“This is a growth strategy,” says Randy Emerson, when describing the recently announced merger between his company, Cascade Windows, and Empire Pacific Windows.

“We feel we have seen the bottom,” adds Emerson, who serves as president and CEO. “We don’t think the market is going to get worse. We want to strategically position ourselves for that growth.”

Empire Pacific serves mainly Washington, California and Oregon, while Cascade serves those same states in addition to Idaho, Utah, Denver, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii. Emerson, who says discussions with Empire Pacific began about six months ago, says Empire Pacific is a great fit for Cascade.

“Cascade is looking to expand in our existing geography as well as additional areas,” he says. “It is rare to find a company with similar values, service, etc. That’s what we found with Empire. So we talked to them to see if we could come together stronger and capture more market share in our existing geographic area.”

Emerson also hints that Empire Pacific is just the beginning of the company’s growth strategy.

“In our growth plan we have opportunities for expansion,” he says. “We’re not ready to talk about those yet, but rest assured we will continue to grow.”

Emerson could not comment specifically on how employees would be affected, but advised generally that “the merger will give everyone additional opportunities career-wise.”