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PRO NEWS
FEBRUARY 2017 PRO INSTALLER
www. proinstaller. co. uk
BOOT BRAND OF THE YEAR
The mild autumn weather didn’ t dent demand for an all-weather, all-season safety footwear product which was conceived, developed and CE tested and certified by independent safety footwear brand, Buckler Boots. Now that winter is upon us however, the company’ s renowned Buckbootz BBZ S5 safety boots come right into their own.
WHICH? FIRMS TO TRUST IN THE GLAZING INDUSTRY
A recent Which? survey has confirmed what the Network VEKA team has maintained for 20 years- that homeowners prefer to work with independent, local companies, rather than major, national firms.
A combination of neoprene and rubber and a host of safety features plus Cold Insulation certification has created a safety boot which has been voted Europe’ s Number 1 product in this category. Speaking from its offices and design and distribution centre in Dundee, the company’ s managing director and co-founder, Andrew Duncan said:“ This is a tremendous accolade for an independent locally owned business and brand like ours. The votes which took us all the way to the shortlist were cast by people working in the construction sector. The company started in 1998 and there has been a stage by stage approach to building a brand and profile which competes successfully against multi-national big budget brands. Our focus on marketing, design quality, innovation, testing, service and employing top quality personnel has been key to elevating the company’ s profile in the sectors we supply.”
www. bucklerboots. com
The article, published in November’ s Which? Magazine opens:“ The UK’ s major double-glazing firms have been thoroughly trounced by independent brands in our latest survey. Customers rated the independents in our survey as excellent, giving them five stars for the majority of sales and installation factors, such as quality of products, staff knowledge and the quality of the installation. By contrast, none of the major brands achieved five stars on any measure.” The VEKA UK group’ s new marketing director, Dawn Stockell, commented:“ It’ s very important to us that people understand that Network VEKA is not a franchise. It is a not-for-profit organisation, and all our local member companies keep their own unique identity. These are knowledgeable, local, completely independent firms, committed to raising standards across the industry.“ Network VEKA simply provides the tools and training to allow these smaller, local companies to compete on a level playing field with the big firms. We offer them marketing support to help them reach potential customers more effectively and a host of technical and business support services. Because members must undergo such strict vetting before being allowed to join Network VEKA and also during the course of their membership, we are able to vouch for their high standards and allow them to offer a fantastic Ten Year Insurance-Backed Guarantee to safeguard the homeowner’ s investment.“ Member companies are held to a strict code of conduct, and in this way, people know‘ at a glance’ that they can trust a company that carries the Network VEKA logo.” Network VEKA celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2016 and reached a cumulative sales milestone of £ 1bn this year, while still upholding the principles it was founded on two decades ago. It was launched to give homeowners a hassle-free way to choose home improvements that come with peace of mind built in. Collectively, members share a customer satisfaction rating of 97 % compared to the industry average of 83 %.
www. networkveka. co. uk