According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, RV sales will continue to benefit from baby boomers entering retirement. That rings true to what Tyler Hammack, operations manager of Tough Top Awnings, sees at his business. “Last year we broke a record — 4,000 awnings. We’ve been seeing a 30 to 40 percent increase each year.”
Hammack’s customers come to Tough Top Awnings when their factory-made awning has given out or is damaged or worn, usually after four to five years of use. “We have giant racks with material we cut to size, we sew it, apply the beading (the component that fixes the awning to the RV), and help the customer attach it to the RV,” he says. “We supply a material that lasts much longer.”
Name: Tyler Hammack.
Residence neighborhood: East Vancouver.
Employer/business name: Tough Top Awnings, 12401 N.E. 60th Way, Vancouver. 360-980-0537, on Facebook and at http://toughtopawnings.com
Age: 38.
How — and when — you got started in your business: The founder of the company was my father-in-law, Ray Oberreuter. After being laid off from a company where he worked for 20 years, he decided to get into RV repair. In 2006 he was working as a mobile RV repair technician on the road “following the good weather” when he noticed a big problem with the RV awning fabric industry. Customers were paying high prices for inferior fabrics and paying high prices for installation. So he started Tough Top Awnings in a storage garage, offering direct supply and installation. When he retired three years ago, he handed over the reins to his children. I oversee the manufacturing operations and help customers with technical problems. My wife, Ray’s daughter Christie, runs Internet sales and human resources. Her brother, Rick, in Boulder, Colo., is the company’s webmaster.
