Clearview South December 2013 - Issue 145 | Page 66

CLEARVIEW EXCLUSIVE

2013REVIEW

LEAVING 2013 WITH OPTIMISM,
ENTERING 2014 WITH CONFIDENCE
Exclusive to Clearview and PRO Installer,
CPA Director Jeremy Brett unpicks the
findings from the leading installer support
body’s recent installer barometer.
As a leading installer support body, we wanted
to assess installer confidence regarding the glass
and glazing industry.
To do this we commissioned Insight Data to
carry out an extensive and exclusive barometer
to look at how 2013 is comparing to 2014 for
installers, and to measure expectations for their
businesses and the UK economy going forward.
The report polled over 12,000 installers.
Reality and perception

We also wanted to de-blur the line between
perception and reality. Because the reality is
that a recession doesn’t affect everybody but the
perception has sometimes been that we are in
complete meltdown. Many property owners
have money to spend on home improvements
but have been cautious – their willingness to
spend sometimes affected by confidence and the
mood of the discourse created by government
and the media.

Change

But this is starting to change and more and
more homeowners with money to spend are
doing so – mainly at the higher end and often on
added value products such as bi-folding doors,
composite doors, vertical sliding sash windows
and orangeries for example.
Our findings reflected this increasing optimism
in the home improvement sector. 36.07 per
cent of installers polled said that profit margins
have increased in 2013 compared to 2012; and
a telling 54.10 per cent said that the number of
qualified sales leads they were receiving had also
increased; compared to 14.75 per cent who said
they had reduced.
More retail less commercial

37 per cent said that retail work volumes
had increased in 2013, compared to 2012,
with 13.11 per cent saying it had reduced.
Interestingly 25.42 per cent indicated that
commercial work had reduced in this time
period, against 18.64 per cent that reported it
had increased.
With sales leads increasing significantly and a
slight increase in profit margins and the volume
of retail work, it was interesting to note that for
29.51 per cent of those polled, average order
values had increased, with 54.10 per cent saying
they had stayed the same and 16.39 per cent
saying they had reduced.
This is likely to be underpinned by the growth
of lucrative markets such as bi-folding doors,
residence nine (R9).
Great expectations?

Through the report we were also keen to look
into the crystal ball and nail down expectations
for 2014. The results were revealing.
A substantial 62.50 per cent said that they
expect sales leads to increase with only 5.36 per
cent believing they would reduce. This positivity
was mirrored when the recipients were quizzed

about profit margins – 55.36 per cent said they
expected profits to increase in 2014, compared to
12 per cent who said they would reduce.
Despite this optimism for growth though,
67.86 per cent of installers said that they
expected the number of employees in their
business to remain the same, with 23.21 per cent
saying they expected to employ more people.
This tells us that although the industry is
turning a corner there is still caution over
increasing overheads and overcommitting to
investment at his stage.
Industry positivity

With installers generally positive about their
own businesses – would their expectations for
the industry also reflect this?
It seemed logical that they would and this was
the case. When asked if they expected growth
across the industry to increase or decrease,
54.90 per cent said they expected it to increase,
compared to 9.80 per cent who said it would
reduce.
Interestingly 50.98 per cent indicated that
consumer spending on home improvement
would increase, against a lowly 7.84 per cent
who said it would reduce.
UK economy

The Barometer also looked at installer attitudes
towards the UK economy. As to whether the
overall economy would improve or worsen, 56
per cent said it would improve compared to 14
per cent that felt it would get worse.
Shift in expectations

Compared to pre-recession, there has also
been a shift in expectations from consumers, as
to what influences the buying process. A huge
80 per cent also said that company reputation
has become more important compared to
pre-recession, with 71.11 per cent also saying
that credibility of the sales person was more
important.

66

DEC 2013

To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com