Sunrise Courts founder Jordan Aldrich has built more than 400 squash courts in the U.S. over the course of his long career in and around the game, and renovated hundreds more. And Sunrise, founded by Aldrich earlier this year, are the only squash courts almost entirely from materials sourced and assembled in the United States. In an industry where staff are sometimes treated as an expendable resource at great risk, Aldrich prides himself in treating his staff well.
Sunrise Courts boasts a loyal team of experienced squash court installers, a team assembled over the last few decades. The entire crew are all certified to work in the U.S. by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and are paid a competitive salary with health insurance benefits, retirement, and life insurance.
“When you’re building a squash center you don’t want to rely on a team that’s recently been building Ikea cabinets,” Aldrich said. “You can buy a Cadillac, but if the person building the Cadillac for you doesn’t know what they’re doing, then you’re taking a huge risk that it might fall apart. You want your contractor to be somebody who’s managed hundreds of builds, and who knows how to mitigate the risks in building squash courts. Ideally, they’ll also manufacture the courts here in the U.S. from American materials, and lead the loading-in to your building, in a custom fashion. Squash courts are sensitive things, and they need expert handling, or your risks balloon on these projects.”
Before founding Sunrise, Aldrich oversaw all 18 non-glass courts at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia which opened in 2021. Since then, he has played a critical role in ensuring the courts are maintained at the highest standard.
US Squash President and CEO Kevin Klipstein underscored this point by noting, “It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that we could not have completed the central, core aspect of the Specter Center, the squash courts, without Jordan. His support through the process and after, his willingness to do whatever it took to complete the job, during the pandemic no less, was exemplary. The sport is fortunate to have him involved at this level.”
Aldrich prides himself in standing behind his product offerings, and even more so, his commitment to providing the highest quality installations. “You’re certainly not going to see us flying a guy in from who-knows-where and asking him to sleep at the club while he installs your squash court in a rush,” Aldrich added. “We show up as a family and we work together as a family. We communicate openly and transparently, and our guys are going to give you the best possible effort because they appreciate our collective working relationship.”
“We stand on our word and that means something,” Aldrich said. “It’s about providing our clients with value for their investment as part of an inclusive and long-standing commitment to their communities. We’re not trying to maximize profits by cutting corners. When we finish our squash courts, we want that to be the beginning of a relationship with your squash-playing community, not the end of it.”
Jordan worked for several other court building firms before founding Sunrise Courts a year ago, and since then has been busy building and maintaining courts across the country. This year Sunrise has built six international singles courts and a North American doubles court for Steel City Squash in Pittsburgh, PA. The team built eight international singles courts at Squash Busters in Lawrence, MA. And they built two international singles courts and a North American doubles court at Portland Community Squash in Portland, ME.
Aldrich also emphasizes the importance of knowing how to custom-load squash courts into a building and clients regularly rely on his deep and extensive experience from Day 1.
“The big challenge with squash courts is understanding that you’re building a building inside a building,” he said. “If you’re hauling your materials up in an elevator, you need to realize the restrictions. We recently worked on a $17-million project, and I was the first person on the build to point out that we needed to load all the squash courts in on a crane. Because we custom load all our courts, we were able to do it. But if you’re bringing everything over from abroad in a one-size-fits-all box, then you’re not going to have that flexibility, and it can create huge cost overruns. We work intentionally with all our clients so that there are no surprises, and we’re delighted to establish long-term relationships built on shared values and mutual success.”
For more information on Sunrise Courts, visit www.sunrise-courts.com/.