History

One of Bengt Gustafsson’s, our grandfather’s, earliest memories is when he used to accompany his father to the carpentry workshop in the family’s timber store during the winters and help him make windows in the light of a kerosene lamp.

Knowledge was passed on from father to son.
Bengt Gustafsson trained to become a builder and then helped his father, who worked as a timber merchant and builder, to design houses in Bovallstrand and nearby towns and villages.
View of the old workshop.
It was hard to buy ready-made woodwork, such as windows and doors, and this gave him the chance to set up shop on his own, a carpentry workshop which he named Bengt Gustafssons Snickerifabrik AB. In 1943, grandpa started to produce a complete range of woodwork products for the home: kitchens, doors, windows and stairs.
Göran Gustafsson, our father, started working as a foreman in the company’s window-making workshop in Rabbalshede. He had a great technical talent and was interested in how to improve the products and machinery used at the workshop.
When the window-making workshop was sold in 1984, Göran took over as the company’s managing director and production manager at the doormaking workshop in Bovallstrand. He changed the production flow, which after a number of extensions to the building was no longer rational, and extended the building as well as the company’s activities to their current size.
At about the same time the last stair-maker retired and the company’s 15 staff focused exclusively on doormaking.

In 1992, the company underwent a generational change. Grandpa passed on his shares to our father and to us and the company changed its name to Bovallsdörren.

Inger joined the company in 1989 as a CNC operator, as she did not have the professional experience required to continue her studies after finishing school.

In 1993, having completing a degree in structural engineering two weeks before giving birth to her first child, Inger joined the company. Eva was trained as a CNC operator in double quick time.

 The workshop is situated on the edge of the sea, at Sotenäset in the county of Bohuslän.
Anna joined the company in 2001, after first having running her own business, as Inger wanted to work part-time for a period.
In the mid-1990s, competition intensified on the market. Products acquired a more uniform appearance and pricing pressures increased. Around the turn of the millennium, we therefore decided to increase our niche focus and concentrate on making exclusive doors. In terms of quality we were already well ahead of our competitors. At the same time, we changed our name to Bovalls Dörrbyggeri (Bovalls Doormakers) to better illustrate what we do.
A family company takes a long-term, cost-conscious approach. Because of this, our solutions to problems are often “home-made”. This has led to a number of innovations by creative people inside and close to the company that improved our products.

The harsh climate, our creative staff, and grandpa’s motto that “all the products we have made can be made better” are the driving forces behind the quality focus that characterises our company.

For almost a century now, knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation. What we have learned from our forebears has become our core values - values that we hope to be able develop and pass on to our children.
Bovalls Dörrbyggeri