Cracking the Division 10 Market

In their presentation “Taking Back the Interior Partition Market” for attendees of the Glazing Executives Forum at GlassBuild America 2025 in Orlando, Travis Nevins with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and Jeff Phillips with Wilson Partitions, highlighted the challenges and opportunities for glaziers in the interior partitions, or Division 10, segment. They also outlined a strategic approach for glaziers to reclaim market share in Division 10, emphasizing the importance of understanding market dynamics, leveraging value engineering and executing long-term strategic planning.

Getting in the door 

The interior partition market is valued at $1.8 billion and growing, says Phillips, presenting a significant opportunity for glaziers to expand their scope and influence. Contract glaziers have the potential to do well in the interior glass market, says Phillips, but are currently disadvantaged because furniture dealers have claimed such a large portion of the business.  

One way into this work is through value-engineering at the end of a project, Phillips says. He encouraged glaziers to be ready to respond to calls from general contractors when they have pricing issues on demountable wall materials that have been selected. Given that glaziers are one of the last trades to work on a project, they are uniquely positioned to offer cost-effective solutions, Phillips says. 

Phillips advises glaziers to have materials ready for systems that are both aesthetically pleasing and high-performance. By delivering a ready solution to general contractors, he says, glaziers are more likely to be called on for this type of work in the future. “Remember, [the general contractor] gets performance reviewed also, and they get bonuses based on executing complete projects on time, so they’re looking to you as one of their key resources to help bring them through this and make sure they’re on time.”

Creating competitive strategies 

Nevins continued the conversation by talking about actionable strategies and tactics that individual companies, and the industry at wide, could implement to win back market share in Division 10. He emphasized the inherent advantage of glaziers as skilled and trained workers, and encouraged glaziers to analyze the market to see what opportunities they might be missing. 

Start with a vision and set goals. For individual companies to win more Division 10 work, they need a strategic vision, Nevins says, and should set goals for what they want to accomplish. A type of goal-setting could be becoming a demountable installer by 2030, he says. Companies should also analyze what capabilities they have and what they can do towards becoming the type of installer to win work in Division 10. Then they should set both short and long-term goals and milestones towards completing those goals.

Track Division 10 projects. Part of creating realistic goals, for the industry and individual companies, includes researching actual Division 10 projects, Nevins says. Following interior glass projects, from pre-bid to completion, can help contract glaziers understand what is needed to win these projects and how they’re being awarded, he says. “If we don't understand our competition, how are we going to go up against the competition?” Nevins says that the industry, and individual companies, should be tracking projects in their area to get the lay of the land and understand how these jobs are being sold so that contract glaziers can start winning this work as well. 

Action planning. Once a company has set its goals, reviewed the competition and analyzed its own capabilities, it should create an action plan that formalizes its strategy, which should include a written plan and periodic meetings involving those on the project. Nevins recommends making one individual at the company an “owner” of this process, to ensure that one person is responsible for completing the process. They can work with a team to complete the plan, he says, and to set up deadlines and status updates.

Influence owners to mandate certifications. Nevins emphasized that glazier certification and training as tradespeople is a strength and should be presented as such to both owners and designers. By encouraging these project leaders to require glazier-friendly certifications like North American Contractor Certification and Architectural Glass and Metal Technician certification on a project, it’s much more likely that glaziers will win the work, he says.