The First Smile in December

The reason for the photo is, my daughter took it, and said it’s nice to see you smiling Daddy she’s only four and said I had been grumpy. It’s a tough time for all double glazing guys out there at the moment, but Greenway are way ahead of last year an fingers crossed we are looking really strong for the next year.
In fact I think I’ll do a post on the past year a blow by blow of the ups and downs of the last year.
Any way enough waffle for me I was just so delighted to have January full I thought I’d write about it. So if you are looking for any Windows, doors or a conservatory give me a call I can’t do anything in January but I’ll make it worth your while to wait until February..

Since we’ve been back we’ve been flat out don’t get me wrong conservatory leads haven’t been that buoyant but even those leads are starting to kick back in now, but windows and doors have replaced the conservatories and Fascia well I used to fit a couple of metres a month now I’m starting to think I need a seperate fitting team just doing fascia as it’s starting to effect my winodw fit… anyway back to my point I’ll copy across the story for you to read…. anyway onwards and upwards as they say and here’s to the continuing trend and long may it continue…

“The state of the housing market is causing people to spend increasing amounts on home improvements, according to Sainsbury’s Finance. It estimates that in 2008, around 425,000 personal loans worth over £4 billion were taken out purely to pay for home improvements. This represents a 24% increase in the quantity of loans taken out for this purpose in 2007, and a 22% increase in the total value of loans.

In total £11.3 billion worth of loans were taken out partially or wholly to cover home improvements during 2008, spread across more than 1.1 million loans(2). This is 53% more loans than were taken out partially or wholly for home improvements during 2007(1).

Steven Baillie, Head of Loans at Sainsbury’s said: “It is well-documented that the housing market struggled last year, and our figures might suggest that people have decided to stay put and make the most of their existing homes. It may also suggest however that they’re trying to add value to their current homes in order to get a better price for them when the property market recovers.

“If people do decide that they need a loan to pay for their home improvements, they should make sure they look around for the best rates on the market, which could save them a considerable amount in repayments.”     ”

Source: The Money Pages

So there we have it great news for all home improvement companies it looks like we could be in for a good year (touch wood) at least it’s started off well…..

On the initial meeting, these guys were a breath of fresh air for what I perceived as a stagnant industry slowly fading into insignificance and then bang Matthew and Andrew opened my eyes to how double glazing companies should be run. They were honest and open telling me everything I needed to do to be succesful. At that time I wasn’t in the driving seat of the company and so some of the ideas we took on board others were left.

Now I’ve taken over the company and I’ve started to model everything we do around their template, I don’t buy my windows from them at present but still I am in regular contact with them and they still give me advice, not exactly what you would expect in this cut throat market.

So for my first interview on this blog I wanted to ask Matthew a few questions. (Matthew’s the one in the white shirt.)

When and how did you start West Yorkshire Windows?

Hi Andrew, thank you for asking me for your first interview.  This is a real privilege.

I started West Yorkshire Windows back in February 1994 with my brother Andrew.  We’d both been working for our uncle in the factory making windows, and it was clear the business was not doing very well.  So we asked our uncle if it was OK to have a phone installed on the factory floor for our own little business.  We put £100 each into a new company bank account, and placed a newspaper advert in the Pontefract and Castleford Express, and we were off trading.

Soon after, our Uncle’s business folded, so we were on our own.  For the first few months we traded as ‘Windows’R’Us’ which is clearly a bad name, so we soon changed the name to West Yorkshire Windows.  Our Uncle Jack came to work for us and started doing the selling, and Andrew and I did all the fitting, organising etc.

The business has grown organically ever since those very early years.

How do you find working with your brother?

Andrew and I are very different personalities.  I always liked to say that we had a good boss/bad boss thing going on.  I’d hire people and he’d fire them.  These days I’ve toughened up a bit, and don’t always leave the tough decisions to him.

As we’re so different we complement each other I think.  I consider him to be my best friend, and although we have big arguments at times, we soon forget about them and get on with running our business together.

What was the main reason you started Conservatory Outlet?

Conservatory Outlet is our manufacturing business which we started around 6 years ago, mainly because the company we were buying frames from at the time went bust!  When your main supplier goes bust it makes you realise you need control, so we quickly invested in machinery, found the staff and started fabricating our own.

How did you come up with the idea?

The Conservatory Outlet concept has developed since the early days of just manufacturing for West Yorkshire Windows (our retail arm).  We developed our first major trade customer about 4 years ago – Orion Windows.  We decided to do joint advertising, and as we both had different names, it made sense to create an umbrella brand which sits over the two companies, and Conservatory Outlet was born.

We then started bringing on board other Conservatory Outlet dealers in other parts of the country.  Basically we try our best to offer our dealers more marketing support, assistance with websites, lead generation, business advice and so on, than any other trade fabricator.

Where do you feel Conservatory Outlet can sit in the market?

I think Conservatory Outlet can become a national brand, with dealers throughout the UK.  At the moment, we’re strong in the north of England, and we’re gradually moving southwards.  But there’s large sections of the UK we still need to develop such as South Wales!

What do you feel Conservatory Outlet offers that no other fabricator can?

Where do I start?  Well here’s just a few things we can offer a dealer, which most other fabricators don’t offer:

·        Conservatory brochures

·        Window brochures

·        Door brochures

·        A great website tailored to the dealer like www.visualpvc.co.uk

·        Leads supplied on an FOC basis from our main website www.conservatoryOutlet.co.uk.

·        Our unique 123 guarantee

·        Sales seminars

·        Online ordering of frames

·        Improved purchasing power for dealers

·        Quality frames and regular deliveries

One of your companies was mentioned in the most 30 influential companies in the u.k. how did that make you feel?

Well, it was Andrew that was positioned as the 20^th most influential person in the industry.  I’m really pleased for him, as it is confirmation from people in our industry that the work Andrew and I are putting into West Yorkshire Windows and Conservatory Outlet is being noticed.

I have spoken with the editor of Window Industries magazine since I created a tongue-in-cheek post on my Renegade Conservatory Guy website – Overlooked in the Window Industries 30 Most Influential.  He apologised for me not being included, but I explained it was all a bit of fun, and that I hope RCG can make it to the list next year!

What are the Conservatory Outlet plans for the future?

Trade profitably.  Grow steady.  Be choosey about the companies we take on board.  Have Fun.

If you had to give advice for a new start up company what would it be?

I would recommend that anyone starting up a new business needs to understand that they’re not going to make millions within a few years.  Well, it’s unlikely!  Be prepared for lots and lots of hard work, as success doesn’t happen on its own.  Do some research first, and make sure there is market that can be developed.

Also, keep your eye on the business all the time.  By that I mean have a business plan and try to stick to it.  Understand the importance of budgeting and financial forecasting – I’m still learning all this after 15 years of trading!

One final question, what do you feel the future holds for the double glazing and conservatory industry?

Good question.  I’d love to know the answer to this myself!  The latest projections are that the market has shrunk 15-20% this year, and is likely to shrink again next year by a similar amount.  So, you have to expect that the next 12-18 months are going to be tough.

I hope the medium to long term future is better than the short term prospects.  There are some positive things to bear in mind.  For the conservatory market, there are still plenty of people that would like to have one installed to their home.  For the uPVC window market, the push for better energy efficiency should encourage increasing numbers of people to renew first generation uPVC windows.

Whatever direction the industry goes, there are still major opportunities for those who work hard, innovate and do things in the right way.  Because as companies fall by the way side, this leaves the stronger companies to take advantage.  And, I’m sure Greenway Home Improvements has a very promising future with you in charge Andrew!