Dear Fabricators, There Is A Major Problem And It Needs Sorting Immediately

I spent most of Wednesday evening talking over with industry friends new and old about the current state of fabrication. I was contacted by a new industry professional in the evening, who explained to me the long extent of their problems they have had with their fabricator and other suppliers. Although I felt very sorry for their situation, I was not surprised. It just added to the growing list of installers contacting me to tell me about the plethora of problems they’re having from their suppliers.

And it’s across the biggest parts of the industry, namely PVCu and aluminium. For many months installers of all kinds have been talking to me about the frankly shocking levels of quality and customer service they have been getting from their suppliers and fabricators.

In fairness to those installers who have talked to me, they’re not wanting to threaten to leave or actually get up and go. The general tone is that they just want their suppliers to deliver their windows and doors in good condition, on time, and to be backed up by good customer service. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask. Yet, I fear the situation is quickly getting out of control in a lot of places.

Don’t bury heads

I do get the sense that perhaps the fabricating sector doesn’t quite understand the pressures installers are under right now. Home owners are already becoming more and more demanding and unreasonable year after year. So this is when fabricators have to be on the money with their products to give their installers a fighting chance when it comes to installation time.

But for so many that service and product quality is not there. As I work for my installation company, I can tell all fabricators who are reading this that when a home owner sees damage to their product, or we have to tell them that we have to delay installation because our delivery was late, it is deeply frustrating for the home owner. We as installers get it at the sharp end, far more than fabricators do. I suspect that if reps from fabricators were to spend a week or two tagging along with installers and really understood the pressures and problems that poor products bring then perspectives would be changed.

What myself and most installers don’t want to see is suppliers burying their heads hoping that things will work out and the problems will just go away on their own. They won’t, and with plenty of places understaffed, over worked and drowning in new products, we’re going to find that the problems we all have at this present time are going to get much worse, much quicker, as we head into the busier summer months.

Whilst I guess most fabricators reading this will like to think they’re on top of whatever issues are ongoing, I would counter that and say that with the wide installer connections I have on here and on social media, the general feeling is that the general state of fabrication is dire, and things are getting worse. I would urge everyone supplying installers not to bury heads, identify the problems and get to work on fixing them. Quickly.

Worst I’ve seen it

I don’t always like to be negative, as hard as that may be to believe for some readers, but in the 12 years I have been involved in the window and door industry this is the worst I have seen fabrication in this sector. By a mile.

The sorts of conversations with installers about product quality, customer service and other issues were just not conversations I ever had when I fist started on here and on social media. Yet, I would say in the past 18 months or so, the tone around fabrication has fallen off a cliff. Obviously not every fabricator is poor, there will be some good ones out there. But the general tone of the commentary at the moment is so negative that these appear to be few and far between.

I know I am not the only one who thinks this is the worst they have seen it. I am getting similar comments from those who have been in this industry much longer than I have and they have said they just never had problems back then with suppliers like they do now.

I put the slump in form down to a multitude of reasons. Fabricators in a rush to diversify and differentiate themselves from their competition have flooded the market and their own shop floors to the point where there is far too much choice and all clear lines between products have now blurred into one big indecipherable mess. Chaos if you’re a fabricator. I also believe we’re well below staffing levels than that of pre-recession years, yet we’re doing more work and providing lots more options in comparison. You can’t ask less people to do more complicated work in the same amount of time and expect things to be rosey. Lastly, a skills shortage. Not necessarily a problem fabricators can control, but nonetheless an issue that is only combining the bigger problems at large.

For me, fabricators need to do a couple of things. Firstly, streamline their product offerings. Take off the shelf all the product items and options that rarely sell. If they rarely sell I’d say you probably don’t need them. It’s just another product that you’ll need to know how to make, you’ll need marketing support for it, product knowledge etc. Like clothes, if you haven’t worn them in a while, get rid. Trust me, it’s simpler. Secondly, hire more staff. If you’re missing targets, products are having to be remade, your deliveries are running late and installers are complaining, it’s probably because you can’t cope with the amount of work with the staff you have. Either hire more staff or downsize your product offering.

I would also urge fabricators to send reps to installers to spend some time with them. Learn how their businesses work. Look at how they have to deal with home owners. See what happens when a product is delivered late or is in poor condition. Then perhaps fabricators would then properly understand the stresses installers are under.

I also want to urge industry leaders to get involved and comment on this. When it comes to influence and the ability to change things, those at the top probably have the best chance of enacting change. I know I won’t be winning many friends in the fabricator community with this post, but if you take a wider look at the landscape at the moment and the low morale of installers at the moment, there is a crisis that is getting worse and with no end in sight for many.

From where I am sat, things are quickly spiralling out of control and getting worse. It’s installers and home owners at the sharp end who get the worst of the stresses from it all. At the moment, I would say that there is a growing number of installers who might be considering whether to pack up and leave the industry altogether. That is how bad some of the conversations have been with installers in recent weeks.

As always, comments and feedback are very welcome on this topic and others via the section below.