Dempsey Dyer targets trade market
Dempsey Dyer has been a Deceuninck customer for 40 years this year. We talked to managing director, Peter Dyer, about why the relationship has lasted so well, and how it is blazing new ground.
When Dempsey Dyer moved to Deceuninck as supplier 40 years ago, managing director Peter Dyer explained that the decision was almost solely based on the fact that both companies shared Benelux heritage.
“That was about the breadth and depth of that decision-making process,” said Peter. “But it does mean that since 1984 – 40 years – we have worked with Deceuninck over many different iterations of their products.
“Today, we’re fabricating the 2500 series, the 2800 series, and the Slider 24 Patio. And we’re also looking at the Elegant range, which is a European system designed to tackle some of the onerous Part L changes that we’re all looking forward to in 2025.”
Dempsey Dyer is an £11 million trade fabricator employing 104 people on a 64,000ft2 site in West Yorkshire.
It manufactures timber windows, PVC-U windows and has just relaunched its aluminium division.
“We’ve invested heavily in both the service side of the business and product development,” continued Peter.
“One particularly fantastic selling point for our customers is the 30-plus colourways from stock, thanks to Deceuninck, which look great on our heritage windows – especially our unique mechanically jointed Beaumont window – as well as our stormproof casement, and the Deceuninck flush casement.
“We complement this with our DoorCo range of composite doors, our new aluminium bi-folds, and our timber range.
“That range and diversity allows our customers to pick up on different parts of the market and knowing they can go into any meeting, any appointment, and knowing that they’ll have a product from Dempsey Dyer that will satisfy that customer’s need.”
While Peter argues that it is focusing on satisfying trade requirements in 2024, Dempsey Dyer’s commercial division has steadily grown since it began operating in the 1990s.
It started life working directly for social housing providers in the local area, before targeting the big contracts in London and the southeast with Deceuninck’s support.
“Just as we were coming out of the financial crash, we started to look at the Deceuninck range and for opportunities that that created,” Peter says. “We discovered that with the Deceuninck design support, we could offer unique Deceuninck products to target aluminium specified projects and offer to the commercial side of those contractors a potential saving of up to 30%.
“So that’s how we started, and we built a lot of business off the back of student accommodation, working with some of the blue-chip organisations down in London and the southeast, and that led to us having an operation that’s based down there.
“We have seven employees who operate solely in and around London on both the site supervision and the engineering side to make sure that we manage all contractual obligations that commercial contracts demand.
“But the key to all that success is making sure that we offer a product that is fit for purpose,” said Peter. “So we won’t go out to marketplace and speculate whether our solution will work on a project. We will make sure it works before we bother anybody with a tender or anything else.”
Underpinning that sentiment is Deceuninck’s new Elegant range.
Elegant is the next generation window from Deceuninck, and can achieve U-values as low as 0.8W/m2K. Elegant also delivers on aesthetics with contemporary minimalist features, which replicate aluminium in an advanced, low maintenance and energy efficient, composite system. It can also be combined with Decoroc, Deceuninck’s next generation finish, so fitted alongside aluminium products as part of dual-specification installations.
The system is built around a single ultra-energy-efficient modular frame which is available as a standard 76mm system. These can be combined with any of five different sash options.
“Elegant allows us to maintain large glazing areas, maintain the desire for architects to have a lot of glass and less frame, really push the boundaries of what PVC-U is doing, and hit those lower U-values,” explained Peter.
But it is the trade division will take Dempsey Dyer to the next stage in its growth stage, Peter asserts.
“Commercial work moves along steadily in the background,” he said. “But it is the trade market where we will see the most opportunity for growth opportunities.
“Given the slow start to 2024, we believe our trade customers will pick up the slack and take us from £11 million to £15 million in three years’ time.”
