Appearance and security
A new national consumer poll by super-fabricator Sierra has revealled appearance and security are the single most important factors for homeowners when buying new windows and doors.
The survey of almost 1,000 households found broadly that appearance, security and then price, were the single biggest priorities for home owners when buying new windows and doors followed by energy efficiency.
This was reflected in the 30-45 year old category where 28% of respondents cited security as the single biggest purchasing driver followed by appearance (25%), price (23%) and energy efficiency (21%).
Finance and low maintenance qualities were listed by the remaining 3% of respondents as the major influences on their purchasing decisions. This proved an anomaly as 56% of respondents overall cited PVC-U as their preferred material choice for its low maintenance qualities over timber (28%), aluminium (10%) and steel (5%).
The survey also found that 23% of respondents in this age grouping said that they were currently actively considering the replacement of their existing windows and doors.
In the 45-60 age category 27% of respondents said that they were considering replacing windows and doors. While security still came top, energy efficiency took on increased importance, cited as the most important feature that they looked for by 25% of respondents. Low maintenance qualities also taking on more importance for this grouping. Respondents aged 60 and over listing similar drivers.
Brian Webb, divisional sales and marketing director, at Sierra parent, Epwin Group Building Products Division said: “The findings suggest that energy efficiency still isn’t quite striking the chord with consumers that you might expect it to given the significant investment that we have seen from the BFRC and the Window Energy Ratings Campaign.
“What will be interesting is how the governmental push, the Green Deal and significant increases in energy prices will impact on households’ awareness of the energy efficiency agenda in the next few months going into the winter. My money would be on far greater consumer awareness of energy efficiency by spring.”
