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Price Sensitivity
We wanted to know how price-sensitive consumers are now compared to pre-pandemic and while installers reported 27 % of homeowners were more price conscious , 39 % were less price conscious – meaning 39 % were happy to pay more . The two primary reasons were product quality ( 18 %) and lead-times ( 21 %).
Selling Prices
Next , we asked installers whether they had increased their selling prices this year . An overwhelming number ( 88 %) reported they had increased prices slightly or significantly . Given that sales conversion rates were not affected – indeed 53 % of installers said conversion rates were better , it appears consumers are happy to pay more .
Margins
On the question of margins , the results are less promising . 49 % of installers say their margins have been eroded despite the fact that 88 % have increased their selling prices . Andrew Scott reflects on the findings : “ There are lots of positives . Enquiry levels , conversion rates and even selling prices are up . But despite this installer margins are being eroded .
“ One of the major problems is that installers have secured more orders without the resources to fit them ( due to supply-chain and labour issues ). While on paper this looks healthy with bulging forward order books , the long lead-times will have a detrimental impact on margins .
“ Jobs sold four or five months ago ( or longer ) were based on material costs at that time , but when these jobs are actually fitted , costs may have risen sharply – both materials and labour . There is a risk many jobs will be fitted at breakeven or worse
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‘ there is a real opportunity for installation firms to capitalise on higher order values
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and it is near impossible to ask homeowners to pay more just as the job is due to be fitted .
“ However , this is a short-term situation and as supplier prices eventually stabilise and installers can base selling prices on more reliable costs , there is a real opportunity for installation firms to capitalise on higher order values , better margins and higher consumer demand .”
The Insight Installer Survey was carried out over four weeks between September and October 2021 via telephone interviews with the Insight Data research team .
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The survey consisted of 12 questions and full details can be found as part of the wider Insight Report 2021 . To register to receive a copy , visit www . insightdata . co . uk / reports / |
MPs called on to address hotel window safety following child ’ s death A leading window restrictor manufacturer is calling on a group of MPs to drive forward legislative change that could see UK hotels brought into line with the health and social care sector ’ s stringent approach to window safety .
Eric Collins , managing director of Leicestershire-based The Jackloc Company , has written to all five Sheffield MPs following the death of a five-year-old boy who fell from an open window on the 9th floor of a hotel in the city . Tragically the child and his family were being housed in the hotel having fled their home country of Afghanistan for the security of the UK .
Mr Collins believes the incident raises important questions about the safety of hotel windows and is calling on the Sheffield MPs , plus his constituency representative Alberto Costa MP , to help focus attention on the issue . His letter to them states :
“ We have built a growing network of window manufacturers , fitters and restrictor companies who want to see legislative change in public buildings to ensure that stringent safety standards
are set - and met - for window safety . There is a legislative requirement from the Department of Health , Health Building Note 00-10 Part D , to have window restrictors fitted in health buildings so why not other public risk environments such as hotels and high rise buildings ?” Figures released by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents ( RoSPA ) some four years ago revealed that more than 4,000 children under the age of 15 were injured falling from windows each year in the UK and the Child Accident Prevention Trust ( CAPT ) says that one child under the age of five is admitted to hospital every day after tumbling from a building . US research suggests that falls from three storeys or above account for 90 % of child-fall fatalities , with the average age of childhood falls from windows being five years old .
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“ These figures demonstrate that there is real need to address this issue ,” added Mr Collins . “ Both RoSPA and CAPT recommend fitting devices to prevent windows opening too wide . There is already legislation enforcing this in the health and social care sector ; window safety from the ground floor up should now be a priority in the hotel industry . In most instances 20 minutes of time will provide a robust and secure solution that may save a child ’ s life .”
The Travelodge Hotel Group has installed Jackloc window restrictors in its 20,000 UK hotel rooms . To encourage more businesses to follow suit , Jackloc is offering all hotels in the UK complimentary virtual site surveys or a discussion to understand possible solutions .
Companies can contact Eric Collins directly at eric . collins @ jackloc . com to discuss further .
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