Ian Sims, managing director of Double R Glass & Roofing Systems, looks at the need for installers to differentiate to survive and explores the possibilities in the home extension market.

Differentiating can be daunting, but when done well it can catapult a business. It’s easy to forget that when Amazon was established in 1994, it was an online bookstore. But Jeff Bezos knew the business would have to differentiate to attract more customers.

When the business model of convenient deliveries had been well established, Amazon added games and music to its portfolio to attract more customers and then home improvement items and toys.

Since then, Amazon has ventured into web services, the Kindle e-book, e-book publishing and film and TV streaming. And the strategy has worked for the company with Amazon reporting net sales of $155.7 billion in Q1 this year, a 9% increase on the same period last year. Needless to say, window companies might not reach these dizzy heights, but there is a valuable lesson in Amazon’s history for all of us. Differentiating to give the market what it wants is worthwhile.

Of course, differentiating will only bring you success if it makes sense for your overall strategy and it’s a strong new product offering. But on those relatively rare occasions when a new game-changing product arrives, especially when your core market is struggling, it becomes riskier not to diversify.

The conservatory market is facing precisely this situation now with the Guardian Home Extension from Double R.

Extend your reach

Although consumers are still being careful with their purse strings, more homeowners are extending their homes instead of moving in 2025.

They want more space, and they want to increase the value of their properties, but they don’t want the crippling bill or the delays that often come with a traditional build. With many extensions now taking three to four months to complete, a quick solution is desirable. The Guardian Home Extension from Double R is the perfect solution.

The system is also the perfect solution for installers open to diversification because it can be used as a new extension to a property or to replace an existing and out-of-date conservatory, and it is quick and easy to install.

The Guardian Home Extension can usually be completed five times quicker than a traditional extension, which makes it a profitable option. It is fully manufactured offsite and supplied in kit form to eradicate waste and deliver minimal disruption.

Our expert team will design the structure with our in-house software and put all the elements, including the Guardian Warm Walls and Guardian Warm Roof, together to make sure it all fits together perfectly and there are no issues with the structure. We then deliver all of the extension components to site in one delivery.

The structure can be installed in any weather and when being used to replace an existing conservatory doesn’t require any builders, keeping everything within the installer’s control.

An easy sell

It’s an easy concept to sell too with plenty of clear advantages for the homeowner. The Guardian Home Extension is not only quicker to install, it also delivers 20% more interior space than a traditionally built extension because it doesn’t need layers of bricks, blocks, cavity insulation and plasterboard.

But it still achieves excellent thermal efficiency with its highly insulated walls that can achieve a U-value of 0.18Wm²k. The Guardian Home Extension has been independently and rigorously tested by the BRE, and each individual extension is engineered to individual requirements, so homeowners can be assured of the highest quality every time.

The Guardian Home Extension from Double R is a great option for installers who are looking for new market potential. With the combined benefits of being easy to install and the vast array of benefits making the Guardian Home Extension easy to sell, it really is a game changer for installers who want and need to differentiate.