The year of the door
RegaLead’s joint managing director Guy Hubble gives Glass Times a preview of a new market the company is aiming to open up in 2017.
It’s that traditional time of year when we take stock and review the product trends of the previous 12 months. For our industry, 2016 was absolutely the year of the door. There is little sign of this slowing in 2017 either. Composites are still a top seller and, in fact, a lot of installers I speak to are now more likely to be fitting composite doors than replacement PVCU windows. A fast evolving market it may be, but the focus is shifting.
Rising to prominence in the last 12 months, the word on everyone’s lips is aluminium. Take the number of composite doors that are being manufactured to look like aluminium and the demand is obvious. Driven originally by the bifold door market, aluminium is now also making a strong comeback in the residential window sector.
Fensterbau was a lightbulb moment for RegaLead. It was clear just how significant the aluminium residential door market is across Europe, but why not in the UK? After all, what better way to meet consumer demand for more contemporary, high end home improvement products? We quickly realised it’s not the market itself that isn’t viable; it’s the supply chain.
The main problem currently is that anyone wanting to take advantage of the aluminium front door market has two options, neither of which are ideal.
The first is to buy in infill panels from Europe with the associated excessively long lead times. The second is exchange huge amounts of money for really top end full aluminium doorsets, and that’s assuming the suppliers will actually sell to you! Neither of these options is conducive to a mass retail market approach
Since we were first established, RegaLead has been synonymous with adding value to the door market, be it PVC panels, timber or composites in the UK and in Europe. Thanks to investment in decorative glass options and a huge colour palette, we were instrumental in moving the composite door market from a social housing product only, to a desirable retail option. Doors are in our DNA, which means we understand the problems and the opportunities.
At RegaLead, we love to open up untapped markets and provide product-led solutions where incumbent supply is limited. But we’re also firm believers that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so have cherry-picked the best of the world of aluminium products and applied a composite door mind-set.
It’s this approach that has culminated in the launch of the Urban aluminium residential front door system. Top quality, market proven components combine with a contemporary look that offers previously unseen levels of margin opportunity in this part of the market.
The system comprises pre-apertured, grooved aluminium panels, similar to a composite door blank, access to the world’s largest range of glazing solutions, and a dedicated unique contemporary cassette – all available from stock on short lead times. Most importantly, everything can be done within your own factory, under your own control.
We’ll be releasing more information about Urban over coming weeks, but I’m happy to show anyone who wants to get in early – why RegaLead has set out our stand to create this future market for fabricators and installers.
2017 may be the year of the rooster but why not make it your year of the Urban aluminium residential front door?