Scores on the doors

There was a time when the residential door was regarded as little more than a sweetener for a house full of windows. Today, however, they are a powerful sales opportunity in their own right, according to Gazerite’s Jason Thompson.

Place an order for 7 windows and get the front door free.

So went many an advertisement headline when thumbing through the local newspaper 30 years ago. The ubiquitous PVC moulded residential door was cheap as chips to produce and the Joness and Smiths of suburbia – caught up in the enthusiasm and wanting to match their shiny white PVCU windows – found such largess irresistible.

And if there are any doubts about the success of such promotions, check the row upon row of houses up and down the country where these products still remain, a legacy of a replacement door and window market that was served with significantly less choice than it has today.

Although moulded PVC doors continue to be bought in their thousands, the rise of the composite residential door in the past 20 years has dramatically altered the market, creating a sales opportunity in its own right rather than a promotional add on.

Paradoxically introduced as a cheap and efficient replacement in local authority housing, the availability of high performance, good looking doors in a huge range of styles and colours quickly captured the imagination of homeowners – and especially those with moulded PVC doors, an increasing number of which were showing wear and tear.

In the early days of the double glazing industry there were hundreds of thousands of white, PVC moulded doors installed. Unfortunately, quality was often very poor with the skins themselves subject to warping and discolouration. However, out of this came opportunity, and homeowners now have a huge range of residential doors available, including composite doors manufactured with high quality thermoplastic and GRP skins sandwiching a core produced in a variety of materials; and the latest PVC panels are now of exceptionally high quality to offer great value for money to home improvers at every price point.

We like to set the bar high when it comes to our composite doors. There are no compromises on our standard offering and the peace of mind these choices bring to homeowners to offer something for every budget and taste. The Veka/Halo composite, manufactured from the Doorco slab, is a great option for all applications with the widest style range and a colour match to any RAL. Then we have Solidor, which is the market leader in the solid timber core range. Then we have the Palladio Monocoque door, which is one of the strongest on the market, and with a double rebate offers exceptional weather resistance and the highest possible security performance.

All of our doors come with our usual 10-year guarantee and a 10-year surface warranty on the hardware.

The point of all this is that trends change. Residential door sales continue to grow as they offer a relatively inexpensive way for homeowners to transform the appearance and performance of their home, and people are more aware than ever of the many choices that are out there for them now.

And door sales often lead to interest in other products, other doors and even window sales. That is why we have developed such a comprehensive range at Glazerite, while supporting our installers with great marketing.