Castings go postal.When the recent housing boom in Florida caught the enthusiasm of investors, Jamie Harden and Kelly Crandall decided to put their money where their mail was. Now, master-planned communities throughout the state feature custom-designed mailboxes and signs from the pair's company, Creative Mailbox and Sign Designs. Many of the stylish signs and mailboxes are cast in aluminum in the company's own sandcasting facility in Oldsmar, Fla. The shop employs 10 people, including an experienced patternmaker pat·tern·mak·er also pattern maker n. One who makes patterns, as for sewing, carpentry, or industrial machinery. pat . "It's really a hidden gem," Harden said. "It's our competitive advantage--we have better control, product quality and turnaround time (1) In batch processing, the time it takes to receive finished reports after submission of documents or files for processing. In an online environment, turnaround time is the same as response time. ." The operation produces mailboxes in PVC PVC: see polyvinyl chloride. PVC in full polyvinyl chloride Synthetic resin, an organic polymer made by treating vinyl chloride monomers with a peroxide. , stucco stucco (stŭk`ō), in architecture, a term loosely applied to various kinds of plasterwork, both exterior and interior. It now commonly refers to a plaster or cement used for the external coating of buildings, most frequently employed in , wood and cast aluminum and installs about 250 mailboxes a day. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Crandall, the cast mailboxes are the most popular among planned communities, where unifying, classical adornments are sought. The company offers dozens of styles and creative flairs to choose from, resulting in hundreds of possibilities for mailbox design. The firm's casting shop also creates street signs. "The casting facility gives us an extra level of creativity," Harden said. "We have that flexibility to give our customers what they want." |
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