Renegade Conservatory Guy

Is this the face of double glazing?

Or is this the Renegade Conservatory Guy…….

Well, it’s not me, but he could be the face of the industry.

He is Carl Birkenshaw, a double glazing salesman from Paramount Windows. According to the Daily Mail, he launched a violent assault on a customer moments after discovering they had spoken to a rival company. He allegedly threw a series of punches at George Dixon after accusing him and his wife of wasting his time during a meeting at the couple’s home.

The court case is currently being tracked by the national media - great PR for the double glazing industry I must say!!!

There’s no getting away from the fact that double glazing has a bad reputation. At the much discussed ‘industry debate’, Kevin Hill addressed the situation perfectly. He stated:

Now, I don’t know whether we’re all sat around here believing our own publicity. “What do you do?” “Well, I’m not a double-glazing salesman, I’m in engineered building products.” “Oh, really? How interesting. What are they, then?” “Double-glazing.” We almost get self-conscious about what we do. As Dave said, at the last count it’s a £4 billion industry employing how many thousands of people?

I completely agree with Kevin - I’ve had to make my blog anonymous! In the real world I tell people I’m in the conservatory business, rather than double glazing.

Things need to change, that’s for sure.

The jury’s out on the success of the ‘Old Roots; New Routes’ industry debate, and the letter I sent to the Fenestration News certainly seems to have created a stir:

Fenestration News - Old Roots; New Routes

As Andy Jones, from Edgetech, has rightly pointed out the decision by the Glazine to drip feed us with the minutes is unfortunate considering we need to urgently address industry issues.

The edited minutes for the debate can be seen at the following link, and there’s even a mention for the Renegade Conservatory Guy.

The Glazine Blogsite - Industry Debate

One thing is for certain - the industry needs a facelift!