Hope you all had a great Bank Holiday Monday. As you will know, this was the last one of the year. I often think that we should space them out a bit more evenly across the year, they all seem to come in one big group around the middle of the year. Why not move one or two to the Autumn? Or create a new one and have it November?

All pipe dreams. What isn’t a pipe dream however is Christmas and the last quarter of the year. As we approach September, this, whether you like the festive time of year or not, is creeping up very quickly on us, and the window industry in some parts may already be gearing up for it.

Back to school

Last year you could almost time the pre-Christmas rush to the day kids went back to school proper. I remember the very first day of term and the phones were going crazy, footfall in the showroom was markedly higher. Much busier than the sleepy August the month before.

It happens this time every year. Parents are able to focus on things back at home now their kids are back to school most of the time. People are coming back from vacation too. There then begins the rush by many who have left it until the last moment to get those last home improvements organised and finished before Christmas comes.

Not that I think it’s actually been that quiet for August. I see many small and medium sized installers and fabricators talking about good numbers when it comes to sales and leads. Mind you, it’s not been a great month for the big companies. Epwin share prices have dropped significantly, Entu is about to be placed into administration and the news coming out of the industry is that sales at some of the biggest retailers are really on the downturn. It has been a period where it has been good to be small.

But be in no doubt, the pre-Christmas rush is about to begin. Next week in England and Wales the kids will go back to school. They already have in Scotland. Then we can expect a further boost for most installers on the leads and sales front. The focus then turns to fabricators as they gear up for a potentially sharp increase in demand and pressure increases to make sure that everything is ordered and delivered on the promised time schedules.

DGB Business

Only weeks left to fill

For some installers, there is already little time left to fulfil installations for this year. I have seen a few tweets here and there, assuming they are to be believed, that explain that they only have a few calendar weeks left in the year before they’re looking at installations in 2018. And I can see how. It’s September on Friday, and most fairly busy installers will be working on a 4-6 week lead time. Those who are busier than average can add another two weeks on to that. And for those that are booming, another two. Ten weeks from here takes us to the middle of November. From there, we only have around five full weeks before most will break up for Christmas and the New Year. When you look at it that way, there isn’t really much time left.

The next 6-8 weeks is where fabricators have to be absolutely on the money. Installers are going to step it up one final gear as we head into the final quarter of the year, trying to close as many sales as possible, fill all the remaining gaps in their fitting schedules and conclude business in 2017 and start pressing ahead for 2018. They are going to require their fabricators and other installers to be absolutely on the money when it comes to on time deliveries, product quality and service. Installers are going to be stressed to the eyeballs, the last thing they need is to be let down by their most crucial part of the supply chain.

Personally, I couldn’t be paid to be a fabricator in these final few months of the year. I imagine the stress levels go through the roof (ahem), with scheduling and logistics an absolute nightmare. Even the most organised of supplier can find themselves coming undone in the busy pre-Christmas period.

Right, I promise not to mention the C word on here until at least the start of October!

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