By Danny Williams, managing director, Pioneer Trading.

2026 has started surprisingly well. But it is clear that the market is polarising with a shift from volume to value. The casual buyer – who might replace windows because finance was cheap and their confidence was high – continue to be reticent.

In their place we’ve got fewer buyers, but they’re better funded, more considered, and far more discerning.

These homeowners aren’t rushing. They research. They ask awkward questions. They care about sightlines, finishes, longevity and how something will look in ten or fifteen years’ time. And crucially, when they do decide, they’re prepared to spend properly.

Aluminium continues to become a more important part of the conversation because it fits this new buyer mindset perfectly. And that is borne out by reports from tooling supplier Jade Engineering which has seen an increase in demand for its products amongst aluminium fabricators, from machinery brand Emmegi for aluminium startup packages; and reports from a number of fabricators that are investing in aluminium. Upmarket PVC-U window styles and higher end resi doors are also selling well.

The installers who are doing the best out of this aren’t necessarily the busiest. They’re doing fewer jobs, but better ones. Higher order values, more design-led projects, and customers who don’t regret spending a bit more once the job’s done.

1.5 million new homes in five years? And what it really means for home improvements

The government’s promise to deliver 1.5 million new homes is one of those announcements designed to sound bold while requiring very little understanding of how the real world works. Targets are easy. Delivery is hard. And history suggests this one will miss the mark by a very wide margin.

Start with planning — the immovable object every housing ambition eventually collides with. Planning departments remain understaffed, risk-averse and slow. Add local objections, environmental constraints, judicial reviews and political back-pedalling, and it becomes obvious that no amount of Westminster optimism will turn paperwork into bricks.

Then there’s the truth politicians prefer to avoid: housebuilders don’t build to targets, they build to demand. When buyers are cautious, mortgage costs remain high and confidence is fragile, build rates slow. Not through conspiracy or greed, but because selling homes into a weak market is a reliable way of wrecking a business.

Much has been said about developers’ land banks, often with the implication they’re hoarding riches. What’s less discussed is that land values are now under pressure. Sites bought at peak-cycle prices are being written down as build rates slow and prices flatten, giving even less incentive to push schemes forward.

Smaller builders remain sidelined, squeezed by planning costs, finance constraints and regulation that hits SMEs hardest. The government is demanding record delivery from a shrinking, more cautious industry.

But what does this mean for home improvements? If new homes don’t arrive, people stay put. Britain’s ageing housing stock gets adapted rather than replaced.

That should be good news for our sector — but only if we recognise the mood. Homeowners are cautious. They’ll delay, repair and think hard before committing.

Targets don’t build houses. Markets do.

I have to get this off of my chest…

I don’t know when it started, but somewhere along the line every small company in this country decided it was a Group.

Not a business. Not a firm. Not even a company. A Group.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but when I hear the word Group I expect more than one company, a few boards of directors, maybe a head office, some complexity — you know, a group. What I increasingly find instead is one limited company, two directors, three vans and a website that refers to itself in the third person.

Apparently, adding the word Group makes you sound bigger, more solid, more trustworthy. But here’s the thing: customers aren’t stupid. Calling yourself a Group doesn’t make you one any more than calling a shed a warehouse turns it into Amazon.

And worse, it cheapens the word for those businesses that actually deserve it. There are genuine groups in our sector — manufacturers, installers, networks — carrying real risk, real payrolls, real compliance and real responsibility. Lumping them in with a one-office operation playing dress-up isn’t clever branding; it’s misleading.

What really irritates me is what this says about modern business thinking. Image over substance. Spin over delivery. If we look big enough, maybe nobody will notice the cracks. But in a market where homeowners are cautious, cash-conscious and sceptical, pretending to be something you’re not is the fastest way to lose trust.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a small, well-run business. Some of the best firms I know are proud of exactly that. What is wrong is pretending you’re bigger than you are.

Real groups grow into groups. They don’t name themselves into one.