Green Without The Premium

Anyone selling a house in England or Wales is now required to have a HIP in place before they put it on the market. The idea behind HIPs is that it ensures important information, such as sales statements, evidence of title, new homes warranty, searches and Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) are provided at the beginning of the legal process, creating a faster and more efficient way of home buying and selling.

Well that’s the theory anyway. Many estate agents are reporting that the number of homes coming onto the market is down significantly, which indicates that people are either confused about the whole subject, or unwilling to pay around £500 for a HIP, or both. However, there does seem to be a general consensus that the EPC is a good part of the HIPs pack simply because we are all becoming aware of our own carbon footprint and a need to reduce our effect on the environment.

For fabricators looking for new sales opportunities, this element of the HIP will result in a market already primed for energy rated windows and organisations such as the Energy Saving Trust are already making hints at a link between a home’s energy rating and a property’s selling price.

The fact that HIPs are now mandatory on all properties means that any measures a homeowner can take to improve the energy efficiency of their property, will gain a higher rating on the A to G Energy Performance Certificate. In real terms, this means two things:

Firstly, that energy-rated windows make perfect sense even if they decide not to move, because it reduces fuel bills. This is because around 20 per cent of heat is lost through the windows and increasing the thermal efficiency means saving on heating bills.

In addition, when a homeowner does decide to sell their house, the fact that they have energy rated windows should also help the sale process. Any measures that homeowners can take to improve the energy efficiency of their property will also mean lower energy bills for the new owners, making homes more attractive to potential purchasers.

Research shows that around 45 per cent of people are willing to pay more for a home that is environmentally friendly, in fact up to £10,000 more. Even more interesting is that nearly three quarters of people say they would steer clear of buying a poorly insulated or poorly glazed home.

Already we have helped many of our fabricators gain an official energy rating on their windows. This means that they can place an EPC label on their products, which is a great way to show customers that the windows are helping them reduce energy bills and conserve the environment. Most homeowners recognize EPC because it is already widely used on fridges, freezers and washing machines. Many homeowners, when faced with a choice of a window with or without an energy rating, are more likely to trade up to the energy efficient, environmentally-friendly option particularly when they release it will save them money on heating bills.

Creating an energy-rated window is easier than many fabricators think. The fact that Eurocell are British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC) approved simulators means that our fabricators can send their windows to us for testing - to ensure they meet certain thermal performances. These results are then verified by an Independent Agency such as BM Trade, BBA or BSI. Following successful verification, the fabricator’s windows are now BFRC registered. This means that they can supply energy rated windows that display the EPC, and normally our fabricators have been assessed to supply A, B or C rated windows.

We believe that the reason why more fabricators haven’t gained an energy rating is simply because the profile system costs more than the standard version. In a competitive market fabricators are often reluctant to offer a premium priced product if they know that they will be compared to a lower priced non energy rated product. This was the principle reason why we have just launched our new Thermalogik system, which has achieved an A rating in the BFRC certification scheme, but is priced at the same level as our standard 70mm profile.

The new Thermalogik system offers market leading thermal performances in addition to having superior looks to other systems on the market. This latter consideration is extremely important for fabricators selling to home owners and housebuilders who demand energy efficient products, but not at the expense of aesthetics. Being 10mm slimmer than the standard system, it gives the windows a sleek, contemporary appearance, increasing the area of glass for improved sight lines and brighter interiors.

However, it is the fact that it costs no more than our standard 70mm system that makes the Thermalogik system so appealing. This has been achieved because the unique six-chamber outer frame system is a single piece profile, which means separate reinforcement extrusions are not required. This design of Thermalogik means that the fabrication process for ‘A’ rated windows is now much more cost effective, which opens up many new sales opportunities, particularly when you consider the research showing home owners are often willing to pay a premium for an energy rated product.

The huge interest and awareness of ‘green’ issues in the past few months has meant that many fabricators are showcasing the energy efficient benefits of their products. The launch of Thermalogik will mean even more of them will now have the opportunity to enter this lucrative and growing market, with one of the most competitive offers available. Having a profile system that offers energy rated performances but at the same time being no more expensive than a standard 70mm system will be nothing short of revolutionary in the market.

The EPC element of HIPs will continue to create huge opportunities for fabricators to grow their businesses and those that have offered an energy rated window are already achieving this. By creating a cost effective, energy efficient, attractive window profile system we can help even more fabricators achieve the same results.”

LIFE IN COLOUR

Martin Saunders, Sales Director at Eurocell Profiles, takes a look at how colour is creating new sales opportunities for fabricators.

“During the last few years, there have been many new pressures on the PVC-u market. Thermal efficiency and the environment have driven most of the recent changes. However, aesthetics are increasingly playing a more important part in our industry, which is leading to a definite move away from the basic white product to coloured profiles.

Much of this is being driven by the style of property, with many building designers looking for something that differentiates their development, or fits in with their often very strong design ideas. You just have to drive through any major city centre to see what I mean. There has been a tremendous influx of city apartments in recent years and one thing you really notice, apart from the amount of glass facades, is a lack of white PVC-u. It is not only city apartments where this is now being seen, take a look at any new housing development and you soon begin to realise that the ubiquitous white profile we all know is being replaced by colour.

In any new or emerging industry, as Henry Ford realized, it is possible to offer a limited amount of options because customers’ expectations are relatively low. Henry Ford was able to get away with ‘any colour as long as it’s black’ for decades, because his customers were inspired by the ‘newness’ of the product itself. However, as markets mature, customer expectations rise, which is one of the reason why Ford Motor Company - and to some extent the PVC-u market – saw an opportunity to enhance customer satisfaction by offering options such as colour.

However, I believe that this can only be good for our industry. Certainly the developments I have seen using cream, grey, black and even red have really set themselves apart from many other run-of-the-mill schemes. Frequently, colour is regarded as simply decorative, serving no useful function as an element of the architectural form.

However, colour is often a misunderstood contributor to the style of a building. Take for instance, our fabricator, Ford Windows based in Sheffield, who used grey to superb effect on a development in the Midlands. The colour actually helped accentuate the effect of openness and space that the architects were trying to achieve. This is because warmer darker colours such as grey or black tend to recess in low light, which make the windows on the property look bigger, creating a much more open look on gloomy winter days. During bright summer days, these colours reflect the light to add optical depth and perspective to the doors and windows. For this site based in open countryside the spectacular effect created by the grey coloured PVC-u really is worth seeing.

Cream as a colour is gaining in popularity too and is helping to make homes feel more distinctive as well as differentiating them from their neighbours. Cream works particularly well with red brick and stone sills, a style of building design found on many of the modern three bedroom townhouses.

We recognized this trend toward colour several years ago and since then it has resulted in a considerable investment in production and administrative systems for us. With cream, most suppliers to the industry only offer a basic range of accessories which tends to mean that fabricators are restricted to offering a limited design choice to their customers, particularly with bespoke conservatories in the home improvement market.

The bespoke market requires a wider range of cream components because each conservatory is different, which of course requires a larger investment in production and stockholding. However, for Eurocell it is important that we help our fabricators grow their business and restricting them from the lucrative home improvement market, on a popular colour such as cream, was not an option for us. The Eurocell cream offer is the only one in the market to provide the complete stocked range of perfectly colour matched profiles including accessories and door panels. Last year we added to this by launching cream roofline including trims, fascia, soffits and guttering which means that fabricators now have the complete bespoke range.

The investment that we have made in coloured profiles, especially cream, allows our fabricators to take full advantage of customer demand both in the new build and refurbishment market. It is important that fabricators know that when they commit to Eurocell we will do everything to make sure they stay ahead of the market.

So what about the future? Everyone likes to make a prediction, and mine is that grey will certainly remain popular, perhaps becoming the second or third most popular colour. After that, black could be the outsider, but on that one I will leave the final outcome to the market.

Of course, white will remain the volume seller, however it can only be a good thing for our industry that colours are now creating new sales opportunities, in addition to creating more diverse and interesting housing developments.  What is critical in coloured PVC-u is choosing the right profile supplier, because not having a full suite of accessories can make the difference between a truly distinctive property and one that looks like the colour has been an afterthought.”

Eurocell’s Eurologik window and door system is available in a range of standard and special colours. Standard colours include white, cream and grey along with Golden Oak, Rosewood and Mahogany finishes. All are available on 24 hour leadtimes. In addition over a dozen special colours are available on an extended leadtimes.

For more information on the Eurocell coloured profiles visit the Eurocell website  HYPERLINK "http://www.eurocell.co.uk" www.eurocell.co.uk or contact customer services on 0800 988 3049, or fill in our contact form

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