Bad National Press

I was alerted the other day to a post from the online edition of The Telegraph. The post centers around a question posed by a reader, in which they ask which scheme is the best for replacement windows. 


The following reply then goes on to explain that window companies don't have to be affiliated with any of the schemes, but also paints a picture of confusion because there are two ombudsman schemes and FENSA, non of which are government backed.


"To further complicate matters, there is another scheme being launched - The Glazing Ombudsman (TGO) - which also has no official Government standing. The double-glazing and replacement-window industry remains totally unregulated."


Further down the reply, it is questioned why this person thinks they need replacement windows. And even worse: "the cheapest and most sustainable option is almost always to repair or refurbish existing windows..."


And to compound the already struggling reputation of the British window industry: "And in the unlikely event that your existing windows should be genuinely beyond repair, then I would counsel against PVC-U replacements. British PVC-U windows have a poor reputation for quality, and timber windows are likely to represent better value in the long term."


Where do we start with this then? I'd just like to point out that these are only snippets of the article, you can find the whole misinformed piece of crap here. Firstly, yes the industry isn't Government regulated, but so are plenty of others. We aren't the only ones. and FENSA is probably the best we have got. They aren't perfect, no governing body is, but they do good work, along with the GGF. We aren't the cowboy industry we used to be.


It's wrong to paint a confused picture of our industry - being muddled up with ombudsman schemes and other similar things. It's not that confusing. All it takes is a couple of minutes with someone who actually works in the industry to explain the differences, it's not confusing at all.


Then there's the notion of timber windows being better than British PVCu windows. First of all, the guy/girl replying should take into account that a lot of the wood used in this country, and used for timber windows, is sourced ILLEGALLY - from what are supposed to be protected forests. How is this sustainable and better value in the long term? Timber windows need care and attention, they don't get the same energy ratings as PVCu windows, especially now as triple glazing is becoming a viable option.


The Telegraph is a national paper with a big audience, the last thing our industry needs is yet more false information being publicly broadcast. Especially when it has a hint of smuggery and derogatory tones. Let me know what you think. Although I think I already know!

Energy Efficient Windows 2.0?

Some very smart people in South Korea have produced a new type of 'smart glass', which has the potential be cheaper and be more reliable than the current market offering.

How does it work? The glass is laced with a charge counterion polymer, which darkens in seconds when outside air temperatures become high - keeping the inside of your home cool. But crucially, the glass is able to become completely transparent in seconds during colder times of the year, meaning the glass can make the most of the sunshine on offer to create heat.

Korean scientists: "This type of light control system may provide a new option for saving on heating, cooling and lighting costs through managing the light transmitted into the interior of a house."

There have been skeptics of the current energy efficient glass on offer, and how well it really works in harnessing the sun's light, and the overall efficiency of the window. But with the creation of a type of glass that can be physically seen to change appearance due to the climate, it may help put that issue to bed.

The other plus point are the reports that it could be quite a bit cheaper than the current glass options available. This has to be welcome news for the whole industry. Installers and unit manufacturers alike would welcome the introduction of this new product, while hoping at the same time that the glass cartel don't take advantage and slap a premium price on it!

You can read the full report at: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201139/7661/Korean-boffins-create-new-energy-efficient-smart-glass

Potential Green Deal Disaster

The more you look at the Green Deal, the more you realise that small window companies (which make up a lot of our industry) are going to struggle to be able to take advantage of it. But first, some clarity on what the Green Deal is and how it is going to work:


According to the GGF: Green Deal is the Coalition Government's flagship policy for improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings in Great Britain. It is a new market framework and is based on a key principle that the cost of some energy efficiency measures pay for themselves, in effect, through the resulting savings on fuel bills.


Green Deal Finance: Green Deal finance will not be a personal loan on the householder or building owner but will in fact be a debt held on the property. Future owners of the property will take on the remaining elements of the Green Deal until payment is complete.


To be part of the scheme, you have to register to become a Green Deal Provider. To become a Provider you will be subject to strict assessments apparently. As a Provider, you will be responsible for providing the finance. Here's where it becomes a little bit more difficult for the really small companies. Providers will be responsible for carrying out an energy assessment on the property. The assessment will identify what measures the homeowner needs to take to improve the energy efficiency of their home. Also, the Provider must also then carry out another assessment to judge how well the measures that have been taken are doing, and provide feedback. 


The Green Deal loans will be re-paid by the homeowner via the respective energy bills. Crucially, if that homeowner moves, the loan stays with the house, not with the tenants. So the new home owners will have to pick up that bill. 


The Golden Rule: Above all, the expected savings to be made on any Green Deal project must be greater than the cost of the work done.


Big multi-national companies such as B & Q, Marks and Spencer and British Gas have been mentioned as possible Green Deal Providers. We already know that Tesco has positioned itself ready to take advantage of the deal when it comes to pass. 


I have two concerns regarding the deal. Firstly, with all the massive companies being mentioned as being possible providers, is there going to be any room for the small guys in our industry. In comparison, even the large companies within this industry would be dwarfed by the other companies mentioned above. The GGF has worked hard to include windows in the Green Deal, the worst thing that could happen is for companies like Tesco to go a steal all the business.


My second worry is that the amount of checks, assessments, tests, and all the other extra work involved in being a Provider will be far too much for the smaller companies to cope with. For the larger businesses with the staff and financial backup, this won't be a problem. But if the WHOLE industry is to benefit from the deal, then our large organisations, the GGF and FENSA need to have plans in place to make sure that everyone gets a piece of the pie.


The plan isn't due for another year. So I hope that plans for everyone will be announced and explained well before October 2012 so that everyone can ready themselves for what should be a significant boost for our sector.

Be Nice To Your Customers

Customer service is probably one of the most basic and fundamental qualities to have as a business. Yet many fail miserably at delivering that service.


What has inspired me to write this post was how we were talked to by a member of staff by one of the larger composite door companies in our industry. The short version of the story is that there were rather major problems with some of the door slabs we installed a few months ago. A senior sales rep cam out to see them, agreed that they were very poor and that positive action would be taken. However 48 hours after agreeing to replacing them, a snotty, arrogant, attitudal member of their office rang to say that they wouldn't be re-making them, despite the very poor nature of the product, and after a previous promise that they would be replaced.


But the thing that really put our nose out of joint was the way the office girl rang us up and told us that information. She told our office administrator the info, and was then very put out that she was put on the the proprietor to explain to him again why they weren't going to honour the agreement they made earlier.


What I fail to understand is why companies employ people like this. Staff like that can cost companies business. And to that end, we are now looking at other products on the market. The customer service has been generally poor from this company, and it's something which has made it hard to deal with them.


One of the most simple rules in business is to make sure you're nice to your customers. It can cost you otherwise, and this time, it may well have done for this company.

Customers Who Don't Pay

It's one of the biggest pains in the backside that window companies have to suffer, customers who don't pay when you finish the job.


What is the best way to deal with them? In my experience it's always best to filter out those who you think are most likely to be problem customers. You can decide then if you want to deal with them or not. Of course when time's are as hard as these, turning any business down isn't an easy decision. But sometimes you have to think ahead and anticipate what possible problems these customers can cause and how much it could cost you to put the situation right.


Dealing with non-payers at the end of the job is sometimes a difficult one to judge. Do you threaten to take back the products, even if it means leaving holes in their property? Do you threaten court action (once reminder letters have been sent out of course)? Taking back products can often lead to confrontation, and can give the impression that your company is slightly heavy-handed. Though from a contractual point of view, companies are still well within their rights to take back what hasn't been paid for. More often than not, the threat of court action and constant reminder letters usually does the trick. Customers tend to see how long they can get away from paying, though they know at some point they will have to hand the money over.


I would also like to make the point that the company I work for has a policy where as soon as the work is finished, we expect payment straight away. No dragging feet for a few days or over the weekend. When the work is done, it's to be paid for. If the customer has any little niggles (though I'm glad to say we have great fitters who don't cause so many), then we get it sorted ASAP - which means the customer doesn't have an excuse not to pay promptly.


However, a lot of the time it is the fault of the company for customers not paying. Poor customer service, product quality, bad workmanship and lax after-sales care are the biggest causes of customers refusing to pay at the end of the job. If you expect prompt payment, don't give the customer an excuse not to pay.

How Not To Install Fascias: Video

Like the pictures, there isn't much I need to say to explain this video. Please leave your comments, I'm sure there will be a few on this one.


P.S. I had to chop this video down as Facebook, Blogger and YouTube were having problems uploading all 30 minutes of it. And I'd like to point out that there wasn't much extra work done after the end of the video.

How Not To Install Fascias

I don't think these two pictures need much explaining, so I'll leave it to you lot to add the comments!

Video Interviews

It's been a while since I posted any videos on here. So I trawled YouTube for a little while and came across these two videos. They're nothing earth shattering or spectacular, but it's the idea behind them that's intrigued me. 


In them the answers questions in order to dispel certain myths and misconceptions about the industry. As I've said, it's not a producers masterpiece, but if more effort was done to make the industry more transparent and understandable, the public might take a bit more of an interest in what we all do. Videos are a good way of doing this.

Red Velvet Baking

I would like to introduce to you all to another blog by a friend of mine. Her name is Jessica and her passion is writing and baking, so she's done the most logical thing, and started a blog, about baking.


So if cakes, buns or food in general interests you (I know I love my food), then check this new site out. It's only a few days old, so it's going to be fun watching how this develops.


Here it is: http://redvelvetbaking.blogspot.com/

5% VAT For Energy Rated Windows

Finally, windows and doors look set to be recognized by our Government, by being included in the Green Deal, due to hit our shops October 2012. But this isn't going to be enough to help our beleaguered industry. Any advantage caused by the introduction of the Green Deal looks set to be swallowed up by super-companies such as Tesco.


Energy efficient windows should be granted the same VAT status as other energy efficient home improvements. If windows are going to be promoted to the same levels as insulation and others, then they should also be given the same VAT break. There will be obvious positive cost implications for the whole industry, and will help put replacement windows and doors at the forefront of people's minds.


The GGF did well to lobby the Government into including replacement windows and doors for the Green Deal. Maybe it can throw it's weight behind a campaign to allow energy efficient windows and doors to qualify for 5% VAT status. I know that this is something the whole industry would get behind and fully support.

Construction Needs A Boost

Construction levels haven't been this low since the 1980's. I wouldn't know this personally as I was born in 1988, so really wouldn't have taken this information in. But when you look at the graphs and numbers, it's easy to see that the recovery is as anemic as a pigment-less person.


Construction is one of the most important sectors in our country. If we didn't have the finance capital of the world, it would probably be the biggest. Which is why the government needs to make sure that construction industry is well supported.


Construction provides a lot of other sectors with a lot of their annual work. National window companies for example get a lot of their commercial work from new-build. But there are hardly any new houses being built. Even those that are go unsold as banks are being over-stringent in their mortgage policies. Then there are the plasterers, plumbers, builders, electricians, roofers and various other trades that get a lot of their work from construction. But if there isn't anything being built, then there's no work. Simple as that.


Banks have a part to play in this. There is a demand for housing in this country. People in their early to mid twenties, ready to move out, are needing housing. But the houses and flats that have been built are sitting empty because the banks are being so stringent on their mortgage lending, too much so. So if the current housing stock cannot be shifted, there isn't going to be an impetus to build more for the youth coming through. 



The Government is trying to spur on construction by introducing new enterprise zones around the country, but this isn't going to be able to sort out the whole of the construction industry up and down the land. We need to banks to loosen their lending straps and start to move the flow of money around far quicker, otherwise there really will be a generation doomed to miss the first few early steps on the housing ladder.

It's PVCu, But Not As We Know It!

PVCu recycling has been around in the industry for a few years now. Some post consumer waste goes towards being made into things such as insulation and other similar things. Some post consumer waste goes back into making new PVCu frames. 


So what direction does the industry need to take when it becomes too expensive and over-resourceful to make PVCu from oil?


This is a question that may need to be answered quite soon. The price of oil over the next 5 years is only going to go up, which will obviously have an impact on the cost of the polymers and in turn the PVCu raw material. I don't think our industry could cope with many more increases right now. The way I see it there are two roads to go down.


The first would be produce the polymers we need from sustainable crops used for oil (more like the cooking kind). This would have a manufacturing advantage as we would be able to produce what we needed here, rather than import a lot of it from the Far East. Jobs will would be created and local economies would be boosted. The downside to this however is that there isn't enough of the crops for this to fully sustain our £4 billion industry. And remember, PVC is used in a plethora of other industries, not just ours. The crops we have at the moment just won't be able to meet the demand. Planting numerous amounts of new fields of the stuff isn't a viable option either.


The second option then is to focus more on recycling the old PVC windows and doors we take out. More and more installations over the last few years have involved taking out old, tired PVC windows and doors. Rather than these going to landfill via our skip companies, these need to be taken to specialist recycling plants, preferably run and owned by the systems companies so that the right people with the right expertise can do this properly and as efficiently as possible. Installers then save lots on the cost of skips, landfill isn't used as much and so the environment benefits. But what need to consider is the public's appetite for 're-used' windows. Some people don't like the idea of used cars, so they buy new ones because they know there is far less a likelihood for things to go wrong. I know recycled windows go through a complete meltdown and are reproduced, but we would need to make sure that the public doesn't get stuck with that 'used' and 'cheap' image. But then there is the problem of meeting the demand for the whole industry. We simply don't recycle enough, or will probably never do so in the future, windows and doors to cope with the whole replacement and new build markets. And if our industry is to continue to grow, meeting that demand is going to become even harder. 


Therefore, we arrive at a problem. We have to position the industry ready for a time without oil. With these being probably the two most viable options right now to replace the need for oil, we have to come up with a way of effectively incorporating the two techniques to make that transition. If we can, then our manufacturing industry in this country could stand to benefit from billions of extra investment and massive job creation. If we could make sure that all this happens in this country, then we could also wean ourselves off the need for foreign imports. 

The Slow Road To Recession

Sorry for being a bit negative, but I've been looking at various bits of economic news and figures, and unfortunately things don't look that great.


The cost of living has continued to rise at a pace in which wages have not been able to keep up with, limiting households' spending power. But over the past couple of weeks more and more economic figures here and around the world are pointing to a double-dip recession. 


Unlike the first recession where people were far less restrained in their spending, if a second recession were to hot when people have already tightened their belts considerably, we could find that a second recession could be more damaging than the first.


This restrictive spending comes amid a backdrop of Europe slowly drowning under massive sovereign debt, which looks more and more likely as the weeks go by that this debt is going to go unpaid, and Governments, especially those of Greece, Portugal and Spain are likely to default and be declared bankrupt. Of course if this does happens, there are dozens of banks, and many on these shores, who are likely to lose billions. And we all know what happened last time banks didn't get the money the were owed.


When you look at the UK specifically, things haven't looked great for the last three quarters. Economic growth has been revised down various times, both by Government and other fiscal bodies. Interests rates may as well not apply they are that low, and the Government has implemented deficit reduction plans that cut way too far way too quickly.


Looking at the window industry, I don't think the image is that positive either. I know some companies out there are doing alright. These are the ones that are actively winning the business, signing up contracts with decent profit margins which are going to see them through the quiet Winter and Xmas/New Year period. But this unfortunately doesn't represent the whole industry I feel. There is still a lot of our sector struggling out there, and I fear that a lot of companies won't be here to see the introduction of the Green Deal which could give the industry a boost.


It's definitely time to get our recession mind sets back on. I think the double glazing industry did better than expected through the last recession. I think if we have the same grit and determination to stay around it will give us a fighting chance should we all be hit with another recession.

DERs Finally Here

Doors have now joined the ranks of windows, in being judged on an A-G scale of how efficient they are.

In my opinion these should have been introduced at the same time as windows. I don't know why it has taken 4 years for it to be implemented.

Whilst windows have the A-G scale of judgement, windows can also be passed efficient based on their U-values. According to an article from Homesafe Doors, doors will also be judged on the same A-G scale. Though at a minimum U-value of 1.8, this will placed doors in band E. This means companies are going to have to spend and invest in new technologies and equipment in order to get themselves up to the minimum C band.

There are certain companies already providing certificates to show how efficient their doors are. Door-Stop are one. They have been providing certificates with their door order confirmations for some time now, and we find them quite useful. However they don't provide one with an A-G scale - will they invest the time and effort to bring these out?

Personally, I believe customers recognise the energy rating certificate more than a U-value. They make the job of explaining and selling the idea a little bit simpler.

It will be interesting to see how fully glazed doors with shape up - like French and sliding doors.

Unfortunately, there isn't much more I can dissect out of this. Very little detail has been released. So there are many questions left to answer. If anyone has any further information on this, feel free to leave a comment, or I can add your information as a guest post on here.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

She told me not to, but, I did it anyway. Happy birthday Sarah!

Have a good one!
(To find out who this Sarah person is, click on the link above on her name!)

Month In Review: August

August was a very funny month. In terms of leads and sales right at the beginning it was relatively busy. Then during the middle of the month it all went quiet, presumably due to the summer school holidays. The right at the back end of the month people seemed to have woken up again the leads started to flow back in again. The difference in lead quality was stark also.


The leads in the last ten days or so have been of a very high quality. Almost all have been very large houses full of new windows and doors as well as roofline products. Something we weren't finding at the beginning of the month. The feedback from customers now is that they are wanting to get their homes better insulated before the cold weather sets in. But this always makes me smirk a little bit, as they have had ALL summer in order to do this, yet people always leave it till the back end of the year!


How was August for everyone else?