Foreign.

Ready to turn your house into the home you've always dreamed of without the headaches or huge bills.

You're tuned to around the House, the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with expert advice that's helped millions tackle everything from remodels to repairs.

Host Serig G and John Dudley have got you covered with the best advice and information about your home.

Now let's get this hour started.

Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

Thanks for joining us today.

I am at Design and Construction Week 2026 with some of my best friends in the industry.

Feels like I'm back home again, and I always said that last year, but this is an annual tradition because we

have this living room couch setup.

This is epic.

This is epic.

Thanks, guys.

We needed a lounge.

You got to feel like you're in the luxury lounge.

Absolutely.

As you can tell, we are here with Baldwin Hardw, the brand that I love so much.

Guys, thanks for having me.

Let's do the introductions first so people can put the name to the voice.

Let's go with Sammy first over here.

Hi, guys.

I'm Samantha Deakin and I'm the senior brand manager of Baldwin Hardware.

Awesome.

And then my brother from another mother.

That's it.

Aaron Brick and I look after the sales team as well as customer service.

It is so fun to come in, especially this year with your booth.

Stunning.

You're not the guys in the corner anymore, which is nice.

You have come a long ways and there is so much beauty and craftsmanship in here Every year.

It was getting over here early.

See what's going on.

Lots going on and lots of attention to detail as like you are a part of this and very well understand the brand DNA.

But in general, focusing on that craftsmanship, focusing on the beauty that we bring and really making sure that elevation is seen in every single element of the booth.

This year, I feel like we're starting to really hit our stride.

Yeah.

And what's cool with it, too, is that you've got so many new innovations that are so fun to talk about that we'll talk about today.

For sure.

Even little stuff like hinges that look really cool now.

Right?

Just.

Yeah.

Like throwing I think, these threads through other interests and icons.

Jack.

Yo.

Very close to Sammy's heart in the story where the brand intertwines there just.

It's just more applicable, I feel, to we're bringing it to more modern day life.

Yeah.

The door from risk and the artistic detail there.

So just what's funny?

Oh, yeah, they're doorknobs.

Like, how interesting can that be?

Come to the booth and check it out and see just how art, craftsmanship, all the things we always talk about really come together.

And I love Baldwin's story.

It's just such an amazing story of how it was founded.

And then the Jackie O Story, the White House stuff, and all the different stuff that you guys have gone through over the years in the history of this company to get to today.

Speaking of history, I'm not sure if you've aware, but there is a beautiful sign over there that this year is our 80th year.

So it is Happy birthday.

Yes, exactly.

It's an iconic year for us, and it's something that we want to make sure is really celebrated because it took a long time to get here, and we've earned our stripes, and we still make sure that some of those elements that Severin invested 80 years ago is brought into every new innovation.

And every attention to detail is still part of what was really installed.

So, so long ago, but now just taken to the next level.

Absolutely.

And you've got that history, and now you stretch that looking forward with some of the new products that you guys have out.

For instance, this year, where, yeah, it was good enough for the White House, but now you're going out and it's good enough for everybody.

And the stuff that you're putting in with the home tech and that just beautiful.

When you grab a piece of Baldwin hardware, this is not plated sheet metal, you go, oh, wow.

This is machined billet brass.

This is the real thing.

Yeah.

And nothing is more, I think, synonymous with what s built over the past 80 years than brass.

It's always will be at the court, what we do.

And it's, I think, more important than ever with the global trends we've seen over the past few years.

And it's.

I'm happy to be able to sit here and say it's refreshing to say we will not stray from brass, period.

Doesn't matter where it comes from, what the.

What the value is.

We will continue to rise with that because it's in our DNA.

So that that remains in touches of brass and gold everywhere in the booth, especially synonymous with the 80.

It's that heritage that you see there, that it's a responsibility to what severance started.

Absolutely.

And there's just that feel of quality.

You can.

There's a lock for everybody out there in the price point.

But I think one of the things that I like About Baldwin.

This isn't the Rolls Royce that people wish they could have.

This is something you could put in your home for everybody when you want to put it in the right spaces.

Whether it's just your entry door to make that bold statement coming in, or it's your cabinetry hardware for the kitchen, or it's in every room of your house, you can play with those pieces to fit in your budget of what

you're trying to do, especially if you take a look.

And I know last year we didn't have at the show reserve in the way that we do now, but reserve is something that has been a part of our line, but really went through a reinvigoration over the past year.

The amount of new levers, new knobs and new roses has brought a whole new life to that whole entire line.

And really the design options that are available at a somewhat more opening price point within the luxury segment is absolutely impeccable.

It's allowed for really high level design with same quality of brass that we know and love and the same amazing finishes.

The Baldwin is very well known for, but now just so many more options.

I think the synonymous part, you nailed it.

Sami is again being flexible in that luxury price point.

And we have our options that are a little more user friendly.

For the designer that's just getting off the ground and making a name for him or herself or the custom builder doing a few homes a year and has that customer that wants to take that step up to something that.

That is solid brass that you can feel, feel that weight and that and that dedication to.

And that follows through with reserve.

That's not just an estate, that's just not the flagship statement.

Brass throughout.

Ooh, Sammy, write that down.

Yeah, brass throughout.

Get that commission check in the mail.

Dust off that marketing.

There we go.

But of course, to my boy, he was here for it.

But no, that.

That's hit the nail on the head.

It's.

That's the grounding piece of this brand.

And when we talk about brass, guys, we're talking about behind the finish.

We're not just talking about everything is just polished brass.

This is the bones.

That's the pieces behind this.

Whether you want it to look, whether it's polished, brushed, whether it's black, whether it's for sure go down the color list.

But just as far as the structure itself, what it's truly made of, and that's just is synonymous with that quality brass.

Oh, my gosh.

For sure.

Where the color palettes seem to be headed.

And Sam can Speak to it a lot more in detail than I can.

But you see these different levels of variation within what we call, like a muted brass.

Right?

Yeah.

There's polish, there's unlacquered polish.

But what are these different variations we can start to play with?

So deepening that at the show this year with our new heirloom brass.

Not launched yet, but just here.

Exactly.

It is a very sexy brass.

Sexy Brass was taken.

We couldn't name it that, so we went with heirloom brass.

Heirloom brass, yeah.

Sexy brass.

Sexy Brass.

I can't imagine, honestly, me going to Legal.

Call JT already.

Exactly.

What are we doing?

He's bringing it back.

Exactly.

Hey, Legal, I'd like to name my newest finish Sexy Brass, please.

Can we get that cleared?

Sexy with an I might help.

Exactly.

Oh, C, E, O.

Something like that.

It's European.

Well, there's a lot of different ways we can do this, depending on what the website looks like and perfect branding, of course.

But that's the thing.

When you look at this and the finishes and the textures, whether it's knurling, whether it's just something very simple where it's really clean, lines on a knob that's understated, depending on what wow factor you're looking for, it doesn't matter if you've got like the most Italian contemporary home or you've got that 1920s classic look that you want.

Yeah.

Elegance comes in all forms.

Right.

It can be just, you know that the right angle of.

We're in Palm Springs a lot.

Right.

The mid century modern, where it's just that attention to that proportion being absolutely perfect.

Right?

Yeah.

And that's the elegance versus, like you said, the knurling, the attention to that process and you don't feel it, it doesn't scrape your finger because it's under that finish.

Right.

And it's so it's as much knurling as it is just like a crosshatch pattern woven in that attention to detail we talked about.

Sammy mentioned earlier.

It's almost like with a state, every single thing has been considered and they have been in reserve as well.

But there's the choices that have been made to say, look, this is what's important to you at this.

We think at this level, we're going to amplify those parts.

And I think it's important to point out that same level of detail, especially as we look into what's happening over 2026 is being brought into cabinet hardware and the way that we're looking at hardware because.

Absolutely.

Some of those details, like you're talking about knurling and even we're bringing fluted elements and beautiful hammered elements.

We're really expanding that cabinet hardware because we know brass very well, we know finishes amazingly well, and we've had cabinet hardware in our line.

But now it's time to make a statement.

It's time to say we have the options for you to really fit your space.

Yeah.

You guys brought out the cabinet hardware, which, you know, as a kitchen designer myself, I really geek out on that.

And you went, okay, we're gonna come out with some iconic foundational pieces.

But now you got that.

Now you can go, let's have a little fun.

And then you can make that play with other hardware.

The door hardware going in, or the pantry door that's in the kitchen or the door to the outside patio where the barbecue is.

You can make those things all play together so well.

Yeah.

I play.

It's if someone comes in and sees the pan, some of the new panels, the bespoke collection and so great mix and match.

New idea.

Yeah.

It's not anything new to that approach.

Right.

Something that's very, very common right now.

But I think where it translates for Baldwin so nicely is to our story.

What we're known for in estate is it almost gives us that a la carte piece within cabinet hardware to say, look, here's five new styles.

Here's.

And you said it perfectly, Eric.

There's five sets that are like that one's on five day lead time.

You can.

That's the set.

That's the standard.

That's the new.

What's one of the names?

That's the new soho Pull.

But you can take the components of that and make whatever you want across texture, across finish at some point, maybe substance, additional material, sign in marketing, signing product up for new projects on the spot.

But.

Yeah.

But it almost.

Yeah.

So it really lets us bring this a la carte thought process to it while still having the standards going forward.

You'll.

I think everyone will see Baldwin cabinet hardware really stand on its own.

Absolutely.

In what has become its own industry.

But better than anybody, Eric.

And that's.

To me, so many things.

Be excited about leaving the show.

That's just.

Yeah.

That's right at the top of the list.

Yeah.

Is being.

Being a real considered player in that space.

And what's cool too is with our kind of new maximalism design trend out there.

Right.

That now you're not just seeing.

Ten years ago, everything was oil rub bronze in the entire house, we've gone beyond that.

But now the powder room may be matte black mixed with something brushed.

And the kitchen could be something different for sure.

Give me some master or primary, whatever you want to call that is different.

And now it's not the one style, one color, whole house.

It's.

Each room is its own bespoke piece.

Like it's an art project of its own.

It's like we show the mix and match cabinet hardware.

Right.

Like within one piece.

Or mix and match, where you have two finishes within one knot.

They may not.

The average person may not have up choosing that, but they may go to the middle of that concept, which is, well, mixed, mixed metal within or mixed finish within the house.

To your points, even within one set of cabinets, say that this cabinet is a.

It's a nice dark, I don't know, deep blue, and that has a nice soft oil or lacquered brass on the top.

Cabinets are a slate, and they're dark black.

Very contemporary long poles.

It's like all of a sudden, that works.

Right.

And old uniformity of the past 15 years, whatever goes out the window, it's changed.

Yeah.

And so it's fun to see that because it really lends to design.

It really lends to making each room tell its own story.

And then all you have to do sometimes is change out of rows.

It's those minor things.

You can still have one detail change.

It can change so much.

And you can change it, but still keep the theme throughout.

So it ties together.

Absolutely.

We love encouraging creativity, and I feel like this a lot of the elements that we're bringing to the show this year, and as we look forward within different elements of what we're calling our bespoke collection, really allowing designers to be creative or create something that will allow their project to be really special just to them.

Yeah.

And that's the cool thing with the way you guys do stuff as well, is that when you take the time and specify things, you can swap things out without going, I gotta buy four.

I'm gonna have a box of double triple parts.

Nobody likes buying expensive stuff and going.

And I can't use it because I had to try to make these things work together.

I mean, it's again, back to Severin.

So germane to where he started was, hey, I need to cobble together a sample to go sell to maybe make for somebody someday.

That's how the letterbox played.

Our first piece came about.

Yeah.

So it's bringing that mindset into an applicable, repeatable process.

For the client to say, I can be creative, I can be.

Get this level of.

Again, this inherent little bit of custom tweak without the dirty, messy.

It takes forever.

It's a junky process.

You need to combine things for one box.

We're almost backing all that up in the supply chain to.

We're bringing you that capability.

Yep.

In a nice clean.

In a nice clean box in a standard lead time.

I wanted to.

Can we tell the White House story?

Because we haven't ever talked about that on the radio and podcast before.

Absolutely.

Because I think that's such a cool story that people relate to for sure.

You know, about how all of a sudden Baldwin had to create this project that could never be duplicated.

Right?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Who wants to tell that one?

So I will at least say that Jackie O is an icon and a legend, not just within my world, but also within the whole world.

And Baldwin Hardware, she's the person who really, I feel like from almost a celebrity standpoint, as we now call them, influencers of sorts.

The original influencer.

She was honest when it comes to Baldwin Hardware, was the original influencer.

Yeah.

And she loved her RIM locks so much and loved the design concept of a RIM lock that she went to Severin and asked, hey, can you help custom make a RIM lock to go on my project?

They got in.

When they got into the White House, I think it was the pre.

And again, there's either someone from the customer service team or customer out there that's going to hear this.

And they tell Eric, he'll tell me what I got wrong.

So you get my red lines.

But the version of the lore, because it really is at this point, someone.

I was telling some of the story of the show yesterday.

Wow, that's some serious lore.

I was like, it really kind of.

It's again, iconographic.

The.

So I think the previous administration, I think was the Eisenhower administration, brought it into the White House, brought the rim locks version that you see right there into the White House.

Jackie obviously saw them there and reached out to Severn and said, hey, I have an interpretation of this I want you to make for me.

Then you need to destroy the molds and then break it again.

So we.

I can look back at our.

And to.

Yes.

Of our old books and blueprints.

They're not there.

So that's the lore of it for real.

And that's what's cool about that.

And there's so much heritage to that.

And you think about it every.

That it's.

The White House is still A house.

It's heavily used, so it has to be remodeled like her own home.

It's probably even more.

Because you want to just keep it at that higher level.

Yep.

And she came in and went, all right, nice job, but let's elevate that.

Let's make it better.

Yep, let's make it better.

Absolutely.

And the designer me goes, nice work, nice work.

Come in and do that.

And that really leads into what you guys are doing today.

You don't have to reach out and say, hey, make me this.

You can select it and do it yourself.

What I love about it, and for anyone that knows Severn, if they hear this, they'll smile.

I think when they hear me say, this is what I see in that.

For Severin, the most important thing was one word.

Trust.

She said, I'm trusting you.

Make this for me.

What could Severin have done?

I'm sure there were legal things he signed and everything, but hey, he probably could have tried to knock it off and make it and tweak this one little thing.

Nothing like it.

That's something that I think we take seriously.

It's iconic to the brand and I think it's synonymous with what the brand's going through today.

As we enter, I think year three, soon a new ownership group or not so new anymore.

ASO Belloi.

And a lot of that.

That's probably the most.

That's probably one of the most exciting things I look at the booth is the trust they're extending to us.

Yeah.

Because they see the value, they know the story.

And together the collaboration of bringing this brand that we all love so much back to the continued prominence we all know we should be in.

And from my point of view, it has been so fun to watch over the last near decade.

Probably you and I are trying to figure that out.

Easy.

Yeah.

Easy decade to watch the elevation that has come from this brand of being this classic hardware brand.

But to go from just being that classic hardware brand to industry leader and to watch the.

Just the growth and the beauty and the stuff that really makes a difference in the.

It's the jewelry of the home.

And to really take that to the next level and to be industry leading in that is just absolutely stunning.

And it's the hard work of your guys team.

And I know there's all these people behind it besides you two, but it's fun to watch the new stuff come out and go, oh, that's awesome.

I actually do want to give a chance for one of the behind the scenes people to actually Join.

So in the next couple of minutes, I actually have a meeting and I'm going to pull him over here in the thrust of this so he can talk a little bit about some of the backgrounds of creating that product and the process that goes into it.

But there's a lot of people that go into making this product what it is.

And the cool thing is, we're not going to get our hand slapped like last year, because this time we're going to talk about it.

That's it.

Actually.

Here he is.

Censorship.

Absolutely.

Exactly.

You and I were talking into that one and we were like, hey, Sammy's

going to shut my mouth.

Exactly.

You and I had to save it.

But it's been a party hanging out.

But I do want to let you.

Great to see you, my friend.

Put in a lot of effort into all this stuff.

You can get your flowers and you can brag about all the hard work you put in.

Yep.

Here we go.

Great to see you, Seb.

All right, let's get this out of the way.

Yeah.

Introductions, brother.

This is about to be your highest rated episode.

Awesome.

Thank.

Gosh.

Come on.

I was waiting for that.

Let's go, Eric.

Let's go.

I'm Conrad Wong.

I'm a product manager for Baldwin, working with Tim Burdette, and I'm here to talk to you guys about level and all things.

Baldwin, huh?

This is awesome.

Little background.

Aaron and I got our hand slapped kind of last year about it.

We started to talk about.

Starting to talk.

We're starting to talk about it last year.

And Sam's going, no, no, no.

Really?

We're seeing things from the rooftops a little more now, I think.

Fun fact.

I'm the one who told Sammy to slap your hands for talking about.

Okay, this is the wizard of Oz.

This is the wizard of Oz right here.

Don't look behind.

And there's a lot of curtains in here.

So that makes sense.

The curtains are all over the place.

No, but it's cool.

What I'll say.

What I'll say about Conrad is that he won't say about himself.

Oh.

Is I'm the old not old fart.

That doesn't sound right.

I've been around, like, again.

Yeah.

You're the legend.

I wasn't fishing, but thank you.

But what's cool about Conrad is I'm gonna get the years wrong.

I'm gonna say between two to three years.

Is that.

Am I.

That's about right.

I'm right there.

Feels like sales guy.

Sales guy.

Because of him.

Yeah.

We Come doorknob years.

Dog years.

Yeah.

That's the gray beard here.

Yeah.

I'm 26.

Yes, you are.

But Conrad is.

Has.

He came in quick and just put his hands around it.

But again, Sam talked a little bit about reserve and it having its own.

A little bit of its own energy and a bit of this younger vibe and.

Absolutely.

And again, evolving for where it needs to be in the market.

Conrad was instrumental not only to bringing those designs forward again.

We got our hand slapped last year, but that product was all over the place last year.

And because of all that early efforts, that's why we see it doing as well as this today.

So, yeah, the new age, the new school.

So for the people who weren't listening last year, let's talk about level now of what that is, because I love it.

I had the old system of my house.

It was great.

It was reliable.

However, it did give you a larger keypad that was maybe not for everyone.

True.

And for those people that are maybe not even techie, but there's that one person techie in the house.

It's that great piece that it looks like a regular deadbolt style lock, but now you can control it way easier than anything else.

And it's got multiple ways you can control it that it's kind of completely hidden within the door, like you're saying, Eric, for us, it was so important to maintain that quality, timeless aesthetic.

Yeah.

In our finishes.

Seven of them right now.

More coming down the line.

But you do have those PVD finishes.

And then what's special about us is that back in late, let's say 2024, that's when ASSA acquired level locks.

And we strategically decided we're gonna go real fast and develop a Baldwin level trim to dress up this product.

Okay.

And we made some critical decisions that maintains that quality that customers at this level expect.

Okay.

One of which being the square face.

Latch, latch, face.

Okay.

The square trim.

Latch face.

Incredible decision by us to make sure that customers can get that level of detail.

That's what they're expecting.

That, in fact hides the electronics, the ugly electronics away even more.

Yeah, yeah.

I think that you said the word detail and I think it goes back to what you're saying earlier of sometimes for us, it's that manipulation of one or two details to make the change where it's okay.

Yeah.

Level trim looks great, has no issues.

It's sleek.

They've got the.

They've got.

We've got all the finishes, etc.

But you know what?

We bring in this Collaboration, I think, is we tweak one or two of those details.

Like Conrad said, there.

There's a level of architectural specification that, you know, a higher end door will have that now we can cater to.

We'll have.

We'll have the finishes that are expected to be had and can match to the other parts of other Baldwin park in the house.

Yep.

But now, to Conrad's point, you don't even know it's an electronic lock.

And because it matches, it matches the finish perfectly.

Not a complimentary.

It's perfectly matched.

And the style matches as well.

Yeah.

Comes in three styles.

We've got two modern styles, a square and a round, and a traditional round style as well.

And going back to what you were saying about access, it's really easy.

You can get a separate keypad accessory if you want to have that haptic experience.

But you also have remote and wireless connectivity.

You can even get it connected to your stock Apple home experience through the matter unit.

Getting connected through matter.

So I really enjoy mine at home.

When I walk up, I've got the GEO fencing turned on.

So as soon as it senses that me or my phone or my watch is within the perimeter, door unlocks.

Right.

Or my wife hates me for this, I always forget to lock the door when I leave.

Classic Conrad.

No, same here.

Same here.

Everybody, come on in.

Come on inside.

He's just such a trusting guy.

Yeah, no, he's probably like me, where it's just.

I just didn't lock it.

Yeah, it's not even a trusting thing.

It's like trying to throw my guy a bone.

I know you're doing it.

You're doing it.

But that's the thing, though.

It's thinking for you.

Exactly.

But you have a control.

If you don't want that, you just turn that feature off.

Exactly, exactly.

That's the cool part.

For me, I'd have that thing on all the time because that way, when I walk away, it's locked.

Yeah.

If I'm there, it's unlocked.

You can choose the amount of time.

If 30 seconds is enough, it'll automatically lock for you once you step away.

Nice.

And again, I think just more versatility of.

Like I said, level existed and had a great platform before we came along.

We're an enhanced, called a partnership enhancement.

But the cool part is if there's an existing level customer and they decide, oh, I want to add to this door, I'm getting a new door, man.

I already have this account with all my information on it.

Right.

So it's.

We can translate it translates it talks across one app.

It's again, simplicity.

Yeah.

And you're not having to do a bunch of crazy stuff to the door to put that in either.

No, not at a single part.

Tubular.

Standard bore installation.

There we go.

It's amazing door you can fit that.

All that technology and still have a key.

What's the.

Are you going to show the cool part?

Show the little magic trick?

What?

What?

Oh, like letting in the bolt.

In the bolt?

Oh, the bolt.

Yes.

In the.

Oh.

I thought he teed it up.

Well, of.

How do you fit it all in?

Yeah, I thought you would have said, oh, the batteries in the bolt.

Check this out.

Yeah.

I'm setting the ball high.

We'll get there.

Oh, man.

We'll get there.

That's within the bolt.

You've got your CR2 battery.

Oh, nice, man.

But even just like.

Like that, the.

The magnet.

The magnet.

Magnetization.

That's not a word.

That's magnetic.

Yeah.

So the battery sticks it align.

It just again, makes it easy, saves space.

Yeah.

And also, Conrad can fill in the details of what's the durability.

Testing passes.

Ansi Bhma.

Am I getting that right?

Yes.

Nice.

Again.

Not only is it good, conceptually looks sleek, but durable.

And hits the testing of our mechanical product more or less, right?

Yeah.

That's awesome.

And that just really helps people.

And I think for families, I think for just carrying.

I'm a guy, when I go to the grocery store, I don't carry two bags in.

I try to get them all.

You have to.

That's just my style.

I assumed it was a rule.

We just all knew exactly.

You know, I was born that take multiple trips.

One trip Brick is what I call myself.

Do you call yourself that?

In my head, okay.

Literally, I know I can fit five or six bags through the handles in my arms.

If we got that.

Come on.

You throw one more on the.

Just the pinky.

That's risking.

That's very.

I got a sling for that.

That explains a lot.

It does.

When you're coming up, whether you're carrying stuff in, whether you've got a little one that you're carrying in the car seat and you got your purse or whatever on the other side, whatever is going on, and you get close and it goes, oh, you're here.

Yeah, you're ready to go.

And what I think is cool, too, is it fits on so many different door systems.

Right.

Whether it's the patio door, whether it's the.

Whether it's the back door coming out of the garage, there's just.

You can have that wherever you want to within the home.

And then set different locking expectations rhythms for each lock.

Specifically, you use your front door less often than the back door.

You take the back door to go out for a run or walk your dog.

You can set the auto lock to a much shorter interval.

Yeah.

Like for instance at our house, the garage is used way more than the front door because it's easy to go in the garage door.

So that gets treated differently than the front door.

That's 95% time.

I'm not going through that moment.

A couple weeks ago, you know this polar vortex in the northeast.

I'm still in.

I'm still in Reading.

It was like minus 15 wind chill.

Yeah.

My garage just out of standard garage door opener in my car wouldn't open.

Maybe it was the cold.

I don't know.

Could have been.

Guess what?

I work for a lot company.

I did not have a key to my house.

So I was like, okay, now stuck.

Right?

Yeah.

I have a level to put on my house that's on a mount.

I put it on a mount.

I put on a mount so I could use it.

So I haven't put on my house yet but.

So it's a real life example of not only is it battery powered, but the app will tell you when the battery's low as well.

So it's not only a convenience thing, it's now you've got a backup for when you don't have a key in your garage door.

Your other means of entrance doesn't work.

I had the previous system on my house.

When I sold it, I had to actually go look for keys cuz I never.

That's a pain.

And I'm like where were those?

Never needed those.

And I've never used them for.

And they were still brand new.

All hooked together.

Yeah, they're all in.

Oh they're by.

They're in the bottom of the mail thing by the door that we drop our mail in.

And it was like good.

And I handed the keys over like these.

Never been used.

No, they hadn't.

You'll see.

You'll see.

Same kind of thing.

And so that was really cool but to me that's just the ultimate classic move with that, with that lock now.

And for a homeowner being smart, matter is such an easy platform to use.

Yes.

This isn't something I'm going to call my home tech guy to put this in.

No, this is simple.

And I think the other place and I think we're still getting there.

But anyone that's listening to this and thinking like, oh my Airbnb, my vrbo, this is perfect for that.

Whether it's a secondary home that's being rented out or just a secondary.

If you're like Conrad, you got.

What are we up to?

Palm Springs, Aspen, seventh one.

Yeah, he just swipes through him a little lap.

But true.

All condos, though.

Yeah.

Okay.

Sensible, you know, there we go.

Duplexes.

There we go.

Both sides.

Yeah, nice.

But again, it's conducive to that.

Right.

Because you have the sense of security.

If someone was going to use your for access, they joined the app.

You can gauge access.

So again, another thing of take the key out of the equation for, for something moving quickly and it's just more

secure because, you know, it's easy to lose your keys.

And now you've got something that you have more control over.

Yes, you can.

And if you're connected via matter, you've got it set up on the home app.

For example, with Apple, you can even assign it like here, I can unlock my garage door right now via my watch.

Right.

So you got a cellular watch.

You don't even have to take your phone with you.

It's so simple.

And that's the cool thing.

And when you put this around your house, you have to worry about.

And it warns you when the battery's going, you know, a year or two later when the battery may.

What's the average battery life do you see on that?

So we're seeing around eight months is a good time to switch it out is when you'll get that notification.

A long time.

That's pretty good.

That's most of the year.

Yeah.

How about that?

Yeah, it varies depending on usage.

Right.

So like my front door, it would be probably longer where the garage door would go sooner because it's 10x.

I think there's a lot of cases where, you know, if, if the front door is not the main.

The main use.

Right.

It's the garage door or a mud room, room door, side door or whatever.

We see this going a lot there with the deadbolt and a knob or a lever.

So if someone still wants that nice big grip handle set or something else on the front door, you can still keep that cool aesthetic.

Now what we want to go towards.

And again, this is where I'll get my hand slapped.

I gotta get

about it from you later.

Tradition.

Yeah, you're gonna say it in this conversation or you'll hear me like later.

Yeah, I'm gonna slap you Later.

Okay.

There we go.

You can say it right now.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

So where we're headed, like Conrad said, level became into the family of brands I think September of 2024.

And it was.

We were.

We moved with speed.

Our marketing team.

Shout out to Tim Burdette.

Oh, Tim.

Nine months.

Yeah.

It was awesome.

Shout out level side as well.

Yep.

Probably should say Melissa.

Melissa Zellner.

Melissa Zellner.

Absolutely.

Of course.

That's awesome.

But yeah, I don't even know where we were going.

Oh, I know.

What's next, Aaron?

Yeah, what's next, brother?

I'm going to scold you later, but go ahead.

But like we said right now deadbolt focused on the side door.

Get that out with one year.

And we said, hey, the front door still being this big, beautiful handle set.

We're going towards integration into that as well.

So what about full discussion.

Yeah.

Three quarter handle set.

How about that?

Yeah.

Long way to get there.

But we got there.

Oh yeah.

You slap my hand.

But it's just like you said Eric at the.

The front innovation.

Yeah.

And that is a great example of pushing that envelope on again.

It's invisible.

What other doors can we get it into?

Yeah.

It was funny.

The old lock said I like that better cuz I was.

My dogs learned to try to hit the code to get in.

They got through my door twice with the door locked out back.

That's amazing.

However they hit it, they did it.

Oh, that's exciting.

You should give them a podcast.

See, I was in the kitchen.

I hear the thing going.

I'm like, man.

And the dog.

And the dog hits the thing again and this is a full on.

Oh my God, that's so funny.

And the door comes in and I'm like, I wish I had that on video.

Did it twice.

I'm like, I need.

Yeah, it was crazy.

And that would go viral.

That's pretty incredible.

It was incredible.

And I still kicked myself.

I'm like, I should have put a camera system in just for that.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

I need to get.

If you, you know with the Apple watch proximity it to the collar.

Dog can take it.

I actually had to put it.

So I actually put a smart.

I put a smart dog door in my house.

Yeah.

Oh, no way.

It was on the collar.

It came up and you could set on a knob on the side of the door.

The proximity when the dog got within three feet the door open.

Man, that's pretty good.

Time to be.

That was pretty good.

And it was cool.

But that's again, that's that home tech in me going, okay, great.

It did ruin the excuse of, hey, guys, it's been great at your dinner party.

Let the dog out.

It eliminated that excuse.

Come on now.

Sorry.

The robot door is broken.

You gotta go deep on that one.

But that's what I love about this technology, is that you can really do something.

And it's sexy still.

For sure.

And that's great.

And it.

I think that's the fun part is you're gonna get really into the stuff.

When you're getting into the different lock sets.

When you get into the true.

Really into the front door for sure.

Yeah.

And we figured out the.

The double door French door application for front doors as well.

We came out with the dummy equivalent.

Yep.

So you can put it on that static door sign.

We've thought of every solution when it comes to what people want.

Yeah.

When it comes to elevating their entryways, you know.

Absolutely.

From the electronic side to keeping it beautiful.

Yeah.

And masterfully designed.

Jason likes to say, level up.

Jason Chow.

Yeah.

New gm.

Level up your.

Level up.

You get it.

See, I like it.

I see.

I understand.

You're really on the level guy.

So he's pretty good.

This is great.

And that's out there for now for people to grab, to put on their own.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Available now.

That's awesome.

Seven finishes, three trim styles, and all the functions.

Week, Two weeks.

Yeah.

Five business days.

Five business days.

Quick ship sales hedge.

Hashtag.

That's the cool part is it that unfortunately, hardware gets forgotten in the design build process.

We're at the end.

And it always drove me nuts as an interior designer working on big projects.

I would be talking about the hardware before the doors because to me, I wanted to go talk about the lock set that was going in so we could pick the door that was gonna work with the lock set.

You did that, huh?

Yeah.

More possibilities.

Well, yeah, because depending on what you're doing, maybe that door is not gonna accept that.

Boring.

For instance.

Just because that's what it is.

Well, you see more longer pulls, people going over size.

Yeah.

Just.

And it's cool.

It's cool to see more creativity.

So.

Yeah.

Knowing earlier on what your options are just opens the parameters.

Then when I'm ordering the doors and they're gonna be machining things, I can be going, I know what box set this is.

I know what this is.

And you can go, here's the specs for that.

Come on.

That you should be starting with that before the doors.

That way you.

The world's Your oyster versus.

Oh, that's what I order.

Budget.

I can only work with this.

And you can make it work that way.

And I do want to touch real quick before we go because we are running out of time.

But dude, those new hinges.

Finally we have sexy hinges.

Yeah, that's what.

Hey, tell this guy.

Sexy hinges.

Yes.

Square barrel hinges.

He pointed.

He pointed at the man.

Not a sculpture.

What would you call it?

Art installation.

Yes.

And said sexy hinges.

Sexy hinges.

But now we're gonna.

We're gonna use sexi

involved.

Yeah, we'll talk about that later.

I see.

Bring sexy brass.

Wow.

I heard that earlier.

Yeah, it's already out there.

Perfect.

Wow.

I'm gonna slap him for that later too.

It's the new six.

Seven.

Exactly.

Wow.

We go downhill always.

Every single time.

Look at that time.

My son will be proud.

So great.

Oh, you bet on that too, didn't you?

So you were sitting there with the hard rock, putting that in beforehand.

Okay, I understand.

So anyway, this is always fun coming in here with you guys.

Aaron, you guys, we've been doing this for years.

So much fun, man.

Thanks for coming on again because now you.

Now we're starting the annual thing.

We got some new blood in here too, so.

Got the cast of characters.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah.

I hope I didn't scare you away.

No, not possible.

I've been with him.

What are you talking about?

Coming?

Yeah, he knows me that long.

And it's so fun again.

It's so great to see all the design, texture, boldness, bespoke, all the different things that you see in here.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's just really refreshing to see.

I love the new design concepts with everything.

And of course, just it's so exciting every year to see.

Yeah.

And the show's been great.

Yeah.

It's just indication of just what we're getting on the rails to do on a year over year basis going forward.

And guys out there, whether you're a builder, designer, homeowner, anything else, check this stuff out because it's gorgeous.

You really now have access.

You'll know when the kids come home from school if you do this.

That's true.

Kids have the phones.

Come on.

I know you got them and you can do that.

They're not losing the key.

As a parent, that's one of the biggest things, is that you give them the key.

And where's your key?

Oh, I don't know.

Attended to your backpack.

I don't know where it is.

I lose it.

I'll lose the phone.

But that'll be temporary.

Yeah, exactly.

That means more to them than the key.

Yes, that's what I mean.

Exactly.

And that works that way.

All right, guys, what's the best way for people to go?

You guys have such a great partner network across the country with showrooms and things like that.

That is, to me, so valuable because this isn't stuff.

This is something that you, when you go through and take the time to lay it out, there's a design detail to this that you want things to work correctly.

And I love sitting down with someone that knows what's going on for sure, that speaks the language that can get everything perfectly for you.

So when the job site hits and you're putting everything on there, it's flawless.

Resources is a big word I would say is whether you're sitting in a showroom and you're feeling the weight of the brass and you're emoting on that, or you're browsing on someone's website.

Whether purchasing there, just getting some conceptual ideas.

Our commitment to.

Yeah, you'll have those representative samples in person.

You'll have the content, the digital content.

Conrad's got a hand in that.

But yeah.

So the focus on the resource being there no matter how you seek or find.

Baldwin, we want to give you that balanced level resource.

You can find everything on our website.

Installation guides, product specs, all of the finishes, imagery to help you get into the space, follow the socials.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Trying to get.

There's now again, as the team's grown again, resource true.

Just seeing more regular stories and posts that are showing the product in real form out in the world, out in projects and collaborations and demonstrations.

So a great way to see different ideas and concepts in motion.

We've deployed quite a few of these displays, so it's quite likely you can find one at your local showroom.

Go play with it.

Touch it.

That's it.

Have a good time.

Yeah, brother.

Thank you.

As always.

Good.

Thanks, Eric.

Thanks, guys.

All right.

I'm Eric G. Out here with my friends at Baldwin Hardware.

You've been catching around the house.

We're all over the radio Take my hands out Nowhere to go all over

the radio with you

we're all over radio.