Over the last 14 years, Overhead Door Co. of Albert Lea’s workforce has more than doubled.

The business opened its doors in 1991, and when vice president Ron Nelson started 10 years later, it had five employees. Now, there are 13.

“My favorite part about working here is being able to grow this business by creating jobs so people can support their families,” Nelson said.

Nelson transferred to the office at 77893 209th St. in Albert Lea during 2001, after working for the same company in Mason City. He said he’s worked in sales his whole life, and that 2014 was a landmark year: the company broke the $2 million mark in sales.

“I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve surpassed that barrier,” he said. “We’ve been close for years, but we finally made it.

Nelson estimated 85 to 90 percent of sales come from area businesses on the commercial side, and the rest are from farmers — who are moving toward hydraulic bifolding doors — and homeowners on the residential side.

“We have a lot of manufacturing plants and industrial institutions in the area, which carries a lot of work, but we also are very in tune with the farmer and our friends in the agricultural industry,” he said.

Teaming with area businesses such as Larson Contracting in Albert Lea and Broskoff Structures in Geneva has been helpful.

“There are a lot of relationships we’ve made with good people who buy doors from us many times during the year,” he said.

Aside from offering a line of commercial and residential doors, Overhead Door offers specialty products including docking equipment, high-speed roll-up doors, rubber doors, bug screens and more.

Nelson said his favorite product is a rubber door.

“It’s made out of black rubber that’s 1/4-inch thick, and it rolls up into a ball,” he said. “They’re springless, so the maintenance on those doors is nonexistent. They last for a long, long time.”

It has a motor that powers a barrel to turn at the top, and the curtain rolls around it.

Overhead Door was founded by C.G. Johnson, who invented the upward-lifting garage door in 1921 and the electric opener in 1926.