Vinyl Is Final
A glimpse of the vinyl siding industry with Al Ribnick of American Pride Construction

When Al Ribnick wants to show off his work, he takes potential clients for a ride down his street. Four neighbors and his own home provide a showcase for his vinyl siding, decking and window products. “They know where I live – and they still speak to me,” he quips.

In the last 20 years vinyl siding has changed significantly. Panels used to be wide, white and shiny: now the shininess is gone and the look is sharp and historically accurate where desired. From 20 feet away it is impossible to tell that the siding is vinyl instead of wood.

When Ribnick started out in business, his customers were seniors seeking to reduce the cost of maintenance on their homes. In recent years customers have become much younger: now 30-year-olds are deciding they don’t want to paint their house again.

Apartments, condominium complexes and new motels are using vinyl siding so that they don’t have to maintain the exterior of the building. Unifying the look of a home that has been remodeled is another common use for siding. The movement towards vinyl has been spurred here by customers from the East Coast demanding vinyl siding for their West Coast homes. Western architects have become more familiar with the product during the last seven or eight years, and, as if underlining its new-found legitimacy, more and more owners of expensive homes are using vinyl. American Pride has installed vinyl siding on a large home in Carmel and a judge’s home in Sonoma. Vinyl siding is now a seven-to-eight billion dollar a year industry nationwide.

Decking can also be maintenance free: One of American Pride’s new decking products is made form recycled milk jugs and plastic bags instead of redwood. The new vinyl deck is secured to a wooden frame by screw or nails underneath the deck, eliminating protruding nail heads. When wet, unlike wood, the vinyl surface provides slip resistance – your feet stop instead of sliding. The color is impregnated into the vinyl, insuring that any scratches don’t show. In addition, vinyl is too tough for termites.

Ribnick rarely uses the typical pressed wood grain vinyl siding, pointing out the large variety of other vinyl products available now. “You don’t have to sell ugly siding anymore,” he says. A new layering technique is used to create a multi-colored effect on panels, which change color as the light on the house changes, and have an appearance similar to stained cedar or redwood. Smooth vinyl achieves the look and feel of painted wood siding.

There are now many architectural components available in vinyl, such as fluted columns, fish-scale shingles, fencing, lattice, mailboxes and even outside birdcages. Wood can be blended with vinyl: many Cape Cod churches use vinyl siding on big walls, leaving wooden details to be painted. This reduces their overall maintenance by 80 to 90 percent which maintaining the look of the gingerbread building. Vinyl beadboard, which looks just like grandma’s porch ceiling, completes exterior detail, but can also be used an maintenance free wainscoating in kitchens, bathrooms and closets. Siding is even available in pieces which look like shake shingles and come in many colors. The samples are not particularly convincing in your hand, but look surprisingly natural when installed on the wall of a house.

Ribnick does 70 to 80 siding jobs each year, keeping two, two-person crews employed full-time year round. In addition he has one salesperson, and his wife Sharyn and daughter Leah manage advertising/promotions and media coordination for the business. A typical siding job depends on the size of a house and the amount of cutting or awkward angles involved: long walls go up quickly and easily-usually a job is complete in 7 to 10 days. Cost is important to people, but Ribnick believes it’s more important that people feel comfortable with a contractor, and being a local company is a large part of the comfort level. “This is your home, your castle-and I’m messing with your castle. If I’m going to do that, I’d better get it right.”

The local market supports two or three small individual contractors as well as larger companies like Sears. Ribnick regards his product as being superior to his competitors’. If the person that I see doesn’t buy, it’s usually not because they are buying from somebody else: it’s just because that decided not to buy right now.” Ribnick’s average sales call lasts 45 minutes -unless I stay around to chat – which is typical of me. People tend to buy me.” Originally from Houston, Ribnick entertains with lively anecdotes about his times as a counselor in a inner-city high school – the two-hour formulated sales pitch is not for him although occasional corniness isn’t beneath him. “Remember.” He says, “Vinyl is final.”

By Alison Martin
Edited AR