Skills retention tops the list of
installer fears – survey
12th March 2019

Retention of skilled workers, reliability of composite doors and yet more Brexit uncertainty have come top in a poll of the biggest concerns among installers.

The survey, by Sliders UK, found that 86% cited retention of skilled labour as a major concern and a 67% said that they believed consumer confidence had been eroded by continuing confusion and the lack of clarity surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU.

While composite door sales were seen by most as a growth area, 78% of respondents said that they had encountered issues in reliability of supply in the last year, with the same number  citing bowing of composite doors as a problem.

Those polled said that they believed increased sales of aluminium products would continue, with all of those responding saying that they supplied at least one aluminium bi-folding door system and a further 40% said that they had added an aluminium sliding door to their offer in the last year.

Steve Mines, Sales Director of Sliders UK said: “When we spoke to installers we found that everyone saw composite doors as a growth area but there was a real frustration with reliability of supply and bowing.

“We were told that this had been a particular problem with the higher temperatures seen last summer, which had generated a large number of call-backs on composite door installations.

“Going forward, while there remained a level of concern about the continuing impact of Brexit on consumer confidence, there was a general level of optimism about growing demand for aluminium products, with bi-folding doors continuing to perform strongly in the last year.”

He added that the company’s own offering, the Ultimate Composite Door, launched at the beginning of last year has been designed to address this problem, with a maximum guaranteed bowing tolerance of 3mm compared, he said, to the 8mm of some other composite systems.

www.sliders-uk.com