Two polls have closed recently on DGB, the Composite Door Cost poll and the Fabricator lead time poll. Click on the links to find out how they went and the results they produced.

However one area I have been hot on this year is bi-fold doors and fabricators’ apparent race to the bottom on the pricing front. Month after month I have seen promotional material advertising both PVC and aluminium bi-folding doors at lower and lower prices. I cannot help thinking that this particular part of the industry is now out of control and probably now unable to stabilise itself and stop the rife undercutting.

Still, this seems like as good a time as ever to ask what you, the DGB readers think a good quality PVC and aluminium bi-folding door should cost.

The poll

Now, before you go ahead and click to place your votes, please read this…

For this poll, I want you to base your answers on a bi-folding door that is four section, outward sliding, 3.6m wide by 2.1m high. Why 3.6m wide? Because a lot of PVCu bi-fold door sashes have a maximum width of 900mm. In aluminium you can go to 1000mm wide, but 900mm seems like a good average.

The poll is also to find out what both bi-folds should cost the home owner, and not what it costs from fabricators to installers.

Right, now you’ve read that, go ahead and vote:

Naturally, I expect the cost of aluminium bi-folding doors to be quite a lot more expensive than their PVC counterparts. How much that gap will turn out to be, we’ll find out once there is enough votes on both polls to close them.

I hope that the results will demonstrate if some of the recent undercutting and price cuts have started to have effects on the overall retail price to home owners.

The bi-fold door was supposed to be a premium, high-end product that fabricators and installers could sell with a decent margin. Instead, as is often the case with our sector, we ruin a good thing and it wasn’t long until the price crashers got on the bandwagon, lowering the bar and quality too.

Still, demand from home owners for bi-fold doors is still strong, despite our garbage weather, and whilst there is strong demand there will always be strong competition. We just have to remember the very golden rule that profit is king, and we all have to make it.

Long term, I do wonder where the bi-fold market is headed. Could aluminium bi-folds force PVC versions out with superior quality and consumer demand. Or will PVC bi-folds stick around and be the more cost effective option for those home owners whose budget might not stretch to aluminium money? Of course all thoughts and points of view are welcome on this topic via the comments section below.

To get weekly updates from DGB sent to your inbox, enter your email address in the space below to subscribe: