularly important: saving energy through perfectly adjusted blinds or shutters. How important is your work in areas such as climate neutrality, energy saving and environmental protection?
Many of our end customers are not even aware that heating accounts for 68 percent of the total energy consumption of private households in Germany. A study by IVRSA shows that automated sun protection could save up to 15 percent of heating energy and up to 22 million tons of CO2. The use of existing roller shutters alone can save huge amounts of CO2. We still have a lot of educational work to do here.
Did it become apparent last summer that many people had to rediscover their home garden and patio during the “corona summer”?
The coronavirus year was a very special one for us. Back in March, we were almost at a standstill at the start of the first lockdown. This was followed by an incredible number of requests for advice and quotations in what was ultimately a very good year with many new terrace worlds that we were able to help create.
They have apparently adapted quite well to the current situation, offering “masked” on-site advice and installation as well as video chats. Your own online store will be launched in February. Has the past year helped you to digitalize your company structures?
We have started to digitize even further. It turned out that there is not yet a perfect off-the-shelf solution for our trade. We even had to return a program from an industry specialist because it was unusable. But we have expanded our existing program and our son Manuel is currently working on solutions to make us paperless bit by bit. Of course, only as far as our day-to-day business allows!
Even if the current situation is still characterized by numerous restrictions in public life, one thing is certain: next summer is sure to come. And with it, plenty of opportunities to optimize sun and wind protection in your own garden and also to automate it sensibly in terms of climate protection. As the only master craftsman’s business in Hallbergmoos and the surrounding area, SUW Berger supplies everything needed for such an important step into the future from a single source.
Further information: www.suw-berger.de
Images © SUW Berger
