After 22 years as an architectural consultant at A.W. Hastings and Company, a distributor of Marvin Windows and Doors, Ron Conterio has become a fixture of the Maine architectural community. His secret to successful relationships with clients? “I really care about the people I work with,” he says. In his MH+D Inside Out interview, Ron Conterio explains why it’s important to invest in high-quality windows.

Q. Why do you like working with Marvin products?

A. As a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I’m really technical, but I double majored in physics and music, so I’m also an aesthetic person. I play violin in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. Marvin is a great combination of technical and performance quality along with aesthetics. It lines up with who I am.

Q. What else is important to you at A W. Hastings?

A. One of the other things that we do is support architectural community activities. For example, we have been an underwriter of Architalx for more than fifteen years. It’s promotion, but at the same time when we do a promotion like that, we don’t try to add up whether it’s going to be worth it financially because of the incremental business we may get. We say, “Okay, let’s just do this.” It just makes the community a better place. We also employ a lot of local people, so it’s local people trying to help local people, and I like that aspect of Marvin.

Q. Why do you think windows are so important?

A. Aesthetically, windows are a feature in any building, and so they should be beautiful and consistent with the building’s aesthetic. Performance is important, too. A window is a hole in your wall. It better keep out the cold weather. Of course, the other side of quality is sustainability. Vinyl windows are throw-away windows. They’re probably ready to be changed out in ten to fifteen years. They’ll stop working well, and that vinyl gets crispy and starts cracking. Sustainability is not just about high-energy performance.

Q. Who is your ideal client?

A. My ideal client is someone with discerning aesthetics, and more than that, just somebody who understands the criteria for making a buying decision, somebody I can really communicate with. For example, people will build a million-dollar house and put vinyl windows in it. That’s like buying a BMW and putting 13-inch tires on it. It doesn’t make sense.

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Our MH+D Inside Out series features interviews with creators from our community and gets inside some of the top minds in the design industry. Read on for their stories, tips, and sources of inspiration.