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Archive for the ‘Blog Stories’ Category

Will people please stop hassling me

Friday, March 5th, 2010

I’m finding these days that people from our industry are increasingly asking me to mention their products on this website, and to be honest it’s getting on my nerves.

My friend Jon Twigge, from RPS, is the latest person to try it on with me.  He sent me the following email:

Good morning,

Do you think u could make a renegade story out of this?

We are starting a drawing service for people who want single conservatory drawings done – maybe be they don’t want to commit to buying straight away, scared of computers or perhaps too hard up to shell out for the software.

What do you think?

Thanks,

jon

Well this is what Jon was wanting me to comment on:

Given how tough the commercial climate is at present, we’ve been thinking of ways to help you.

We are frequently asked to produce drawings for customers, which is something we didn’t do (until now!).

So, to help you win more business, we’ve created the RoofWright Drawing Service.

Not Yet a RoofWright User?

Don’t worry – if you don’t already use RoofWright, then try this – it’s inexpensive and will give you a taste of the quality of drawings from the World’s Favorite Conservatory Software.

Try it here:

http://www.roofwright.com/drawingservice/trade.htm

Existing Users

If you’re already a valued RoofWright user, this service could help you save time – and we might be able to get you out of a tight spot!

Full details are at:

http://www.roofwright.com/drawingservice/trade.htm

Well, Jon, I don’t think my readers like being sold to in this way. I appreciate it might be an exciting new development at your company, but it doesn’t mean you can take advantage of our friendship and my good nature.

Got it?!?

PS. Great idea though ;-)

Oh no! I’m growing a Mo!

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Not long now, and I will start growing a moustache. I’ve joined the Mushbashers team as part of Movember along with a few others from the industry.

There is still room for other Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to join in this weekend, and with all that moustache growth we can…

‘Change the Face of Men’s health!’

To donate to me, the Mushbashers team, or even join in then you can do so at:

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/22901

I’ll certainly by updating with weekly pictures of my progress…

The world’s strongest windows?

Friday, October 30th, 2009

The Integrity® New Product Development Lab has just released five top-secret test videos: Footage that shows Ultrex® — the essential material in Integrity windows and doors — surviving the most demanding (and unusual) conditions imaginable including a test to demonstrate just how strong it is.

Guest post by David Bingham of ConservatoryLand

Donkey for Sale (will consider part exchange for mountain bike)

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

I’ve decided to put the donkey we recently purchased back up for sale.

bungle

Name: Bungle
Specification: Brown/Grey/White in Colour. 6 years old. 8″ ears. Likes rolling around in mud and rubbing its bottom on fences. Doesn’t always do what it’s asked to. Makes a loud ‘Ee-Aw’ sound every morning at around 7.00am. Eats most things including grass, trees, shrubs in the garden, children’s toys. In good condition. FSH.

We paid around £500 for the donkey a few weeks ago, and I’m keen to get as close to this figure as possible.

I will consider a part exchange for a mountain bike as I enjoyed a recent trip to Dalby Forest, and am keen to get some exercise in before I take part in Cycle India in January. Ideally, I’m looking for a bike with front and back suspension.

If you have any questions or would like to make me an offer please leave your messages below.

(PS. My wife doesn’t know the donkey is being sold, so please don’t mention this to her if you are likely to see her).

Alliance of Professional Window Fabricators

Monday, October 26th, 2009

I noticed the letter from John Ogilvie of Network Veka on the Fenestration News website today about the Alliance of Professional Window Fabricators (APWF). He pretty much summed up my initial thoughts:

“Alliance. As I have often said, anything that helps to bring structure to this industry is always to be encouraged.

What concerns us however is the group’s apparent shyness about its own infrastructure. Unless they all met by chance like ‘Strangers on a Train,’ can we assume they are bonded by some common factor and, if so, do they have some reason not to share this with us?”

According to the latest APWF press release:

“A new trade alliance of window fabricators has been established. To date a group of nine select companies have formed an alliance whose main purpose is to become THE voice of the fabricator and to introduce professional standards to their industry in both the fabrication of products and business practices.”

My thoughts are that this is quite a wide remit, and if the structure of this organisation is made up of volunteers from the nine member companies then they’re going to struggle to implement such professional standards to the industry. I find it difficult to believe that this new organisation (whose goal is to have 30-40 companies on board) is going to be able to challenge the GGF and BPF in representing the interests of the industry as a whole. I haven’t really shouted about it on this blog very much, but recently our company joined the GGF and I have been surprised at the amount of work going on in the background that previously I was unaware of.

I assume the main reason for the establishment of this organisation is for the members to work together when negotiating with suppliers. This is something that I have discussed with other fabricators in the past, but it will be a delicate concept to pull together with company owners being reluctant to share information. Then you have larger fabricators grumbling if smaller fabricators are achieving the same rates etc etc.

But, having not met the individuals concerned it is hard to say whether this organisation will come to anything and it will be interesting to see how things develop.

The website is a bit lacking on information at this stage, but can be viewed at http://www.apwf.co.uk/

Still loads of double glazing bankruptcies

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

A couple of months ago I included information on the site about the increase in business failures in our industry. The Double Glazing Forum website has now added August and September data from the London Gazette for companies ceasing trading from our industry.

It’s not good news, and if you compare with August and September of last year, it doesn’t bode well for the coming months:

double-glazing-bust

In both August and September there are names on the list that were very familiar to me and that I was unaware had gone bust (although, they may still be trading unfortunately).

If you think back to August and September of last year with all the news in the press you would have imagined that the world was coming to an end, yet according to the Double Glazing Forum only 94 companies ceased trading. In comparison, the market seems far more buoyant now with more positive spin in both the national media and trade media, yet in August and September this year 409 companies have gone bust. That’s more than four times the amount of business failures!

Assuming the information on this website is correct (and I have no reason to doubt that it isn’t), it seems there is some sort of lag between an economic downturn, and business failures. If this trend were to continue then the natural peak for bankruptcies in our industry over the winter period could be at unprecedented levels.

But, if this has got you all depressed, don’t worry. At least we aren’t these people!

I’m not closing this website. In fact, I’m going to make it better!

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

I was a bit stressed out when I wrote my previous post, and probably didn’t get across how much I enjoy having this blog. It does take up far too much of my time, but if I enjoy it why should I pack it all in on a whim. The results of the poll, the comments posted on this site, the emails I received from people and the encouragement from various people at last night’s G09 awards, has convinced me NOT to close down this site.

Renegade Conservatory Guy is a growing website and has had its highest number of visitors in September:

rcgyear2

It’s clear that there’s a few things I’m doing well, but there are changes that need making. I need to take the pressure off myself to keep adding content and try ensuring that the stuff I add is of a better quality.

I prefer to add a mix of humour and serious stuff, but I maybe need to cut back on some of the more trivial type of posts I’ve been adding. Although, some of the trivial stuff still needs sharing. I mean where else are people in the industry going to see pictures like this if I don’t find it:

cactus

If you want to read about how to grow a giant cactus in your conservatory then you can read the story on the Daily Mail website.

Guest bloggers

But, the main thing I want to encourage is that the site is less about me, and more about the industry as a whole. I’ve asked before, but I’m serious this time. I’d like to have 5-10 regular ‘Renegade Conservatory Guys or Gals’ contributing their own thoughts about the industry.

If anybody out there is interested in contributing one article per month to this website then please contact me. I’ll be strict with anyone trying to promote their own company, although will happily add a link to the contributors website if he or she wishes. I’m hoping that I could find a few individuals who would be happy to articulate their thoughts about the window, door and conservatory market, and make it a better place to work in.

PS. Also, you won’t get paid for your contributions :-)
PPS. And, I’m keen to do more interviews with people from the industry, so if you’d like an interview get in touch.
PPPS. I’m also thinking about adding a forum to the website, but need to understand the implications it will have to my time and potential of getting my arse sued for what other people say….

Why recycling plastic is so important

Monday, August 31st, 2009

I’ve been rattling on about why we should be recycling more plastic, and this just proves it for me:

turtleplastic

Why you shouldn’t text while driving

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

A couple of weeks ago I added the post about getting yourself sacked using Facebook, and another blogger David Kusumoto liked the article and linked to my site. At the time I got a few click throughs as a result.

Then in the last 24 hours I suddenly got a load of click throughs and wondered why. David has since added a new post to his website with a video which seems to have gone viral on Youtube. As we speak his video has had over 100,000 views in a couple of days.

Although, it is completely off topic, I thought it might be worth adding here as a reminder to those who take the risk and use their mobile whilst driving:

To read the full story visit:

http://davidkusumoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/warning-to-drivers-are-you-still.html

Where is Dave Costello?

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

One of my readers is keen to have a word with Dave Costello, so if anybody knows where he is can you ask him to get in touch with me.

Thanks

RCG

PS. If you’ve never heard of him, could you ask around anyway…

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