Latest data from software pioneers, Tommy Trinder, suggest that changes in the market are creating price pressure on premium products such as flush casements, vertical sliders and bifolds.
Analysis from more 200,000 quotes done over the last six months, by 640 of the UK’s leading window installers, indicates that margins are coming under pressure at the top end of the market, says founder and CEO of Tommy Trinder, Chris Brunsdon.
“When the cost-of-living crisis struck, under 50s homeowners with mortgages and big outgoings, were hit hard and left with little to spend on improving their properties. The budget end of the window market fell away, with the collapse of UKWDG and Safestyle serving as high-profile signals that the writing was on the wall for window firms focussed on selling basic, white plastic windows.
Savvy installers moved quickly to diversify their range and the Tommy Trinder platform saw a surge in the volumes of aluminium, timber and top end PVC-U being quoted. Window firms, hitherto used to selling any colour as long as it was white and any handle as long as it was gold, sought out products that were formally niche; flush casements, box sashes and bifold doors were flying off the shelves.
As those premium products moved from hands of the few into the hands of the many, selling prices have come under pressure. The number of aluminium products being sold has stayed flat, but aluminium in value terms has declined from 35% of the market to 29% since 2022. We are seeing the same trends in flush sash, and vertical sliders. Meanwhile the price of bifolds has fallen by 5% -in some areas the country you can get one installed for less than £1000 a leaf, a record low.
Overall, the picture is of installers presenting ever more complex product ranges just to stand still.”
Despite falling prices and a tightening market, Tommy Trinder report that demand for their software has never been stronger, with more than 35 installation firms moving to the platform in March alone. Says Chris: “The need to streamline and simplify quoting has never been more pressing. Installers are on hunt for software that will wow homeowners; tools to help position them at the upper end of the market and make it easy to sell quality products to discerning customers. Tommy is proving the tool for the job.”
