Chris Hamilton the owner and founder of Windyrock Home Systems always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Having started a courier company at age 19 he always had a dream of having a career he was truly passionate about.

“My love for home electronics started at an early age, 12 actually. The first thing I ever saved money for was a JVC Stereo package”. From there the love grew and at age 19, and living on his own he decided it was time for this new cool thing a “home theatre”. “ I remember going to Majestic Sound Warehouse and picking out a 32 inch JVC TV, a Hitachi HiFi VCR, a Pioneer Dolby Pro Logic Surround Receiver, and a JBL speaker package. I was hoping for the “no interest no downpayment” plan and praying I got approved. Well I did and I still have those JBL’s today. We drag them to parties on occasion but mostly they collect dust.” From that point on his passion for music listening and home theatre grew rapidly and within 3 years he had a 100” screen and a Sony projector the size of a large suitcase that had to be wheeled out into position and calibrated every time it was turned on. “Over the years I have owned a ridiculous amount of AV equipment to the point now where my wife (Cheryl) and I live in a fully automated home with 10 televisions, 9 touchscreens, and 2 home theatres. It’s a showhome…that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!”

Windyrock Home Systems

In 1998 he decided to take a risk and head in another direction. After owning his own business in the rush courier industry he decided at the age of 28 that it was time he made a move toward doing something that he really enjoyed. So he bought a new van and said “here I am”. Looking back now it was a lot more risky and difficult than he would have expected. Not being in the industry, no client base, and really no experience. He had skeptics but also a great support group that remains close to him today. “I was amazed that some people thought I was making a big mistake when all I saw was this huge opportunity”.

That was the year Windyrock Home Systems was born. In case anyone is wondering the name was derived from Chris and Cheryl’s property (Windyrock) outside Shelburne Ontario where he had spent the first many years landscaping the property.

The beginning at Windyrock was tough. He did renovations, landscaping, and built decks to try and pay the bills. “I would joke with customers that I would wash your car or babysit your kids” as long it kept his dream alive.

During the early years it was all about gaining knowledge and experience. “I took an interior design course, studied acoustics, and read more then you can imagine. I did have a lot of free time and if I wasn’t trying to improve my knowledge by reading I was playing with electronics in the house…how do these keypads work? How do I calibrate this projector? How do I get wires to those speakers? How do I balance the audio? How do I patch those holes I just made?”

Chris was very fortunate to have some great friends that really believed in him. So much so that they would recommend him to coworkers even though he didn’t have much experience. From there the business grew at a steady pace. “For years it was just me with the occasional help from my now wife (Cheryl)…the hours were insane, I was doing reno’s and squeezing in any opportunity to do what I really loved. I remember one stretch where I worked 3 months straight without taking a day off…that nearly killed me, but it was all about the dream.” He would do anything. Program a remote, hook up a home theatre in a box, set your clock on your VCR…it didn’t matter as long as he was making new customers and getting the word out there”

Around 2002 the company had steadily grown to the point where it was now a full time job for Chris and within a year Windyrock had its first paid employee. 2 years later Windyrock was at 4 employees and now has 8 including a full time office person. “I have always built my business on relationships and I can honestly say that I consider many of my customers friends and I hope they feel the same”

High Definition Home Systems

In late 2006 Chris started to realize that he needed to get the business out of the house and started to think about retail. “I always said I wouldn’t do retail as I believed as a home owner you would be better off dealing with a contractor.” He put an enormous amount of thought into retail or not and finally came to the realization that if he set very high standards and hired the right people the new business model could offer not just the same, but in fact better service. He started to look around close to home at different communities and immediately Alliston was the obvious choice. Alliston is a rapidly growing community with a strong industry (Honda) that had very few options for people to purchase consumer electronics. You could drive to Barrie or Orangeville, but both are 30 minute drives. Once settled on Alliston he was in a mad rush to get something open. He looked at renting and actually almost pulled the trigger on a space. Luckily the owner of the building dragged his feet and he then started looking at buying. Once the decision to buy was made he quickly realized that was going to be a challenge as very few properties with a good location have sold in the last few years. There was one however but they were thinking of pulling it off the market…He made them an offer and what do you know they accepted “I was the owner of a commercial property on the main street of Alliston”. The building is well over 100 years old and was in very bad condition, but he could see the potential and in March 2007 he took possession. Having never done a major reno of this scale before he was optimistic the store would be open by summer 2007, but that changed quickly and then he was hoping for Christmas 2007, and then he stopped hoping and just kept moving toward the end goal. “I decided early on that I was doing this once and I was going to do it right. With that in mind (like many of the best custom homes we are privileged to work in) we couldn’t rush things.”

Opening Spring 2009

High Definition Home Systems will open its doors sometime in spring of 2009. The store will be very high tech with an incredibly warm and comfortable design. “Our goal is to offer the local area residents a great choice to purchase AV products as well at the same time we will cater to the home owner who is looking for a complete home solution. Our pricing will be very competitive and as with Windyrock our service will be second to none. I have always done everything I can to treat all of my customers as I would hope to be treated.”

“If you are looking for great service, knowledgeable advice, and a comfortable environment to purchase home electronics come on in and check us out you won’t be disappointed!!”