Pro Installer November 2016 - Issue 44 | Page 35

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PRO INSTALLER NOVEMBER 2016

PRO NEWS

@proinstaller1

A dream Hampshire self-build
Etienne Patterson had a
number of aims when he set
about building a dream home
for himself and a matching home for his parents in
rural Hampshire - everything
had to be cost effective to
install, run and maintain as
well as complementing the
pastoral setting.
So he chose the Modus system of
doors and windows from Eurocell
for both houses.
Both two-storey homes are
equipped with 49 triple-glazed
Modus Casement windows and
nine French doors, residential
doors and stable doors, all finished in agate grey externally and

white woodgrain internally. It is
important to Etienne that every
element looks as if it is timber but
with the unrestricted sightlines of
metal and the best-in-class technical performance of PVCu.
The two houses are on the site of
what was a 1950s bungalow set in
an acre of land.
“Everything had to be cost effective to run and maintain – I don’t
want to be climbing ladders to
paint windows in ten years’ time –
and energy costs have to be low,”
Etienne said.
He looked at many different door
and window systems before selecting the Modus range, commenting:
“This type of house is not intended to have PVCu, but is meant to
be fitted with external doors and
windows made of more expensive
materials, either all timber, composite or metal.”
He added: “Particularly important
was the fact Modus doesn’t have

the clumsy welds that many PVCu
systems have and has the elegance
and simplicity to fit in and enhance the design of the houses.”
The houses – a four-bedroom
home for himself and a three-bedroom home for the Patterson parents – are a hybrid of two building
methods, oak frame with timber
frame encapsulation, with externally a combination of render,
brick slips and weatherboarding.
The insulation overlaying a skeleton of oak offers a contemporary
take on a traditional design.
The slim framed design of Modus casement windows matched
the overall aesthetic of the two
houses and the opening windows
are indistinguishable from the
non-opening ones, so the appearance is uniform.
“The casement design means
the window can have a floating
mullion, so the first floor windows
work like a patio door. All four
bedrooms have units in a line
arranged so that the left-hand or
right-hand pair can be opened together to provide a massive escape
route,” said Etienne, who happens
to be an incident commander in
the fire and rescue service.
The BBA concluded that the
PVCu extruded profiles would
continue to function satisfactorily
for more than 35 years and that
the thermal transmittance value or
U-value of the three ranges was
1.2 W/m² using 4/20/4 mm sealed
double-glazed units.

Rising from a low installed base,
bi-fold demand has increased
sharply in recent years driven
strongly by significant growth
in the home improvement market – both new extensions and
replacement - and changing tastes
in favour of opening up the home
and garden area.

So-called ‘click fraud’ is an
online problem which can
be particularly damaging
to locksmith businesses,
according to Essex-based
company Click Guardian.

The company, run by Roy Dovaston, detects click fraud and offers
an automated solution to stop it.
Click fraud is when someone –
usually a competitor to a business
- clicks on that business’s pay
per click adverts in an attempt to
inflate its advertising spend.
It means the business’s daily
budget cap can be reached quicker. The result is that ads will stop
being displayed or they will start
to fluctuate throughout the scheduled advertising period that day.
Roy Dovaston said: “Google AdWords changed online marketing
forever. Now 16 years later it is an
integral part of many locksmiths’
marketing activities. It’s highly
likely that locksmiths are already
aware of the problem of click
fraud and outsource dealing with
it to third party cyber-security
© AMA Research Ltd 2016
companies.”
www.eurocell.co.uk
While the added expense of
being subject to click fraud is bad
news for any advertiser, Roy says
it’s particularly damaging to locksmith businesses who are heavily
reliant on AdWords to generate
7% growth per annum expected in the UK Bi-fold doors market
inbound calls. He added: “Being
despite Brexit fears
subject to an attack can be very
frustrating and financially damagOctober 2016 – Cheltenham, UK
The report ‘Bi-fold Doors
ing which is why many locksmiths
In 2015, the UK market for bi-fold doors
Market Report - UK 2016are
a proactive
approach
wastaking
estimated
to have grown
by 12%,
according
to
a
new
report
by AMA
2020 Analysis,’ said: “The
and adding an extra layer
of seResearch, with similar growth expected
supply structure remain s
curity.”
for 2016. Rising from a low installed
base,
bi-fold demand
increased
complex and fragmented,
Roy explained:
“Inhas
some
cases,
sharply in recent years driven strongly
but increasingly competitive,
competitors
click
on
ads
as
a form
by significant growth in the home
improvement
market
– both
as many window and door
of
research but
there
was new
growing
extensions and replacement -and
companies now offer bi-fold
concern
clients
that up
changing among
tastes inour
favour
of opening
the home
doors. A number of compathere
wasand
an garden
aspect area.
of malicious
£70m
at
nies that originally focused on The bi-fold doors market is a relatively new and expanding
clicking. sector,
So we worth
took over
it upon
ourmanufacturers prices – and much higher in terms of installed value.
single materials – e.g. aluminium,
doors have also seen wider distriselves to do something to show
As indicated above, a key driver of market growth has been consumer interest in bi-folds
PVCu or timber – have extended – withbution
generally
in recent
years,
taking
these
reports
the residential
market
accounting
for over we
50%were
of sales
- while
suppliers
have contributed
to the DIY/
growth of theseriously.
market through new developments in
product ranges to include alterna-themselves
particularly
through retail
frame materials, styles, colours and features. In terms of product mix, exterior bi-folds
tive material products in order to dominate
home
built a basic
systheimprovement
sector by both multiples
volume andand
value due“We
to residential
use – monitoring
although
interior bifold doors account for a significant
sharewe
of the
market.
widen channel exposure. Bi-fold commercial
online.”
tem which
tested
on a handful

FURTHER GROWTH
EXPECTED IN BI-FOLDS
The UK market for bi-fold
doors in 2015 was estimated to have grown by 12%,
according to a new report by
AMA Research, and similar
growth is expected for 2016.

Locksmiths fight click fraud

PRESS RELEASE

AMA’s report assesses the market by frame material and, while aluminium is the dominant
frame material, timber accounts for around 20% of the market. Overall, the trend for
maximising natural light has resulted in increased glazing used for entrance and patio
doors and internal doors. Home extensions are a key market – with around 200,000

of clients who expressed initial
concerns and this confirmed that a
problem existed.”
Over the next six months Click
Guardian developed a system
which would be able to monitor
and automate blocking when click
fraud was detected. This fully
automated system was released
publically in January 2015 and has
since been revised many times to
improve functionality.

LOCKSMITHS SAY:
Who: Matthew Potter
Company: AE Locksmiths
Click Fraud Blocks: 735
Coverage: Merseyside & Cheshire
“Click Guardian was very easy to
setup and has been an effective
tool which has saved us thousands of pounds over the time
we’ve been using them. We need
to be able to trust our advertising
budget is not being clicked away
by the competition.”
Who: Rob Jackson
Company: 1st Call Locksmith
Click Fraud Blocks: 269
Coverage: London
“I found out about Click Guardian from a competitor who had
also experienced a click fraud
attack. At first I was sceptical as I
was conscious that Google have
a system of their own, but the
added functionality and control
that I now have means I can stop
click fraud very quickly before it
mounts up to a serious problem.”
www.clickguardian.co.uk