Unlike anything else
Danny Williams has a track record of doing something about it when he becomes frustrated with a product or service. This time he’s done it with resi doors…
As a long standing Synseal fabricator, Pioneer Trading’s Danny Williams became frustrated at what he felt was the brand’s propensity for selling profile to anyone. Thus, with Synseal fabricators peppering the area to his Chelmsford, Essex base and throughout the South East of England selling identical products and in a never-ending downward pricing spiral, Danny decided to design and sell his own unique ‘Signature’ window. It was a great success.
More recently, Danny has become similarly frustrated with the composite door sector: “Led especially by some of the bigger brands, product quality has slipped even further and when you get back to them to deal with a fault, you hit a brick wall,” says an animated Danny.
The obvious answer? Change supplier…
“We have sold many brands over the years, and many have been quite respectable,” Danny explains, “but they now all look and feel so similar. So, just over a couple of years ago, I began to look around for something else, that would allow me to say ‘this is unique, it’s genuinely different’ and will allow installers the opportunity to go into homes with a great product that won’t fall apart within weeks.”
The surge in aluminium windows and an associated demand from homeowners for matching residential doors created a starting point and Danny eventually happened upon Gerda, a Polish company that produced steel and aluminium faced residential entrance doors that also eschewed the manufacturing techniques of ‘standard’ composite doors.
“It was clear that Gerda offered a combination of style, construction and performance that would stand out in the usual crowd,” says Danny. “And although we would be breaking new ground in the broader home improvement market with steel, for aluminium there is a growing, ready market.
“But importantly, the design and construction of Gerda doors is unlike anything else sold in the UK, with engineered frames, superb insulation and particular attention paid to security, because Gerda is well known throughout Europe for its security products, from padlocks to the most sophisticated smart locks.”
The launch of Gerda doors at the FIT Show represents the culmination of two years of negotiations, much of it undertaken under the restrictions imposed by Covid. Founded 35 years ago the Gerda brand is well known throughout mainland Europe and a premium household name in its native Poland.
And the firm guarded its brand ferociously, as Danny explains: “Gerda did not roll over and have its tummy tickled,” he says, with a smile. “Although they sell into the UK they were not aware of the size and dynamic nature of home improvements here. And amazingly, they didn’t know me or Pioneer! We had to present a solid case about us as their partners and the potential of the UK market. They are a very professional outfit and once we had agreed, then they became totally committed – Gerda is as impressive as we believed them to be.”
Gerda residential doors all share an emphasis on sustainability, high-quality, high-security and thermal efficiency, with weather performance developed for some of the toughest conditions in Europe. The steel and aluminium doors offer thermal transmittance as low as 0.74 W/m2K for solid doors and 0.81 W/m2K for glazed doors. The class leading Altus door boasts an 88mm depth, three chamber reinforced aluminium internal construction with PU cores, the FUHR multi point security lock and hardware located into reinforced aluminium outer frames.
Customer service will also be addressed in the supply of Gerda in the UK, concludes Danny: “Of equal concern to product quality is that of service in the UK composite doors market. We will address this in our support of Gerda products in Britain and offer the sort of service that we have found so lacking in so many existing door brands.”