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On The Fence – for 72 Years
Orange Fence & Supply has passed through three generations of Cuzzocreos to emerge sturdier than ever
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Business New Haven
4/15/2002
By:
Linda Mele
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In 1930, Orange resident Anthony Cuzzocreo decided to devote a piece of his property on the Boston Post Road (Route 1) to a business of his own.
As someone who was handy with a hammer, he began by building and installing fences and building outdoor furniture and garden products.
When aluminum furniture became popular after World War II, he started to focus on fence products instead of furniture. Joseph Cuzzocreo took over the business in the late 1950s after his father moved to California where the winters were a lot milder than those in Connecticut.
In 1949, the company's claim to fame was that they were “the only firm in the state of Connecticut which is engaged in the work of producing hand-made rustic pieces for home interiors, porches, lawns and grounds,” according to an article in the New Haven Gazette from that year.
In a 1973 edition of Fence, an industry trade magazine, Joseph Cuzzocreo explained his philosophy of being in business for himself and of establishing pride in workmanship and his employees: “Before you leave a job, stand in our customers' shoes for a minute. Ask yourself if you as the customer could accept the job just as you have completed it.”
The company was incorporated as Orange Fence & Supply in 1964.
After working in the business as a kid and graduating in 1975 from the University of Connecticut with a degree in business administration, 48-year-old Roy Cuzzocreo bought the business from his father and became the third generation to own and operate it.
Since he took over, Cuzzocreo has added more modern products - made of pressure-treated lumber, aluminum and vinyl - to the same line his father and grandfather made.
Orange Fence is a full-service fence dealer, contractor and manufacturer of wood fencing and gates. All wood fencing and products are manufactured on site.
Because it also stocks replacement parts and supplies and offer a wide selection of gates, arbors and other garden products, a visit to the Orange Fence facility at 205 Boston Post Road (or a free on-site consultation at the client's business or residence) can result in one-stop-shopping.
Choices for today's customers are endless: electric, ornamental, split-rail, picket, chain-link, iron, vinyl, aluminum, Fiberglas and wire mesh for all kinds of uses. The selection includes temporary construction fences, parking enclosures, inside warehouse and storage areas, automatic gates and access-control readers, barrier gates and baseball backstops.
“We can provide fencing and related products for ranches, farms, dog runs, animal containment, swimming pools and security window guards for indoor and outdoor applications,” Cuzzocreo says.
In addition, the company offers a wide array of lawn furniture, swings, gliders and patio furniture, arbors and gazebos fashioned from Northern white cedar, a wood that is naturally resistant to rot and insect damage, weathers gracefully and will not shrink or warp.
“Vinyl is definitely the fastest-growing segment of residential fencing,” Cuzzocreo says, “and the custom-fencing end of the business is also increasing.”
With all of that going for it, how is business in a quasi-recession?
“Our best year ever was 1999,” Roy maintains, “and we did 30 percent better in 2000, 12 percent better than that in 2001 and year-to-date in 2002 we're already above our 2001 sales.”
While allowing that about 60 percent of the company's business is now from affluent Fairfield County, Cuzzocreo says he attributes a good part of the increase to the fact that this year's mild winter meant there was really no off-season.
“But in the past four or five years we haven't had to lay anyone off [out of some 35 full- and part-time employees] in the winter because they could be put to work in the manufacturing end of the business,” Cuzzocreo says.
“I don't see a slowdown in the construction industry,” Cuzzocreo says. “Although a lot of the things companies planned to do in the spring are already done, it's a little early to see how the whole year will pan out, sales-wise.”
Because of that, Cuzzocreo already has plans to erect a new manufacturing facility and create a new display and retail sales area on the same four acres the company has occupied since 1930.
As his grandfather did in the 1930s and his father did in the 1950s, Cuzzocreo says he attributes some of the company's current growth to its commitment to customer service.
Cuzzocreo says that not even the explosion of the do-it-yourself market has made much of a dent in sales, and, long before Home Depot or Lowe's ever thought about opening superstores on Route 1, his father said it best: “No discount house is going to do [the] kind of a job we do.”
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