Safe and successful

Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell says we now have the benefit of hindsight.

The two top stories this week tell us what we already know: the Federation of Master Builders reports that half of builders experienced increased workloads during the summer; while Powered Now reports that homeowners have said they won’t let the small matter of a national lockdown get in the way of their home improvement plans.

The FMB said that as a result of the boom in work following the original lockdown in the spring, 17% of SMEs are planning to increase the number of general labourers on site in the months ahead, and
 16% of SMEs are planning to increase the number of specialist tradespeople on site.

Powered Now said 81% of homeowners agreed that despite coronavirus, they won’t postpone home improvement work because of a reluctance to have other people in their house.

Hopefully this will help businesses in our sector gird their loins in the event of another lockdown. I remember the frustrated conversations we had in April and May where we felt a sense of helplessness at not being able to keep working for fear of breaking social distancing guidelines. Could the fenestration, in fact, keeping working while protecting suppliers, colleagues and customers?

The evidence suggests that consumer demand and support is there.

One company that continued to drive sales despite the national lockdown was Conservatory Outlet, which has now announced a new £500,000 investment drive to increase output and capacity.

More lockdown restrictions will certainly be challenging, but they can be overcome.