So you just won a bid for a louver project with “Kynar” coating and your approval drawings are underway-what a great start! It’s going to be a couple weeks before drawings are ready, and we’ll be sure to send out a copy of our AWV Standard Kynar Color chart with the approval drawings. But what if you already know the architect is calling for a specific color and it’s not one of our standard colors? We won’t be able to put your order into production without the color selection being made in writing , but you need these louvers... and you need them yesterday.

So what now?

Worry not, because we’ve got your back on this one. We can match the color your customer is requesting at NO additional cost. There’s some things we’re going to need from you to do this though, but we don’t want to leave you hanging so I’d like to walk you through that process.

First thing’s first: we need a physical sample of the color sent into our office (at least 1” by 1” in size). Most often the architect has a pile of samples laying around for the project (they had to see it before saying it was required right?) But if they don’t -it’s now up to you to get your hands on one and mail the sample to your account/project manager. Once it’s received, your AM/PM will take things from there. If you need any assistance with obtaining a sample, feel free to reach out to your account/project manager for tips & tricks!

You’d be surprised at what we can match - not just swatches either, we’ve matched rocks before!

Quick Matching Timeline

The process of matching your sample usually takes around 1-1/2 weeks-time. That being said, if we get your sample at the same time we start your approval drawings, they will be ready at the same time allowing you to present an all-inclusive submittal package! Once the samples are complete, your account manager will ship them out to the address of your-choosing so it can be submitted for approval.

All of our samples have an “AWV batch number” listed on the back of the sample. Once it’s been approved, we just need for you to document that the color is approved in writing. You can email your account manager with a good-old “one liner” stating that “Batch # X-XX-XXX is approved for production” or you can even send us a photo of the sample that shows the batch number and type in an email (with the photo attached) stating that “the color attached is approved”. Approving the specific batch number listed on your sample is CRUCIAL for us to process your order.

Trying to release your order directly to production without approval drawings ? That probably means you don’t have time to wait for samples to be matched for approval and then shipped to your customer and then to wait for them to give you that “green-light” saying it’s approved. No anxiety needed here: it’s like I said, we’re a team and we’re here for you. As long as the color is not a mica or metallic paint, we can more than likely match the color for “record only”. That means you just get us that physical sample and we’ll get it moving through production. While the order is being cut and assembled, our marvelous paint crew will be matching your color behind-the-scenes so that the paint is mixed and ready before your louvers ever reach our paint line. We will send you a sample of the color we’re using to keep for your files allowing the approval process to be completely avoided-saving you around 3 weeks. Mica and metallic colors do carry a lot of inconsistency however. When a mica/metallic sample is scanned in, there’s high probability that light will hit a metallic flake just right and throw the whole thing off course, so we really do need you to give it a good inspection and approve it in writing before we can apply this type of paint match. AWV may still require approval of a basic color depending on the size of an order as well, but that will be confirmed by your AM/PM in those special scenarios.

But is there any limitation to what we can do? Boy do I wish I could say “Of course not! Our paint team are made up of cape-wearing high-flying heroes” but I guess that’s where reality sets in. There are some colors that we are a bit hesitant to match, namely those that are exceedingly vibrant. Bright blues and reds, for example, tend to pose difficulty in our paint matching system. Odds are, we can send these samples off to be professionally matched and ordered at little to (potentially) no up-charge from our paint supplier though, so don’t give up hope . Get us a sample and your expert account manager will review and lay out your possibilities.

Same Production Turn-Around Times

So… you may be wondering “Does it take longer to produce my louvers if we have custom match a color?” Nope . If we already have the completed match (approved) and the order qualifies for our new Standard Louver Rapid-Ship Program-we can use the matched color with our new tremendously short lead times. The only restraint to this is that we cannot provide a record match on Rapid-Ship (so little time)! If your order doesn’t qualify for Rapid-Ship and is going through production using our standard lead times, there is NO negative impact for a custom matched color versus the standard colors from our AWV color chart. Special-ordered paints can extend the production time ever so slightly, as we need to allow time for the paint to arrive to our factory, but this lead time extension is usually insignificant.

It’s all too often that as an account manager here at AWV, the need for a color match comes to light at the very end of our Hold for Approval process of projects. In most scenarios (though not all of course) the color selection is known at the time of quotation or when the project has been awarded. When color matching doesn’t get started until after we’ve already received the final set of approved drawings to release to production, in which we require the color approval be on file prior to release, the matching process ends up holding up your project causing a great deal of time to be lost. If the steps of color matching begin to take place at the very beginning of your ordering process, we can prevent this time-loss from occurring, resulting in a smooth and timely delivery of your product.

Get Custom Color Matching for Your Louvers

In brief, our account managers and project managers are a PRO at getting you matched samples and we’re here for YOU! If there are ever any questions surrounding our color matching, we’re only a phone call away!

Color Matching at AWV