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PRO INSTALLER AUGUST 2015
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Ignore local builders at your peril
Suppliers in the glass and glazing industry are missing a trick by ignoring a huge market
of potential customers, warns Insight Data, the leading data supplier in the industry.
Local builders now account
for a significant proportion
of the windows and doors
that are installed in UK
households, along with a
large slice of the glazed
extension and bespoke
conservatory market. Yet
many suppliers are ignoring
this highly lucrative revenue
stream.
Helen Costeloe-Hughes, Commercial Director at Insight Data,
explains: “The days of builders
buying the odd window or door
for a kitchen extension are history.
Today builders are actively promoting themselves as double glazing installers and general home
improvement specialists. Some of
them are installing as many frames
as traditional window companies.
Their building skills also make
them ideal suppliers for bespoke
glazed extensions and orangeries.”
This development is a potential threat to established window
companies who carry bigger overheads, advertising and sales costs,
but with the explosion of trade
counter outlets opening across
the UK, the local builder can no
longer be ignored – and there are
twice as many of them as existing
window installers.
work. The database outlines the
type of projects carried out by
builders – such as windows/doors,
extensions and new-build, and
provides key contact details.
Helen comments: “Builders have
always flown under the radar and
suppliers have found it difficult
to target them. But all this has
changed with the Insight Local
‘Trade counters can provide a much
larger range of products than dealing
direct with a single fabricator, so builders
can offer consumers greater choice,
lower prices and a personal service’
Over the last three years, Insight
Data has developed the only comprehensive database of local builders in the UK, with over 23,000
firms active in general building
Builders database. Three years of
in-depth research means we have
contact names, phone numbers –
including mobiles, and over 16,000
verified email addresses.”
‘Builder installers’, as Insight Data
describes them, are being fueled
by the growth of trade counters
and they can now supply the same
range and quality of products
previously only available from established window companies.
“In fact, many builders can offer
a better proposition to homeowners. Trade counters can provide
a much larger range of products
than dealing direct with a single
fabricator, so builders can offer
consumers greater choice, lower
prices and a personal service”,
adds Helen.
With 23,000 builder installers –
compared to just 12,500 traditional
window companies, it’s no surprise
many suppliers are already taking
advantage of this growing market.
Insight Data provides six co