4
DECEMBER 2013 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
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…
Reality and
perception
Jeremy Brett
Six years is a relatively
long time, especially
for a country in recession. Which is why it is
good news that there
seems to be some optimism surrounding the
UK economy at last and
that growth looks set
to return in 2014.
As a leading installer
support body, we wanted to
assess this confidence from
the narrower perspective
of the glass and glazing
industry. To do this we commissioned Insight Data to
carry out an extensive and
exclusive barometer to assess how 2013 is comparing
to 2014 for installers, and
to measure installer expectations for their business
and the UK economy going
forward.
The report polled over
12,000 installers with 97.98
per cent of respondents
operating solely in the retail
and domestic sector, and
13.33 per cent also carrying
out commercial work.
More retail less
commercial
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.
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) and other added value products that are
popular with higher earning
property owners.
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.
Great expectations?
Industry positivity
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.
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