The Source of Custom Shades

Dennis Lister's Company is Lutron's Top Seller of Motorized Shades and the King of Custom Shapes

- Jeremy Glowacki

On Nov. 1, 2022, lighting and motorized shades manufacturer Lutron hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for the 145,000-square-foot expansion of its already massive shades-making factory in Ashland, Virginia. The guest speaker that day was not a local dignitary or even the director of an industry trade association. Instead, it was Dennis Lister, president of DEL Motorized Solutions in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, the topselling installer of Lutron motorized shades in the entire world and the person to hire for any unusual shade shapes or especially difficult applications.

Lister’s career began in the early 90s, working in his father’s custom furniture upholstery business. It was a great business, but one that Lister felt was not scalable, due to its extremely custom nature. After he took over the business, he acquired a window coverings company, and his company morphed into his current motorized blinds and automated shades custom fabrication and wholesale company in 1996.

DEL Motorized Solutions is fairly unique in that it serves both as a window shades subcontractor to custom integrators in New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey and also a manufacturer of extremely custom shade solutions to integrators throughout the United States. Whenever you see an oddly shaped window with seamless motorized shades from Lutron, Lister’s company likely had a hand in the project. This interview, excerpted from Episode 122 of the Residential Tech Talks podcast, has been edited for length and clarity.