Product category:
Window Systems
News Release from: Profine
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 July 2004
Replacing The Replacements - A Growing
Trend
DPR, a long-established PVC-U window installer in the New Forest has just started its own manufacturing operation to give customers a more individual product.
A long-established PVC-U window installer in the New Forest has just started its own manufacturing operation to give customers a more individual product Peter Richley, director of DPR Windows - now in its 19th year - says: "We've installed Kommerling windows for a long time, but fabricating our own means we can provide non-standard designs with additional security measures, which more and more domestic customers want." DPR now manufactures Kommerling's 58mm and classically-curved Connoisseur systems, from a new 2,000 square foot factory in the wonderfully named village of Three Legged Cross, near Ringwood
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 9 Jul 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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One of the company's two showrooms has also moved there.
It's another case of a window company bucking the industry trend of installers concentrating on installing, and leaving the "headache" of manufacturing to a medium-sized trade fabricator, or so-called superfabricator.
"Generally, the larger fabricators will only produce standard windows, because their assembly lines are geared up for mass production, whereas a smaller manufacturer has the flexibility to handle windows with different specifications.
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Conroy Brook's latest £500,000 homes in Halifax have all been fitted with the classically-curved Kommerling Connoisseur.
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Spire was given the £387,000 contract to supply and fit Kommerling's classically-curved Ovolo Connoisseur windows for South Hylton and Albany.
Some of the windows we make would be a nightmare for larger companies." Now that the new skilled and semi-skilled fabricating workforce of five are keeping pace with the company's own installation requirements, they are just starting to manufacture for the trade, as well.
And Peter intends to recruit a further three fabricators before the Autumn.
It means that DPR's fleet of fitting vans - now numbering 12, and which have been a familiar sight throughout Hampshire and Dorset since the firm was set up by Peter, his brother David, and their late father, Reginald - will shortly be increased to include delivery vehicles, and be seen much further afield.
"While we concentrate our own installation business within a 30-mile radius of the factory and our other showroom at New Milton on the South Coast, we're aiming our trade business at installers operating outside our well-established territory." Peter and David are looking to reach the factory's 200 frame capacity within 18 months, and to have moved to larger premises making 300 frames a week within five years.
And that is just about as large as they want DPR to grow.
"That'll be big enough to guarantee stability of turnover, while still ensuring that we don't lose personal control over all aspects of the operation," says David.
It is that personal touch which the brothers believe helped to establish their reputation, and has led to much of their business being gained by word of mouth and personal recommendation from satisfied customers.
"It's because customers value our personal touch so much that we felt we should start making our own windows," says Peter.
"We were finding a lot more people wanted something different - in particular with the hardware.
By buying ready-made windows we were restricted to the hardware supplied by the fabricator -- now we're able to look through the whole hardware market and find the specification that perfectly meets the customer's requirement." In most cases DPR can normally find something to fit customers' individual needs, from Securistyle, which has built up a 35 per cent share of the UK friction hinge market, with what it calls a 'Total Window Solution.' "The outstanding levels of technical specification and quality on Securistyle's market-leading window hinges, handles and locking mechanisms appeal to our customers.
Coupled with the fact that window technology has taken great strides forward in recent years, it means that replacing existing replacements is likely to become a large part of our business." Peter says DPR is currently replacing PVC-U windows which were only installed around 10 to 15 years ago: but these new windows will last considerably longer.
"Profile is much sturdier now, with better quality PVC-U, all our Kommerling windows are internally glazed to improve security, and locking systems have been improved.
Frames being installed today will well outlast the life expectancy of early PVCU windows." A particularly popular line in the New Forest, where conservation plays a major role in planning regulations, is an exterior woodgrain finish, especially golden oak, because customers prefer white on the inside, to keep their rooms bright, while having a traditional timber appearance on the outside.
DPR's total investment to begin manufacturing is just under £100,000 - but the brothers believe rewards will come from the competitive edge it gives them.
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