Well Door-Stop seems to have got Solidor’s back up a little. Judging by the Letter To The Editor on the Fenestration News website, Gareth Mobley has been forced to defend the company he works for and the sector he works in.
The response was prompted by comments from Nick Dutton of Door-Stop, and thanks to one of my Twitter followers, I have been put in the right direction of the post. This is what Nick Dutton had to say: http://www.fenestration-news.com/news/newsItem.aspx?id=10791
Ian
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It’s never good to hear of businesses failing, particularly if the company was one of the best-known names in the market, as Door Panels plc was years ago. Its demise is sad – we all feel for the employees who’ve lost their jobs – but not a surprise.
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Like Kodak, which once owned 90% of the world’s camera film market, perhaps Door Panels could have moved on earlier. No-one imagined that Kodak wouldn’t be at the forefront of digital photography – especially as Kodak invented it! But Kodak was so wedded to film, and so slow to switch that it went from icon to dinosaur and never recovered, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.
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Door Panels probably stuck with panel doors because that’s what it knew best and what it felt comfortable with. But the writing was on the wall five years ago: composite doors look better, are more energy efficient, more secure and offer more choice. Homeowners prefer them – and after decades of costly call-outs, so do most installers!
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No doubt Door Panels did as much as it could to save the business, but you can’t turn back the tide. Panel doors are part of the industry’s past, and there’s no future in yesterday’s technology.
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Kind regards
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Nick Dutton
Managing Director
To be fair to Nick, I do agree with a lot of what he has to say. The fewer call outs, the greater choice and the fact that they are so popular with customers does count for a lot. Anyway, this is what Gareth had to say. You can find the full letter on the Fenestration News website here: http://www.fenestration-news.com/news/newsItem.aspx?id=10829
Dear Ian
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Further to Nick Dutton’s letter last week, I would suggest that the door panel market is still alive and doing very well, thank you. As the managing director of Solidor Group, which includes Solidor and Nice Door Panels, perhaps I can put forward an unbiased view.
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The market for entrance doors is relatively buoyant and at Solidor we have experienced unprecedented growth for our second generation composite doors. Similarly Nice Door Panels are enjoying growth in no small part to the development of CoolSkin technology in door panels. Over the last 6 years, this has proven to eliminate the problems of first generation door panels, as our customers have enjoyed.
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I’m very well aware of what Door Panels were doing as a business and they cannot be used as a barometer of the door panel sector. Their product was widely regarded as inferior to the vast majority of other door panels due to the use of dated materials and they also operated a very aggressive and ultimately unsustainable pricing strategy. I believe that these two business fundamentals are the key ingredients that sent them under.
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Consumers expect choice and for the foreseeable future I see both door panels and composite doors providing different solutions for the replacement door market. The door panel sector has evolved, with better products and the same is beginning to happen in the composite door market.
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It’s now a time for innovation in the entrance door market, rather than purporting misguided information with a tenuous link to the photographic industry. Moreover, at Solidor and Nice Door Panels we’re not the only ones with this balanced opinion.
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Yours sincerely
Gareth Mobley
Managing Director
Solidor Group
Gareth has done well for Solidor, and for that, kudos. What he has done is do well with a business in what is a very shrinking market in my opinion. He’s managed to take a good deal of the market share – or what’s left of it. But overall, from what I can see, the door panel sector is a sector with it’s days numbered. In the whole of the year so far, I have sold just two door paneled doors. The rest have been composite and engineered PVC doors. We haven’t been pushing one type over another. We just haven’t had customers coming through the door asking for them.
New innovations like the CoolSkin technology and different colours might keep the sector going for a little while longer, but the simple fact is composite and engineered doors are better in quality, looks and customers are asking for them by name. Over the coming years as composite and other types of doors really take over, we could see quite a few door panel companies hitting the wall due to falling sales and different competition.
We seem to be selling 50/50 for the past twelve months. I would however say that Solidor would sell more on their Nice Door range as their Solidor range is at the top end of the market as it is a bit of a niche prodct (pricey). I always think there will be a market for door panels as some people just dont like composites…
Also with the new generation of foils like Anique Oak/An-Teak the door panels are looking just as good as composites.
From what I have noticed in the past year, people only buy the UPVC panel door if they cant really afford the composite. Not one of our customers have chosen the UPVC because they like it more than the composite!
Hi DGB, Let’s not create a storm in a tea cup, as we are not “at odds” with anybody. Door Stop are very good at what they do. I am not on the defence of any company or sector, nor am I attempting to stimulate an argument. I am merely offering the unbiased facts! Nice Door Panels, Vista Panels, Phoenix, Rocal and many others, continue to do well with door panels. In my opinion, they have a long life ahead of them. A lot of door panels are manufactured for things other than just front doors, such as conservatories, garden… Read more »
Sorry about the spelling! Missed the ‘e’ out! All sorted now!
Thanks for your comment Gareth. I am aware that they are opinions, but you are also competitors and to me your response did sound like a defence of the sector – just my opinion.
Maybe ‘at odds’ didn’t quite articulate what the response to Nick Dutton actually was, but judging by some of the comments on Twitter and on here, composite doors are on the up and I think will replace the door panel market at some point in the not too distant future.
DGB
Hi gareth we are a supplier of doors to our trade customers, who ask about solidor products, but we always try to put them off buying from yourselves, because of the lengthy times it takes just to get a quote.In all honesty its becoming a joke to purchase a composite door from solidor . How ever I think your product is of a very high standard, and I like them, but get very frustrated in the time delays waiting for replys . That’s before we even get a quote. We currently use doorstop and there process is very simple and… Read more »
I totally agree with Craig Lawson, I’ve ordered a few doors from solidor and won’t be ordering again as not only is the service bad but the product is overpriced. It took 4 weeks for a quote to come back, 6 weeks to get the door. When it came it was damaged. Took another 3 weeks to get a replacement. When the replacement came it had different moulded cassettes to the other door. Absolute nightmare. The only reason I ordered from them was because door stop don’t do French or stable doors. Door stop are a dream to order. Everything… Read more »
Thanks for the amend. I think your right, it wasn’t the right choice of words! I think you miss the point that I am trying to make slightly. Don’t forget that I represent both products. There are applications where composite doors cannot replace door panels. There is a place for both. Also while I fully embrace and actively use social media, it is not the only barometer, as it only represents a small percentage of what is a £3.5billion industry! You can achieve great things with this blog, but please be careful not to put words into peoples mouths. Gareth… Read more »
There is a large market for panels and composite doors but as stated the public have all the information about products available. What can’t be truly understood by looking at the Internet is quality of the products, it is well known that PVC panels used to change colour and distort.
Let’s hope that good composite door manufactures keep the quality high and highlight the problems of the cheaper composites that are in the market place
We have seen big growth in Composite Door sales, but looking at split in quantity this year we stand at 41% Composite and 59% Panels, as most houses have 2 Doors and most back doors are PVCu its about right.
I personally think composites are the future ,we sell solidor and I personally think they are over priced and not very good ,the hinges etc are nasty ,they could do better .
Woe betide the inexperienced who pack a woodgrain panel tightly within a woodgrain Upvc door that has plenty of sun on it. The panel will split. If not, the door will warp to compensate. Coolskin helps providing that the installer knows how to pack it properly. A composite needs to be used in this situation unless it is one of those whose skins split. A true comparison of different composites should be a ” skin splitability test”. I have seen many split skins on composite doors and installers in the retail sector are fearful that they will be caught up… Read more »
Hmmm – I find Doorstop’s comments somewhat biased. Also I note that they have not been established long and have clearly tailored their answer to suit their business.
I wish all door manufacturers the very best of luck for 2015.
We had 2 Slidor composite doors fitted last July along with 3 windows and over the winter noticed ever increasing ingress of water comming in over the thermal break on the side door thresshold , though none at all on the front door (the house is north facing on the front door and the side door faces west ) , having spoken to a Solidor technition , he said that the condensation occuring on the edge of the door which runns down the inner chanel would bypass the flap seal and pass through the door threshhold , was due to… Read more »