Month In Review: October

I'm happy to report that October firmly carried on where September left off: positive, busy and productive. Lead levels remained good, though they were better in the second half of October than the first. One comment that should be made is that every month so far this year (providing my memory serves me right) has seen some form of improvement.


October also saw the beginning of the pre-Xmas offers and advertising splurge. The usual 'guaranteed before Christmas' and 'we'll pay the VAT' - which I've never understood how people would genuinely believe and company would just willingly pay 17.5% for them, without working it all in! A more specific thought I want to share is the more recent Conservatory Outlet advert. At the end they dropped the line 'these deals won't last forever'. This I thought was a good move as they were in the territory of advertising sales which end, but never in fact do. By not having that last line it actually made it more professional. A perfect example of how less is worth more sometimes.


Here's hoping to a fruitful November! We need to beat Conservatory Girl's company at the end of the year!

Positive Outlook For The Next 5 Years

Market Review 2006 - 2010:
The domestic market in the UK for windows, doors and conservatories was expected to decline by a modest 1% - bringing the value of the market to £2.99 billion.


Market Review 2011-2015:
The domestic market in the UK for windows, doors and conservatories is due to increase over the period by 7% - bringing to value of the market to £3.195 billion. 2011 is due to see a modest 1% increase, bring the value of the market in 2011 to £3.023


Doors:
Doors and door frames sector is due to increase by 3% in 2011. By 2015, the door market is forecast to increase to £681 million, based on 2010 prices. In real terms the door market is predicted to grow 15% by 2015.


As you can see, the next few years are set to be much more positive than the last few. Those who positioned themselves well during the recession will be primed to make the most of the improving situation.

Forced To Fit Double Glazing

Before the General Election, there was an idea being thrown around that houses which didn't install home improvements to improve their homes energy efficiency would be penalised in higher council tax rises.


This seems to have been put on the back burner, which is a shame because it would have provided a big boost for the window and door industry.


One thing which I still believe we shouldn't be giving up on is a reduced VAT rate for energy efficient windows, mainly A rated ones now that C rated has become the minimum. A 0% VAT rate for A rated windows when the Government is cutting left right and centre is now out of the question. But a 5% VAT rate I still believe is possible. If they can do it for other such home improvement products there is no argument for not being able to do it for windows.

A Personal Touch

Yesterday evening I finally completed a sale with a customer for a door and side light which had been rumbling on for about two years!


I had originally quoted this particular customer two years ago, but after I had delivered the quote the lead went dead. But in September of this year she came back to the showroom to start looking at buying a door again. This customer is a nice person, but terribly pedantic. Every detail was considered, changed, changed back again and altered in some way. She was bouncing between a composite and an engineered door, whether to have it black or blue. She eventually ended up with three brand new quotes, all with different variations. 


At this point most people would have given up on her. The constant 30 minute phone calls, 1 hour showroom visits regularly and endless questions. Most would have thought she was wasting their time. However I knew this person and she was a previous customer and knew she wasn't going anywhere else. So I kept my patience.


So, last evening she came to the showroom again to go over the final details of the glass, the black on white engineered door, locking mechanisms again etc. Except this time she placed the order instead of going back to think it through some more! And one thing she did say was thank you for being so patient. She acknowledged that she can be a bit fussy at times, but that she appreciated the personal service we gave her because she now knows that the door will be 100% to her liking.


This basically again comes down to customer service. You buy off people, not from companies or the product itself. If your customer service is sloppy, you don't stand a chance in a time where customers expect the most from who they are dealing with.

There Are More Important Things!

Over the past hour I've been watching 'Cowboy Builders' on Channel 5 (it's the only decent programme on there!). The way some builders go about their business is appalling. Their workmanship gives the rest of the home improvement a bad name.


The main case this episode was focusing on was a woman who bought a council house, who was a single mother of 4 who was building this extension to look after her terminally ill friend. She employed a company to build the extension who left the building unsafe and in an absolute state. She then employed another builder to put things right, who also ripped her off to the tune of £26,000. The she found out that she had 1m deep foundations filled with soil, old bricks and a bucket, instead of concrete. These problems are serious, and potentially fatal.


Now what annoys me is the way customers react, or rather over-react, if they have a slight mark in a unit, or a door has dropped a couple of times. These are menial, minute little tasks which require 10 minutes of work and a reasonable and measured response by the customer. But as we all know customers can be quite the opposite!


Dear general public: when you have problems as described in paragraph two, then it is reasonable to start shouting!

Customers Still Spending

We had a bit of a dip last week. We had a sustained period for about 5-6 weeks of being absolutely stacked out. Leads were really healthy for the time of year. My conversion rates for August and September are 66.6% and 61.9% (though September will edge up to two thirds soon). And fitting was running at a 6 week lead time.


Then the last week to ten days became a bit quiet. Lead levels dropped as did sales. Not completely, but enough to show a difference. This can be put down to probably the time of year and the uncertainty of what the Spending Review might reveal. But, anyone who listened to it will have realised that it unless your in the public sector, it wasn't too painful.


As a result this week has seen a marked increase in leads, and sales. I've personally signed up 4 contracts in 24 hours! What is also a nice help is that figures out yesterday show that the economy is growing faster than expected - this can only help to sustain the increase in consumer confidence.


Here's hoping that the general public keep up their spending long enough to give the window industry a shove into the beginning of 2011!

Sticking By Your Principles

This industry is one which doesn't have the strongest of principles. In fact it rarely carries through to the end anything which it says it will. One perfect example is the backing down on the conformity types for the new Part L regulations.


But one company seems to be showing the rest of us what principles look like and how to abide by them. Network Veka has just expelled a further three installers from their network for not meeting their standards. This brings the total number of expulsions to 49, and total financial loss of those expulsions to £500,000. Which may seem a lot, but I see it as a price worth paying to be able to say they are absolutely steadfast in the application of their principles in business - unlike everyone else in this game! Also, half a million pounds to someone like Network Veka won't bankrupt them!


This doesn't seem particularly difficult in practise. It's just the simple act of following through actions which you say you will perform, yet so many of us don't!


This report in full is at: http://ggpmag.com/newsitem.asp?newsID=667

Change Of Scenery

One of the suggestions that came from me asking how I can make this site better was from Alex who said that the white writing was harder to see than black text on a lighter background. I could see where he was coming from, but I still liked the idea of the white text because there are too many blogs out there with the conventional white background and black text. But I took on board his comment and went about looking at some new themes from Blogger. I stumbled across this one and thought it was ideal. It's a view through glass! How much more relevant to the window industry can you get! Plus, it's a lot brighter. The two old black themes I had looked a bit too moody, so it was nice to have a design which looked a bit fresher and a bit more positive.


I'm still open to suggestions as to what people think I should do differently. But let me know what you think on the new theme!

Be Careful

I've worked in this industry four and a half years, and over that time I've met many genuinely nice people. Also over that period of time I've established that this industry is plagued with some very dodgy characters, some even violent. For obvious reasons I won't be naming names, companies or sources.


Knees being capped, broken bottles and baseball bats are all things you would normally associate with gangsters and the gang-land culture, not the double glazing industry. I have this impression that some people are in this industry to help fund other ventures more important to them than windows and doors. In a way I hope this is the case. I'd hate to think that this sort of behaviour was used to collect bills regularly. 


What I am sure about is that these sorts of occurrences are very limited, and hopefully blown out of proportion as they have gone through the rumour mill. However I do realise that there is a degree of truth in what is reported, else why would these stories exist in the first place? 

We Can Never Go Back

The internet is arguably the most influential invention since the telephone, maybe even more so. Over time, the internet has grown and developed into everybody's daily lives. Some use it for purely recreation, a lot use it for business, whether it be banking, advertising or selling.


The internet has become such a powerful tool for businesses, and it will become ever more vital in the future as the rest of the world becomes more accessible and mobile. Double glazing companies aren't exempt from this either. We booked our first appointment which came from a mobile online search using a BlackBerry handset! 


Now that the internet has become such an embedded feature in our way of life and how we do business, could businesses ever cope without it? Could they survive without having a presence on Google searches? Could they gain the same number of leads without access to email facilities? Could they show their product ranges as easy? Would payments suffer?


Simply, business relies on the internet completely. Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing. The internet has made the business world much more streamlined, efficient and much quicker. And it's had a very positive impact on a lot of company's profits. One thing to watch out for however is cyber-attacks. One thing the internet is vulnerable is hacking. And once a hacker makes their way in, it is possible for them to cause havoc on a very large scale, especially if their vocation is cyber-terrorism - it can have massive knock-on effects. Expert believe that a cyber-terrorist attack on this country could cost it tens of billions!


But lets not focus on that too much!

How Can I Improve This Site?

I'm always looking at ways I can improve the site. Whether it be the looks of the web page, features that I put on like the search box and the Page Views counter, or the simplicity of the navigation. But up to press I've only ever gone on what I think. So if any of you have any ideas on what I could be doing differently on the site I'd like you to tell me so that I can keep on improving it.


Thanks!

Conservatories On The Slide

Searching on Google Trends I know doesn't give a 100% accurate picture of what people are buying. But it does give a good indication as to what people are interested in. Below is a Trends comparison between 'double glazing' and 'conservatories'. Both of which show a steady decline, 'conservatories' more marked than 'double glazing'.

The blue line which indicates double glazing, shows a small increase in the latter part of the year. Conservatories however show the complete opposite. 


The key is going to be how companies can grab the remaining market share in what is still a rapidly shrinking market.


I'd say we are currently in the transition period between conservatories and orangeries, and the amount of time left for conservatories I'd say was between 3-5 years. Will Conservatory Outlet re-brand to Orangery Outlet!?!

Profits Up At Anglian, But Turnover Down Sharply

Below is an article taken from the www.double-glazing-forum.com website reporting on the rise in profits, fall in turnover and job losses at Anglian:


Anglian Group, the parent company of Anglian Home Improvement, has said that profits for the first half of 2010 have risen by 70% despite a fall in revenue.

Norwich-based Anglian, one of the UK's largest double glazing firms, saw a climb in pre-tax profits climb to £11.3 million for the period up until March 27, up from £6.2 million the year before. Turnover saw a significant drop of £15.5 million to £209.2 million.

This follows a recent restructuring at the company as part of a £30 million cost cutting drive in the wake of the economic downturn. In 2008/09, Anglian shed almost 1,000 staff to bring its workforce down to 2,056 as the recession bit hard, with the firm posting a £7 million operating loss for the year.

Speaking to the Eastern Daily Press on September 22, Peter Mottershead, group chief executive, said the company was now focused on investing profits back in the business after a period of relative stability.

“We have to take the strengths we have and invest in the business ready for when the upturn comes. We have continued to invest in the brand and products,” he said.

“We are putting the building blocks in place so that when the upturn comes we are in a good position for revenue growth and further growth in profits.”

However, Mottershead remained cautious over the company's performance over the coming twelve months, stating that while current trade is up on last year, the forthcoming government spending review may have a significant impact on the market as a whole. 


These are certainly big numbers from the Anglian group. 1000 job losses in any company is huge. As is a £30 million pound restructuring plan. Anglian has had to go through a lot of pain to make sure their business is positioned correctly for the future. Evidence is the £7 million pound operating loss. If business continues to be brisk for the rest of the year, that £7 million will be covered and then some.


The article does seem to paint a positive picture for the road ahead for the company, despite such a traumatic restructuring. This begs the question as to why Anglian is up for sale in the first place. If a company is looking like it's going to be making healthy profits in the future, why would any owner put it up for sale?

Look Beyond The Gloom

Today was a historical day. The Government has announced the deepest spending cuts for almost 80 years. This may sound terrible, but when you take into account that, according to the BBC, spending is only being reset to the levels of 2006-2008, it isn't so bad.


So, let's take that not-so-negative point, and take it further. The window and door industry has lots to look forward to. There are two rapidly expanding markets for companies to take advantage of. The first is composite doors. A previous post of mine explained that for the first time (and according to HWL Leeds who install Solidor composite doors) last month saw composite door sales overtake PVCu panel door sales. But it didn't take them to tell me, and the rest of us that composite doors are the future of the residential door market. All companies need to do is get themselves a quality supplier, a few showroom samples and then they are on their way to increased door sales.


The other market that is going to expand rapidly is the energy efficient window market. This was expanding slowly anyway, but due to the changes that came in at the beginning of the month this will be forced to expand at a much quicker rate. So again installers need to get themselves a quality product, preferably an A rated one for marketing and sales purposes, some good showroom samples, and they will find themselves with a lot more USP's than their lethargic competitors. 


One other positive I've noticed over the last few months is that customers are really now coming to their senses and realising that the companies out there who fit cheap rubbish, are the ones to avoid. They are now understanding fully that cheaper products mean poor quality, inefficiency, and they will have to be replaced a lot sooner compared to their more expensive but better quality counterparts.


I think the recession has had a positive impact on consumers. Rather than shock them into buying the cheapest of everything, I think they have started to analyse what they are really buying. On big ticket purchases customers are really doing their homework and weighing up the pros and cons and making a more informed decision. I think this has resulted in increased sales for those double glazing companies who sell a high-end product.


So, lots of positive things to bear in mind. Let's not look at today's cuts as a potential derailment. We need to keep our eyes on the ball, not let them divert, and we can navigate the tougher times just as well as we did during the worst of the recession.

Spending Review Day

I don't want to rabbit on about what the impact might be of the Chancellor's speech today at 12:30. People who read this blog will already know that there is a great risk to the economy if the coalition don't pull this off.

Basically, providing the economy keeps growing, the cuts can be sort of off-set. If the public stops spending, then these cuts will run deeper and harder, causing a double-dip recession.

I'd like to know what you all think of the cuts. All comments welcome after George Osbourne has broken the bad news!

The Real Reason Why DGCOS Hasn't Exploded Onto The Scene

An interview with Tony Pickup in the GGP Magazine revealed their tough qualification process for installers:


The Double Glazing and Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme (DGCOS), has released figures showing that 39% of installers do not succeed in gaining accreditation.

Launched earlier this year, the scheme has attracted many long established and reputable firms but many installers fail to meet what the organisation claims is its ‘high standards’.  “We consider every company that applies,” explained Tony Pickup, founder of DGCOS, “but many simply don’t have what we’re looking for. Every installer has to supply at least 10 home owner references from recent jobs, plus three supplier references. We also ask for copies of their health and safety policies, contract terms and conditions and public liability and employer’s liability insurances.

“Our dedicated accreditation team investigates every detail in a 12 point process,  (seewww.dgcos.org.uk/member_join). Where we can, we help companies with their procedures and policies to ensure they meet our standards but many applicants fail because of County Court Judgements, bankruptcies or multiple phoenixing.” Mr Pickup stated that the process is a continuous one.“One company was recently expelled because they didn’t disclose a phoenixed company which subsequently came to light,” he said. “It didn’t turn up in our initial investigation because the directors were different, so we now look up as many variations on company and owner names and addresses as we can.

“It’s very thorough process but the feedback from members who have made it – and their customers – has been remarkably positive. It keeps our standards high, and ensures home owners can trust the DGCOS brand.”


I can completely understand that DGCOS has to have a high standard that they want to create and breed, but the problem is the majority of companies in this industry have either become bankrupt or changed their name at some point in the company's lifetime. If they are going to stick by this factor, they are going to seriously limit the number of companies that are going to be able to join. Then they face another problem. If they do want to expand into the mass majority of the industry, they may have to start breaking their own rules in order to do so. But this will put at risk the credibility of the scheme itself.


So with this, as well as the other 12 categories in which companies need to qualify for, the conclusion is simple: even if an installer wanted to join, the likelihood is they wont. It's probably just too hard! 

18 Days After The Changes

It is now 18 days since the Part L and F changes came into force. Has anyone found any problems yet? Have any of you been caught out not fitting compliant products? Or is it all still far too unclear and confusing?

We've not really come across any problem scenarios as of yet. We've been selling A-rated windows for two years now, so that was never going to be a problem anyway. And our composite doors come with their own U-value certificate, and they are all 1.8 or better, so that is serving us well.

All comments welcome!

New Strongest Substance

This article has been taken from a new blogger I've started to follow: http://www.quiteinterestingblog.blogspot.com/:

What's the strongest substance on Earth?

Diamond, I hear you say.

You'd be wrong.

Recently a new material has been discovered, by the name of Graphene. Alike diamond, it made from carbon, in a order arrangement. Its a one atom thick material, which also makes it man's thinnest material yet. Graphene may sound similar to the carbon material, Graphite which is commonly found in pencils, not lead. That's because it is made from Graphite, there's a good chance you may have even made some Graphene whilst drawing a pencil picture!

It has won the Physics Nobel Prize this year. This material is expected to be as a boom like the discovery of plastics.

So, whats so good about Graphene?

- Its stronger than Diamond, the world's strongest material

- It conducts electricity 1 million times better than copper

- Despite Graphene being one atom thick, its impermeable to gases

- It can be stretched up to 20% of size before breaking

What are the possibilities?

Well, being able to conduct electricity very well, means a lot for technology. Wires, Internet, capacitors, transistors and so much more. There's so much research going into Graphene, such as mixing the material with plastics to create plastics which could conduct electricity. Scientists are looking to use Graphene for the storage of hydrogen for use in hydrogen cell cars too. The possibilities are truly endless. In about 10 years, a lot of household items, will be using Graphene.

 

Graphene sounds like a huge step forward, for all industries. It sounds a lot more economical than other materials, can last longer, have endless uses etc. It will be interesting to see if in ten years time the blogger is right, and that we will be using Graphene in many household items.

New Blog

I'd like to introduce a new blogger into the bloggersphere: http://www.topspecgaming.blogspot.com/.

Admittedly, this has nothing to do with double glazing! But this new blogger is actually my brother, so I thought I'd give him a helping hand in to the world of blogging. So if any of you would be so kind as to pay his site a little visit, or at least pass the address to those who are interested in gaming, it would be highly appreciated!

Happy reading!

The Next Step In Window Evolution?

While I was up in Scotland, I saw in one of the Scottish versions of either The Sun or Daily Mail an advert by Advanced Group and their 44mm triple glazed windows. But as I was on holiday I paid no attention to it after that!

Then I saw on the GGP Magazine website a feature article on them, and have paid it a little more thought this time. In the article they say they are producing over 1500 triple glazed windows per week, which to be honest is pretty good going in what are still difficult and uncertain trading conditions.

If we go back in time and then look at triple glazed windows it fits the evolving picture. Windows progressed from single glazing, to thin double glazing in timber, then that was adapted into PVCu frames. As time has progressed it widened to the current 28mm double glazed unit standard. And since then, instead of making the cavity wider, we've adapted the unit to hold things like argon gas, super spacers and used different variations of glass. But personally I think we've been missing a trick with triple glazed windows. It seems the natural step upwards in glazing technology. Whats more you could still add things like argon gas and still use low 'E' and low iron glass. Even without this Advanced Group say that a U-Value of 0.9 can be achieved.

What I would really like to know is if triple glazing is a much more costly option. If triple glazing isn't too expensive, then I truly believe we could add a very useful and profitable string to our bow.


UPDATE: Thanks to the Advanced Group in Scotland for sending in an image showing their triple glazing installed:

Don't Do What The French Do

Just like every developed country, and ourselves, the French have been revamping their social and economic systems to make sure that future long term growth is achieveable, and that they can pay off their accumulated debts.

Once such reform has been to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. Now most of us in this country would ask why they are even complaining. We have to work until we are at least 65, and that's even going to go up in the future. The point the French are making is that when you've been used to something for so long, that works in your favour, you don't want to give it up. And in protest of this, as well as other reforms, many millions of people have taken to the French streets in marches, oil and fuel depots have been both blocked and shut down, fuel lines to main Paris airports have been closed and now the students are having their say also. They are worried that as people work longer, there will be fewer jobs for them in the future.

As much as I can understand the upset and frustration of the French people, this is not the way they should be going about venting their anger. They have to realise that the world is now in a place where we simply cannot afford the lifestyles and economic policies of the past. We have a live a much greener lifestyle. Operate a much leaner economy which isn't centred around borrowing, and that encourages growth without placing uneccessary burdons on public expenditure.

I can also give the same advice to the people of this country. On Wednesday we will find out how much the Government will be cutting and from which departments. The cuts will be deep, harsh, unpopular, but absolutely required to make sure the country is put back on a stable footing. If the Unions call for mass strikes and action, it could divide the population. Those in who work in the public sector and will retain their jobs should hopefully find themselves lucky to still be in employement. It will only serve to anger those who have been jobless for a while. We saw a simliar scenario when the airport staff went on strike over losing their already over-generous benefits. The majority of the population didn't have much sympathy with them.

So, let's not do what the French are doing. Let's not put the country under any more pressure by causing petrol shortages. Let's not cripple workplaces by taking industrial action. Let's get knuckled down, use some good old fashioned British grit and determination and show the French how coping with the tough times should be done!

Daydreaming In Fourth Gear

Somehow I've managed to get myself to just over 400 posts, which I think is pretty impressive to say I've only been writing a year and a half, and it's about a subject which, if your not careful, you can find yourself repeating the same material.


So finding new material to write about can be quite difficult. On one hand you can't be so outrageous in case it affects you or the company you work for, but at the same time you want what you write to be worth reading. My inspiration comes to me as I'm driving. More specifically late at night, with some form of rock or metal music on. That for me is where my best and clearest ideas come to me, sometimes I expand them in my head too much I can't fully offload my thoughts accurately in a post!


Metal music while driving doesn't sound the most calming of atmosphere's to get creative but it works for me! Everyone is different I suppose. So providing I still listen to rock and metal, and I don't lose my driving licence I'll be posting for a while longer yet!

+50 %

At the end of the day I decided to take a look at last year's figures, more specifically the period of January to October of 2009 and this year. It most definately has been a much better year this time round


We have increased sales by just a tad over 50%, and as of this week we have now already sold more so far this year than in the whole of last year. After such progress you can understand why we don't want any bumps in the road that could potentially derail the upward trend, hence the nervousness of the upcoming spending review.


From what I can gather, we aren't the only ones that have managed to brush off the dust of the recession. SunShield down in Exeter have managed 65% growth so far this year. Due to this we thought we'd have ourselves a little game. Who ever manages the best growth at the end of the year wins, we just need to figure out what the prize should be at the end! All suggestions welcome!

1 Week Till The Spending Review

There is only one week left until the Government tells us how much they are going to be cutting over the next four years. And the big worry is how it will affect consumer confidence. That for me is the most immediate and important result.

Businesses up and down the country have seen either good stabilisation or a return to steady growth this year. But this is at risk of faltering if the public spending cuts cause those that work in the sector to suddenly cease their spending. The knock-on effect will then spread throughout the country to affect consumer confidence as a whole.

So the question is how do businesses limit the possible effects on them? I say get back into the recession mindset. If things are going to become more challenging, repeat what you did in the recession. Emphasize all your USP's to promote your business as better. If your a company selling high-end products, don't reduce your profit margin, your going to need that to help get through the tougher times. Don't panic and reduce them, if people appreciate the standard of product, they will still be prepared to buy at a higher price.

If your a company selling budget products, I would give the same advice, but be prepared to raise prices if you have to. Taking cost increases on the chin if times get tough again is going to put the business under extra unnecessary pressures.

So, just hold tight, and try to weather a storm which could last longer than the recession.

My 400th Post

I don't have any big particular issue to talk about in this milestone post, so I thought I'd just share a few bits of information I learned today off a visiting Yale engineer.

As of Monday, Yale, and in turn ASSA Abloy now own Paddock. The takeover was announced over a month ago, but with all the usual checks and procedures involved in buy-outs, this prolongs the process slightly. Speaking with the guy, it seems ASSA Abloy now seem to own just about all of the major locks and hardware companies worth buying. I put it to him that with all the companies they are getting themselves involved with, is there a risk that with such a large and expanding group, could the lines between them blur and could product and service quality suffer (I know he was just an engineer but he seemed a pretty knowledgeable guy)? He assured me that when ASSA buy out companies, they try not to integrate them too much. Simply, they buy them, pocket the company, make them use the Yale brand, but leave them to run the company as they see fit...for now anyway.

The ASSA Abloy Group is now that huge that if you work in any sector that even comes close to windows and doors, your going to be purchasing from a company within that umbrella, and not just here, all over the world. Below is a list copied from a Wikipedia search highlighting why they are the biggest in the world:

Finnish

Abloy
Abloy Exec
Abloy Protec


American
Arrow Lock and Door Hardware
Corbin Russwin
Curries
Graham
Ceco
Fargo Electronics
Flemming
Folger Adam
Hes
HID
Emtek
Medeco
McKinney
Norton
Pemko
Rixson
Rockwood Manufacturing
Sargent
Securitron
TImelox
Interlock USA Inc.
Yale


Australian
Lockwood
Whitco
Trimec
Padde


British
Chubb
Union


Danish
Ruko A/S
Besam


Dutch
Nemef
LIPS


French
Fichet
JPM
Laperche
Vachette


German
Ikon
Keso
Effeff


Israeli
Mul-T-Lock


Norwegian
TrioVing
VingCard
Elsafe


Swedish
ASSA
Besam
Spanish
Azbe
Tesa

It is also probably worth noting that Union, Chubb and Yale have companies within their portfolio.

If you want an example of how to build a HUGE business portfolio internationally, take a look at the ASSA Abloy group.

Too Hot

All the talk at the moment has been about the condensation on the outside of the glass when the weather conditions are cold enough and right, but as we all start to fit more and more energy efficient windows, another problem is going to arise - overheating.


All south facing sides are going to experience increased solar gain, meaning it's going to get rather warm. I've already had a few customers ask this question of me, and I just laugh it off saying just to open a window, which in reality is going to be the only thing we can say.


If we have customers reacting 'energetically' over condensation to the outer panes on the few times during the winter, are we going to have customers complaining that their livings rooms and bedrooms are far too warm? Also, we are more likely to experience days that are going to be warmer, than days that are going to cause external condensation, so this potentially could become a bigger issue. 


Once this information gets out into the public domain and starts to become a point of interest for people, then we will find out how much of an issue this will be. 

Composite Doors Overtake Panelled Doors For The First Time

This isn't official news, but comes from a half-reliable source, and doesn't seem too inconceivable to believe.


We had a visit from a HWL rep based in Leeds who came in to drop one of their brochures off and do a half-demo of their product and what they do. He said (claimed) some interesting things like Door-Stop only produce less than 200 a week, which I found strange bearing in mind they managed to turnover £13million last year. He then had various other digs about Door-Stop when I asked him who he thought was his main competition, and it was at that point I turned my brain off.


But one point I did pick up on was that he said that last month was the first time composite doors out-sold PVCu panelled doors. Now this seems to fit the picture that various people are saying. Many have said that composite doors will be the future of the industry, and it now seems that they have powered their way through and reached the level of sales that PVCu panels achieve.


My view is this; that panelled doors will be extinct within the next 3-5 years, leaving just engineered and composite doors as the main types of residential doors installers will sell.

A Couple More Additions

All of us like to crunch a few stats once in a while, but the posts I've published previously with various stats from this blog have taken time and were quite tedious. So imagine my moderate surprise when I found that Blogger had got their act together and did themselves a gadget which allows you to show how many page views you've had over the last 30 days! Hence that's one of two new features, and I've popped it above the most recent post where it's most visible and doesn't clog the side bar up anymore.


Secondly, I can tell that the little Top 3 Posts feature was used well when I looked at my Analytics, so imagine my more than moderate surprise when I found that Blogger had got their act together even further and had produced a 'Popular Posts' gadget! This is incredibly useful to me as I now don't have to manually change the text and their links every time a post switches places. I could have had the top 10 posts, but I've kept it at 5 for now. If you think there should be more then I'll change it.


Just thought I'd point out the obvious!

Soul Searching

Soul searching. I do this sometimes. Periodically I take a good look at myself in the mirror and think what could be different.


Despite me being completely driven by money and success, I hate that I am. I work in a world of figures, values and margins, and it's a horrible pressure that often I wish I could just throw away and not have to worry about. The consumerism that we've immersed ourselves in has brought us added pressure: racking up and paying off debts, sales targets and in turn the pressure to earn as much as we can.


Let's be honest, money buys us nice things; holidays, cars, homes etc. But to me the pressure that we work under isn't worth the reward. I've just come back from a weeks holiday in the Highlands, and the people there live a much simpler, slower life which looks on the surface to be a lot less stressful, and right now I would drop this one for that in a second. 


The window industry is a highly driven industry, just like many others, and I do enjoy it, but just not as much as I think I would enjoy a much more basic one. No credit cards, no over-sized homes for small families, no need to prove yourself better than others. In fact sometimes I hate the notion of money - but that's just the hippy in me coming out!


But for now, I'll just have to keep working, keeping my head above waters.

Have I Missed Anything?

So then, I've been away for a week, have I missed anything important?


I see that U-Values for doors have been rendered practically useless for a time, which in a way isn't surprising considering the poor application of the changes.


One thing I can report is that while in the Highlands I noticed quite a lot of new-build luxury holiday homes being built, most with some form of orangery attached to them. But reading between the lines this seems to suggest something, that orangeries will only be acceptable on certain properties. Orangeries were seen by some as a replacement for the 'glass box', but a glass box suits almost any property, from 2 bedroom town house, to luxury 6 bedroom mansion villa (which I was lucky enough to stay in last week!). 


Try and stick an orangery on a 2 bedroom town house or anything similar then it's not going to work. However stick one on a part timber-clad part grey stone holiday home, then it's going to look stunning. And there's the point, they are going to be limited, hence they aren't going to take off like conservatories did.


I'm in the office tomorrow, so if there's anything you think I need to know and I've missed out, tell me! Otherwise I'll speak to you on Monday!

Month In Review: September

Quite simply, September was a stunner of a month! One week in September we signed up a months worth of work in one week, and the rest of the month remained brisk too.


Lead levels have been fantastic over the last four weeks, conversion rates have been hitting 2-in-3, but the best thing is that the contracts have been for very good order values. Full houses of windows and doors, conservatories and full house roofline.


The feedback from customers goes some way to explain why we've had such a positive period. Rather than them saying it because of the VAT and Spending Review on the 20th, they've said that it's because of the product, customer service and reputation. Just goes to show that even if you are a bit more than your competitors, a good product and customer service goes some way to justify a higher price. 

A Day Of Changes

Today is now the day where we have to fit doors with a 1.8 U-Value or better, windows with a U-Value of 1.6 or better or to at least a C rating as a minimum. The windows side of things I think most companies are up to date with (hopefully!), but doors is the bit where most have been slow on the uptake.


There was so much focus on windows and how they would comply, that doors were really only thought about two weeks prior to today. Any responsible company will have made sure that they are sourcing products which were ready to conform to the new standards as of today. 


Is there panic in offices up and down the country today? Or does the industry just not care about the changes, knowing that they can probably get away with it for a few more months yet?