Chancellor Must Improve Access To Finance For Small Builders

The Chancellor must take bold action in the forthcoming Budget to improve access to finance for SME builders if he wants to tackle the housing crisis, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB said: “If the Government wants to solve the housing crisis, it must address the access to finance issue that local housebuilders continue to face. The Chancellor needs to commit to underwriting loans from banks to small house builders to get finance flowing into our sector once more. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, difficulty in accessing finance remains a major barrier to small house builders increasing their delivery of new homes. Indeed, the FMB’s 2017 House Builders’ Survey showed little signs of improvement in this picture and if anything suggested slight deterioration in lending conditions. Assessments of lending conditions to SME developers were down slightly from 2016, the first fall in this measure since 2013. These difficulties make it much harder for existing SME house builders to flourish and grow and deter new firms from entering the market. This has resulted in a less dynamic house building sector that is less able to expand to build the homes we need.”

Berry concluded: “If local housebuilders are to build Britain out of the housing crisis, the Chancellor must use the Budget to pull as many levers as possible in order to enable more finance to reach SMEs. One thing the Government can do is act to reduce the capital costs of lending to this sector for smaller specialist lenders. The initiative announced last week by the British Business Bank to extend its ENABLE Guarantee to house building by striking a deal with United Trust Bank is welcome. This type of Government action, because it pushes down the capital costs of lending to SME builders, will allow lenders to do much more of this. The Chancellor needs to back this initiative, encourage its expansion and explore all other options to reduce the risk and costs to banks of lending into this sector. If the Government wants to meet the ambitious housing targets it has set itself, it will need to ensure the long-constrained SME housing sector can once again access the finance it needs to meet the challenge of tackling Britain’s housing crisis.”

www.fmb.org.uk

Picture above: Dale Pegler introducing the new F82 door at the launch of the AluK Luminia Select Partner scheme

AluK has launched its first ever Select Partner scheme, creating a network of like-minded fabricators who will play a key role in helping to drive and support the next stage in AluK’s planned strategic expansion.

These are businesses who AluK feels have the same ethos, values and drive for shared growth in the aluminium market. They will be given exclusive access to the brand new Luminia premium product range from AluK for the trade and residential market, as well as benefiting from extensive business development and marketing support.

This includes the brand new Luminia F82 bi-fold door, which has been generating such a huge amount of interest since it was previewed at this year’s FIT Show, and the SC156 sliding door due out shortly.

The Luminia Select Partner network was official launched to a group of AluK’s key customers at the end of October, at an event held at the Celtic Manor Hotel. This group, which includes many of the UK’s best known and most highly regarded aluminium fabricators, all put their names to the Luminia Partners pledge, before being invited to AluK’s nearby Chepstow facility the next day for a full briefing on the F82.

The Luminia F82 is the door which AluK believes will set a new benchmark for quality and performance in the aluminium bi-fold market. Trade and commercial customers have been asking for the product since the FIT Show, so AluK knows that there is already huge pent up demand.

Speaking after the launch, Russell Yates, AluK’s Managing Director, said: “All of the products in the Luminia range have been developed to target the premium sector of the market, where we know the biggest opportunities will lie in the years ahead

“By appointing Select Partners for the products in this range, we hope to ensure that Luminia becomes established as a premium brand, whilst also preserving an element of exclusivity. This is a really exciting opportunity for the Select Partners themselves and for AluK, and we will be working together to drive really meaningful market growth.”

The emphasis in the Luminia Select Partner scheme is on the word partners. The members will be fabricating and selling the products, but AluK will be supporting them with bespoke marketing support allied directly to the AluK brand, and with significant lead generation campaigns.

There will also be product and business development workshops, technical support both on site and at AluK’s new Chepstow Academy, and regular market intelligence briefings.

The AluK Luminia Select Partners are: Alpine Window and Door Systems, AluFold Direct, Arkay Windows, Capital Windows Doors and Conservatories, Climatec Windows, Complete Aluminium Systems, CWG Choices, Duration Windows, EYG, Iceni Windows, IQ Glass, Nolan, Quantum Windows, Rhino Aluminium and Whiteline,

More details are at: www.aluk.co.uk

The BWF’s Joinery State of Trade Survey Q3 2017 has indicated that the medium-term prospects of the joinery industry remain sound, but growing concerns over skill, raw materials and the implications of Brexit are fostering long-term uncertainty.

BWF policy and communications executive, Matt Mahony, commented: “Labour shortages and raw materials costs continue to bite but sales growth is still expected, at least in the medium term, with order books holding up well and more than half of firms operating at over four fifths of their capacity.

“Investment is set to increase with manufacturing equipment and product improvement the main targets but large increases in spending are also anticipated for R&D and e-business. Longer-term growth expectations appear to have been dampened slightly, however, and this tallies with broader construction industry research suggesting that slower economic growth and signs of an emerging weakness in construction activity outside of private housing are beginning to have an impact on spending decisions.

“Labour availability is also becoming a growing concern and this is now anticipated by survey respondents to become the biggest constraint on activity over the next year. New training and apprenticeship reforms, not to mention industry-led skills initiatives, will need to deliver for the woodworking sector and BWF has been redoubling its efforts to support the joinery skills agenda.”

Key points from the BWF Joinery State of Trade Survey Q3 2017 include:

• A balance of 44% of respondents reported an increase in sales volumes over the last quarter, with 46% reporting an increase over the last year. This corresponds with the 42% of respondents reporting a quarterly increase in the previous survey.
• Manufacturers felt that sales volumes would improve in the next quarter, with a balance of 40% predicting an increase for Q4 2017, and a balance of 36% predicting an increase over the next year.
• 26% of companies reported a current order book of future work extending beyond three months – down 16% from the previous quarter – with 53% saying that their order book extended from between one and three months.
• Labour availability was listed as the most likely constraint on output over the next year by 35% of respondents. Demand and capacity came next, with 29% and 17% of respondents feeling that they were most likely to constrain output.
• 34% of respondents on balance reported increasing their labour force in the last year, with 37% of respondents anticipating an increased labour force over the next year.
• Raw material costs were noted as the main inflationary factor for unit costs for 96% of respondents, with wages/salaries increases pushing up unit costs for 82% of respondents on balance.
• Over the previous year a balance of 49% of respondents had invested in improving their products with 43% investing in their plant/equipment.
• Investment in in product improvement was set for the highest capital investment over the next year, with a balance of 54% planning to invest and with 50% set to invest plant/equipment.

The post Mixed forecast from BWF appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

Solidor and McDermott Windows raise money for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice

Composite door manufacturer, Solidor, has raised £10,000 for a Macmillan hospice in Staffordshire. Solidor asked its customers to pledge £1 for every door purchased in September and promised to match their donations.

Voluntary donations make up 75% of the £12m needed this year alone to maintain the services of the hospice. Established in 1973, the Douglas Macmillan Hospice is a 28-bed care facility for people facing incurable cancer, servicing primarily the North Staffordshire area.

Solidor’s staff and customers were fundraising in association with the hospice’s DougieMac ‘Bring a Pound’ campaign. This reportedly got particular attention on 22 September, when North Staffordshire was ‘taken over’ with fundraising fun and celebrations. At Solidor senior management took turns to run between 5K and 10k to complete a 50k challenge. Solidor’s customer services manager, Cameron Edmonds, took on a 150-mile cycle while others made sweet treats and savoury snacks to sell on the day.

Solidor’s customers joined in too. Blackburn-based installer, McDermott Windows, went a step further by pledging £15 for every Solidor purchased throughout September. Steven McDermott, MD of McDermott Windows, said: “We have a fantastic partnership with Solidor. They’re always on hand to provide us with excellent support to help make our business a success. We wanted to show our appreciation by contributing to the fundraising. We were only too happy to help.”

Gareth Busson, Solidor group’s head of sales and marketing, added: “The generosity shown by McDermott Windows is overwhelming, we really do have the best customers in the industry. The Douglas Macmillan Hospice is a fantastic local charity and we know that the money raised will be put to good use. We’re really proud to be able to support them. A big thanks must also go to all the Solidor staff who took part and did a fantastic job in raising money for a great cause.”

For more information on DougieMac or if you’d like to support the charity with a donation, visit: www.dmhospice.org.uk.

The post Charity support appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

It’s hard to believe that we’re into November now. I’m not sure where the year has gone. I know that we have all been very busy, and the busier we are the quicker time seems to fly by.

As we all start looking towards the end of the year and the well earned Christmas break, it’s time to take a look back at the big stories in the UK window and door industry in the month of October, and of course give you my usual breakdown in performance of this old site too.

Christmas rush gains traction

I have noticed a very distinct pickup in business during October at our place. Leads were very healthy and so were sales. In fact we had one of our best months of the year in October. The big running theme with our customers was the need to get things bought and installed before Christmas. To be fair this began in September but it really did step up a gear last month.

Naturally, this puts pressure on installers and indeed fabricators to be able to service all this business coming up. Up to press, we are managing well, but we only have a couple of working weeks left to fill per fitting crew and then that’s it for 2017. We’ll be booking into the New Year after that.

From my usual conversations and anecdotal evidence that I pick up, for many our scenario is their scenario. The pre-Christmas dash to get windows and doors installed appears to be in full swing for many. I am already seeing tweets from quite a few installers saying that they are now full for this year and are booking into the New Year. That is great news, if true, and shows that despite recent reports of a slowdown in the industry, there are areas where companies continue to do well and appear to be growing strongly.

In my experience most Novembers are a tad manic, especially as we near the end of the month and manufacturing deadlines start to close in. Home owners begin to rush and become more agitated as more and more get told that they have left it too late and will have to wait until the New Year. Always a fun period for installers. Then December comes and it generally goes very quiet very quickly. I don’t often mind that, it gives me a chance to catch up on other things and start to relax a bit.

Fairly quiet news month

September was perhaps the most busy month in terms of news flow and the magnitude of the stories being played out. October was totally the opposite. No major mergers and acquisitions to speak of. No bankruptcies. It felt like a month where the industry just got it’s head down and did some work.

That being said, there were a few subjects of note to talk about during October. Insight Data released their latest industry report, which although gave us no jaw dropping surprises, did shed some light on some key areas in which the industry was changing very quickly. You can catch up on one of those posts here.

At the start of October the voting lists for the 2017 National Fenestration Awards were announced. It was the biggest one yet, with a record 299 nominations cast. There are too many great people and companies to mention in this post, but if you click here you can go to the NFA page where all the categories, voting lists and voting forms are.

One subject that continued to gain traction throughout the month of October was the guest post published by Colin Torley of the Saveheat Group. He has taken on the subject of heritage glazing and non-compliant IGUs. The issue has grown since the original article was published which you can catch up on here. It’s a serious issue that continues to plague the industry in a big way, perhaps bigger than some people appreciate.

How DGB did

As always, I give you a run down on how this website performed during the past month. Despite a slower news month, DGB still managed to post pretty impressive traffic stats. Take a look at the infographic…

I will be honest, I suffered some pretty major burnout during October. My motivation suffered quite a bit, and I wasn’t always best pleased with the quality of my writing and stories. I also spent the very end of the month in London on a short break, so I took time away from promotion of the site for those few days as well.

Despite that, the site still managed to post pretty impressive growth compared to October of last year. What it has done is propel me to reaching my own yearly targets for the major traffic metrics comfortably before the end of the year. It is likely that I will reach my page views and visitor goals by the end of November, and my unique visitors goal in the last third of December. So one more good solid month of traffic then I’m set.

Top 5 most read posts

This is a list of the top five most read posts published on DGB in October

1. Guest Post: Breaking The Law With Heritage Glazing?

2. Those Out For A Pound Of Flesh

3. Enough Is Enough. Time For Prosecutions

4. The Window Industry Is Getting Smaller In A Lot Of Areas

5. How Long Can 70mm Profiles Dominate?

Looking forward to November

As I mentioned at the start, November should see the traditional mad dash from home owners to get their last minute window and door purchases installed and ready for Christmas. Installers will become stressed. Fabricators will be under increased pressure to eek out every single order by their deadlines. It should be a fun old time.

A ‘hoard’ of PIGS (People in Glazing), gathered at the Pitcher and Piano at Brindley Place in Birmingham recently, for the fourth and final PIGS event of the year, with a total of 39 companies sponsoring the evening’s food and drink

PIGS organiser, Sarah Ball, said: “Birmingham is always our busiest event, but I think this year we drew in more PIGs than ever. We reckon there may have been up to 200 people! It was a really busy evening and it was great to see PIGS, old and new join us for our last event of the year.

“As usual, I would like to give a special thanks to all of our fabulous PIGS Birmingham sponsors. Without your generous sponsorship, PIGS couldn’t happen.

“The next official PIGS event isn’t until March 2018, when we will be returning to Manchester, but we’re looking forward to catching up with all of our G-Award nominated PIGS sponsors at the ceremony in November.”

The post Big PIGS appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

Windows manufacturer, TA Windows, says it has rebranded as Wooden Windows to ‘enhance the brand’s visibility’.

The company was established in 2013 and has reportedly gone from strength to strength, leading the directors to make the decision to rebrand as Wooden Windows.

Director, Mark Winter, commented: “We are a fast-growing company and have recently expanded so we wanted to develop a more customer facing business which is easy to find.

“Wooden windows ‘is what we do’ – essentially we wanted to make a recognisable brand which ‘does what is says on the tin’, as the expression goes.”

According to Wooden Windows, it produces ‘top quality timber windows and doors’ with ‘exceptional’ customer service. Its manufacturing complex is also said to boast the very latest technology.

The rebrand was complemented with a new logo, colour scheme and website, which also showcases the WindowBuilder app.

The post Rebrand for TA Windows appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).