My Trip to the CAOBA DOORS Factory in Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua, Guatemala

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Antigua, Guatemala to visit the factory at Caoba Doors. It was a quick 2 ? hour flight from Miami. The city of Antigua is 5049 ft above sea level nestled in green mountains, with 500 plus year old cobblestone streets and surrounded by three volcanoes. Only one volcano is currently active. The city is rich in history and filled with Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture and many colonial churches. Architects would love to tour this city! Antigua is the number one tourist city in Guatemala. There were many Americans and Europeans visiting during my stay. There were many great restaurants, and the locals were all very friendly and accommodating. Mayan pyramids and ruins were close by. I wish I had more time to enjoy the city and area and plan to go back there on a vacation soon.

The purpose of my trip was to meet with the owners of Caoba Doors, tour their manufacturing facilities and learn more about their products. I can honestly say that I was extremely impressed!

I would say that Caoba Doors is among the best of the best in the high-end wood windows/doors and millwork industry. I put them in the category of the top three companies in their industry. Caoba is comparable to Tischler and Reilly yet offer better pricing.

I was met at the Guatemala City airport by their friendly driver Juan. We drove about an hour up the mountains to my beautiful hotel, Los Pasos, that Caoba provided for me. https://hotellospasos.com/ It was a great place to stay!

The Caoba Doors Factory

When I first arrived at the factory, I was greeted by the Caoba owner Paul Kronick. ?Paul was dressed casually with jeans and a flannel. He told me that other than a wedding or a funeral this is about as dressed up as he ever gets. He’s humble, laidback, easy going is very intense and passionate when talking about Caoba and their products. Paul also owns an organic farm and a Café in Antigua as well. His entrepreneurial skills have created hundreds of jobs for this small city.

The main offices immediately give you a sense of how the Caoba enironment feels, which is more like a family instead of a company. There is also an amazing cook onsite, Juanita, that made us amazing lunches every day.

I was blown away with how large the operation was and with the number of employees that worked there, around 250. The indoor part of their factory was over 171,000 s.f. I lost count of how many machines they had. Some were old workhorses, maintained by an experienced crew, and still worked great and they also have a great deal of modern state of the art machinery and CNC machines as well. They even had one machine from Europe that was specially modified for Caoba and the only one like it in existence. Their designand engineering department was the largest I’ve seen and I’ve been to larger manufacturing facilities than this. They had a staff of about 15 qualified engineers and architects and some speak English very well. It was also the first manufacturing plant that I’ve visited that has so many female employees that worked in the factory. I noticed one area where they were hand sanding as preparation for Caoba's unique finish process and this area was comprised of about 50 women. It was nice to see this.

I’d like to clear something up that was eye-opening to me. I’ve often heard some say how companies like Caoba Doors can only sell their products at lower prices because they pay their employees so little. This is a pejorative and wrong way to look at this. It is true that Guatemala is a developing country and many jobs offered have what we in America would consider low wages. However, Caoba Doors has truly become, in Antigua and surrounding areas, one of the most important labor generators in the region. Most of the employees and some family members have worked there for several years, ensuring a highly skilled and experienced craftmanship through time.

?Paul has set up a Montessori school and after school program at the factory and let’s his employees have their children stay there during the day and attend the school for free! The facility is temporarily shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions. He does this because of his social commitment to the employees and the community.

?(Below is a picture of part of the school and day care center.)

For over 38 years, Caoba Doors has been manufacturing custom doors, windows and millwork. They primarily use genuine mahogany wood on most of their products. I knew they offered doors and windows, but I didn’t know that they also make interior doors, custom railings, shutters, entry gates and more. I say more because the owner Paul told me that he loves taking on unique and challenging projects. Caoba is known for doing some custom millwork projects that other companies either won’t or can’t. Paul hates to tell a customer no and will find a solution if it is possible.

One example I saw at the factory of how Caoba can address everything custom and goes outside of the box when needed was what they did on a massive pocketing mahogany corner sliding door unit. It was for a luxury home in Hawaii. Both sides had 4 panels that opened and slid into pockets so the whole corner can be fully open. One end of the unit will be in the kitchen area which leads outside to a patio grill area. It would be common to need to go in and out of the kitchen to the patio area often. The challenge was that the homeowner didn’t want to need to open all those large panels every time they wanted to go from the kitchen to the patio. The homeowner wanted to have the ability to simply open the last panel when needed. The problem is that isn’t how sliding doors are made. Paul and his engineering team, however, figured out a solution. They created a separate track somehow that made it so the homeowner could slide that one panel in both directions. Many other manufacturers would’ve just told the homeowner sorry, but we can’t do that. These sliding doors were Lift & Slide Doors like the one in the video below but these met in a corner.

Caoba Doors also offers one of a kind aluminum/wood clad doors and windows. I say one of a kind because they are the only manufacturer offering alum/wood doors in America that have smooth corners with no visible mitered. This is a rare Italian design. Not only is it more aesthetically appealing but I would imagine it is also better at resisting water than the common mitered corners that standard windows and doors have. (Below is a pic of the Aluminum corners) The aluminum/wood clad products are great for those that want the rich elegance of wood on the interior but less maintenance on the exterior.

Wisdom to think ahead

Having a complete understanding of the lumber industry and an impressive foresight to anticipate challenges, Paul has managed to ensure a permanent supply of wood throughout the year to be able to meet demand. He has accomplished this even with inflation skyrocketing lumber costs to almost 400% above the old rates after the pandemic. Many other wood window/door manufacturers buy their wood as they need for projects and the ones that do that must be needing to raise their prices significantly due to the rapidly rising costs. Fortunately Caoba Doors is doing its best to mitigate this issue and remain competive in the market. (Pics below show just some of their lumber in stock).

Genuine Mahogany Wood

While on my tour, I found out that some architects, builders and manufacturers have erroneously told me that nobody can get the coveted Honduran mahogany anymore. This is what’s known as Genuine Mahogany and commonly referred to as Peruvian or Honduran mahogany. The official term for this species is Swietenia Macrophylla. As Guatemala borders Honduras they get this wood from the same forest conditions as Honduras. This is the wood that Caoba Doors uses on most commonly on their products. https://exoticwoodzone.com/pages/honduran-mahogany

Growing Pains

Caoba Doors has grown much over the 35 plus years they’ve been in business. Around ten years ago Caoba did a job for a private residence that belonged to the Chairman and CEO of Discovery Land Company. https://discoverylandco.com/our-worlds Discovery Land Company develops ultra-high-end resort communities and clubs throughout America, the islands and Mexico. ?The CEO loved the Caoba products so much that his development company uses Caoba Doors on many of their amazing multi-million-dollar properties. For example, in the Discovery Land Company’s Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club and community, on an island in the Bahamas, https://bakersbayclub.com/ ?Caoba Doors has provided either the windows/doors, railings, staircases and more to over 100 of the multi-million-dollar homes there. This meant Caoba needed to rapidly ramp up their capabilities.

Going from steady busy to crazy busy often can be a blessing or a cursing to any manufacturer. Due to the rapid and at times, alarming growth Paul and his business partner Jeff realized that something was missing. While Paul was the master craftsman and focused on the quality of the products and Jeff was great at bringing in more business, they both weren’t as talented as they’d like to be with handling important factors such as scheduling, operations, logistics and service. As anyone that has had to deal with significant business growth can attest, the devil is in the details and they noticed over the past few years that while the quality of their products didn’t change, the increased demands on the factory became a challenge.

Solutions to Rapid Growth Issues

?In response to this Paul has hired more engineers, service staff and just over 2 years ago, a new General Manager. earlier this year, a Director of Operations. I met with the GM, Eduardo. He is fluent in English, which is very important as I’ve worked with some other manufacturers in foreign countries and language barriers can cause major problems. Eduardo is a business process expert and has already implemented many changes that are helping to greatly improve their operations and service level. He is keen in a continuous improvement mentality and interested about other manufacturers and what I liked or disliked about them. Eduardo is an experienced professional driven by engaging in activities that add value to both customers and the company. He is a great fit for this position. Caoba Doors has the full team to continue to provide the best quality and value in the industry.

Caoba Doors Products

Caoba Doors has a full line of products that are tested and approved to meet the stringent HVHZ codes of Miami/Dade County. ?

Some of the custom products Caoba Doors offers are:

Single Hung Windows

Double Hung Windows

Casements

Awnings

Tilt-n-Turn Windows

Sliding Glass Doors

Lift & Slide Doors

Outswing/Inswing Doors

Folding Doors

Unique Shaped Windows

Louvered Doors

Interior Doors

Staircases

Railings

Entry and Pool Gates

Custom Privacy louvers/ latices

Custom Ceilings

Custom Garage Doors

Caoba Doors Project Types

Caoba Doors Custom products can be found in luxury homes, historical renovations, commercial buildings, restaurants, hotels and resorts and more.

Check out the Caoba Doors Factory and some of their amazing products in this Video:

Summary

In summary, if you or your clients are looking for top of the line all wood (Genuine Mahogany) or alum/wood clad windows/doors or custom millwork that is comparable to Tischler or Reilly but at a better price then you should definitely check out Caoba Doors! ?With their new and improved service and operations team, owners who are immensely passionate about the quality and craftsmanship of their products, I highly recommend Caoba Doors. It also helps to know you are helping a company provide jobs, develop careers and one that's socially responsible to hundreds of people and their families in the small, beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala.