Clearview National November 2014 - Issue 156 | Page 92

BUSINESSNEWS Why is the Fenestration industry on the decline? In recent months, a number of fenestration industry media forums have seen the comments of an industry critic repeatedly call for a complete overhaul of the Fenestration industry. »»When posing questions to the individual to substantiate their view and comments, they were unable to validate or give factual evidence to back up their opinion. In fairness to the individual and the comments made, generally the industry has seen a reduction in the number of businesses and may no longer have the volume of manufactures and providers of the late noughties. However, what the industry has seen is the growth of leaner and stronger businesses, more able to face the tough market conditions today’s market throws at them. When the austerity period bit, the industry saw larger house building companies go into administration because of the downturn in houses being provided to local authorities and housing associations. This, in turn, left a number of window suppliers, fascia and soffit installers with surplus labour and not enough work. Some larger fabricators were also affected resulting in re-organisation of workforces and large scale redundancies. Some of the industry’s more organised companies took stock and realigned their businesses, diversifying into other sectors, away from the social housing market. Primarily aiming at the trade and domestic markets, the industry started to see the emergence of smaller installation companies. This suited the larger fabricators as they could use the sub-contracted labour without having to invest financially in additional resource and transport. Another positive to come out of the down-turn in social housing requirements was the emergence of repair and maintenance companies. The government started to issue contracts out for public sector repairs to these type of companies, which in-turn saw a opening for many of the industry displaced window fabricators. With a strong grounding of working for larger fabricators, the recently set up smaller window companies began to compete with the larger fabricators and price-matched their product offering and became more competitive on lead times, deliveries and installation. Companies started to challenge their employees and the need to multi-task in their roles and many gained additional skills through training businesses, specifically set-up to support the requirements of the industry. The Fenestration industry has been amongst the last to see improvements in the journey to return the market back to normal and during the quiet times companies have been able to take advantage and invest in the development of new products across all sectors. Bi-folding and composite doors, orangeries, solar energy and the advancements in PVCu and aluminium profile systems have all contributed to the growth of the market. Companies have also become much more customer focused during the recession period and have again invested in processes and resources to help support the up-rising of the more savvy consumer. The introduction of new glass legislations has recently seen a growing number of companies produce their own sealed glass units to accompany their fabricated frames. Yes, the industry is smaller than it once was and in some people’s opinion, this is for the better. With the housing market seeing year on year improvements this can only lead to the conclusion that we are now in full flow of recovery and a more professional and well groomed group of fenestration organisations are rising. www.clearview-uk.com 92 » N OV 2014 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M