Steven Sanderson, Director at Sereco Windows talks to Total Installer about what the most important aspects to any window installer business is.

What was your path into the glazing sector?

I am a qualified joiner by trade and at the age of 18 years, I worked as a joiner with Chesterfield Borough Council. I needed more income so I ended up working weekends installing mainly uPVC windows to bring in the extra needed. Gradually, the UPVC installation work increased until I eventually started my own window insulation company back in 2007.

Being a joiner by trade, it was also a natural transition for me to bring the business into supplying and installing high end timber products. With less competition in this field, the profit margins are so much higher than with our UPVC equivalents.  We do have to travel further for timber though as it is more conservation areas but people willing to pay a higher price.

Question: If you had one piece of advice about starting a glazing installation business, what would it be?

One piece of advice around starting a glazing installation business is to make sure you get excellent suppliers and superb fitters. These two elements of the chain are crucially important!  We pay our fitters more than the going rate as we really value their work and service.  Another piece of advice is to build your reviews big time so that people trust you and are willing to pay you more for your products and services.

Tell us about a recent project…

A recent project was one of our favourite types;  installing some beautiful Genesis Vertical sliders (timber look alike) into a local residential property. We have managed to get these windows passed by Local Planning as a more economical version of the real timber products.  Even though this particular customer was not in an area of conservation and was not obliged to use Genesis or timber doors, they appreciated the unmatched beauty of our timber look alike range and our high end Accoya timber doors and were willing to pay the high end price. That is the type of client we go after!

What’s your most important tool?

That’s a hard one to answer as each person in the business has their own  “most important tool”. For me, as Director of the business and the main sales and survey person, it is my mobile showroom. For Elaine, my wife, who runs the business behind the scenes and does all the marketing of the business, it is her Mac laptop and for the fitters it is their vans and tools!

Question:: What’s the most frustrating thing about your job?

The most frustrating thing is we have noted more competition entering the market and more one man bands on the road which we feel is driving prices down in the lower end UPVC market.  Homeowners are often tempted now to opt for the very cheapest and think that all the products and the fitting service are the same across the board!

We have to really sell our difference more now and educate our prospects on the pitfalls to avoid.   We often get called back to put jobs right where they have been installed so badly by cheap skate installers with cheaper products! However, we appeal to a more discerning customer who checks reviews.

I have been in the trade as an installer for up to 40 years so prospects often say that they feel very confident and comfortable as I know what I'm talking about and give solid and trustworthy advice. Many newcomer installers have not got the experience and the knowledge I have put it can really frustrate me when prospects try to compare us to them!

And the most satisfying?

There is nothing more satisfying than when you've been on a tricky and long installation and you get a five-star review and lots of praise from the customer about how amazing our fitters are and how the job has been handled from start to finish. It is satisfying when they cannot believe the service we have given and the quality of installation they are left. We often then get referred to neighbours and friends and they won't even look any further for other quotes as they totally believe in you..

What’s the biggest issue currently affecting you as an installer since COVID?

Essentially as mentioned above, more competition entering the market and driving prices down and many of these installers are not up to scratch at all and give a  poor service and shoddy installation - and then people think it is all about the lowest price! 

Luckily we undertake quite a lot of high-end timber installations where there is less competition and higher profits margins as other installers are not skilled enough to undertake this type of work.

Also due to the cost of living crisis we have had to put our fitters wages up quite substantially as we pay our fitters well as they are the backbone of our business and we are only as good as our fitters.This means our prices have also increased substantially,  especially when you add on the increased product costs as well.  So, again we have had to get better at selling our difference and explaining why it is better to pay the price once and not have any regrets!