Renegade Conservatory Guy

Is the double glazing industry in the proverbial?

January 2008 has clearly been the worst for many years. A rep from one of the main hardware suppliers told me yesterday that their sales for January are as bad as January 1983.

Having spoken with major suppliers such as Avocet and Synseal there is clearly a much lower volume of products being manufactured than this time last year. My feeling is that the industry is 30% down!

With the news so many companies have gone bust recently, house prices falling and talk of recession in the general global economy, then it’s not looking good. And today, I’ve heard many rumours about one of the big super-fabricators going into administration - Shepley Window Systems! Now, I don’t know this for sure at this stage, but the signs aren’t good.

Despite all the doom and gloom, I’ve spoken with a number of installation companies over the last few days and it seems the volume of customers walking into showrooms and picking the phone up is looking surprisingly good.

So, is it time to pack in and get a proper job in a different industry?

Of course not! It’s still a great business to be in and for those that can ride the storm there’ll be plenty work left for those left standing.

Besides, what else would we do?