Q1 of 2024 is proving to be a tough one for parts of the sector, as Prime Glazing Supplies in Bolton files for administration.
A fabricator of PVCu and aluminium products, the company had set up a distinctive brand with a number of ranges monikered under the “Prime” name. They become the latest in a string of companies that have found trading conditions tough.
Tough trading conditions
This is the notice filed on The Gazette on March 1st 2024:
Prime Glazing Supplies notice posted on The Gazette
View the full notice for Prime Glazing Supplies here: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4567796
If you take a closer look at The Gazette and search for fenestration related terms like “windows”, “glazing” and “doors”, you’ll notice that has been a noticeable uptick in companies filing for administration.
It does feel like in certain areas things are quieter than the industry would like to admit. Perhaps Q1 has been sleepier than the industry might have hoped for at the start of the year.
Using some anecdotal evidence, we had a delivery from our supplier of half a dozen PVCu frames (aluminium is taking up a lot of our sales at the moment) and our driver said that we were the busiest drop of the day. Eye raising to say the least. We have also been advertising for an additional installer position, with existing installers phoning to express their interest and saying that where they were working at the moment was “dead”. Local competition have resorted to severe discounting in order to generate interest.
It’s all local sentiment of course and things in other parts of the country could be very different, but it does feel to me that trading conditions remain very difficult.
Time to diversify
I strongly maintain that diversifying your business, aiming for the more affluent part of the market is a positive route to take when things are tough. The UK is in a recession, even if it is a “mild” one. The industry is clearly going through continued consolidation and that may continue throughout the year.
Simply hoping that things will turn around is not a plan. That is negligence. It’s time to dig in, do the work and change and update your business, whether you’re an installer or fabricator, and look at new ways to bring in new money. There are always opportunities out there, but they are not going to walk through the door and make it easy for you.
Around two years ago myself and my dad sat down and looked at the situation that was coming. We knew inflation was rising and going to rise for a while. We knew there was going to be a cost of living crisis coming. We knew that the boom was over and that if we wanted to continue to grow and remain stable we had to look at other avenues.
We chose aluminium. We could see the massive growth happening in the residential part of that market and invested in two brand new showrooms to display Origin and Spitfire products. I updated our website and stepped up our social media efforts. It was a lot of work and a lot of money. These things don’t come easy and you have to have a vision. The showrooms were completed a couple of months later than planned but we got there. That decision to spend what we did and change the direction of our business paid off. We have a fitting schedule that now stretches into June and we are working with a client base that keeps us excited as well as being able to work in some amazing homes.
If 2024 is going to be like 2023, there is no time to wait. It’s time to get into recession mode and graft.
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