craig

Just received the communication from factories of increases, this is across the board, all products, all materials, including transport as a result of gas, electricity, raw materials. Everyone in the chain is basically facing increased costs and having to pass them on. Up to 18%, with transport costs subject to revision prior to dispatch and every project needing repriced before any orders being accepted by any of the manufacturers I use. Best checking with your suppliers, they may not be increasing at the moment but it will definitely be pending. Our increases are immediate.

I’d say it’s a glass supplier issue from what you’re saying. Has it just been installed or installed for a while? It should be covered under warranty. Firm yourself up with GGF guidelines. https://www.ggf.org.uk we all follow them even if not a member. I’d expect a manufacturer claim with the glass supplier, unless the manufacturer got specs wrong which then means their issue.

Hi Gareth, Apologies for delay, we have to wait for the quote to be returned from factory. You’ll receive early this week. I have a meeting on Monday and will push them to process asap.

Yeah, basically put the above would be showing the blind on the outer skin behind the external finish. Different boxes existing where you can render over the front face of the box.

Blind box generally isn't attached to anything other than the guide rails, the guide rails being attached to the window frame & shouldn't really need to be attached to anything else.

No they don't. They'll tell you to get in touch with me if you contact them. They don't but do technically via ourselves.

Dependant on budget, Scotia windows or Scotia architectural (Internorm) will be able to help you with good quality uPVC/uPVC Alu

They’ve used PU foam and that’s a rigid insulation so when the steel does deflect only operational issues will be experienced. That’s pretty much not done anymore and compriband is used, if they include it in installation cost or an extra. If client doesn’t pay for it not much they can do but use PU foam. I suspect they will be difficult to slide at some point.

Thanks, it boils down to a couple of factors but mainly system and factory size. You will at times end up with a joining section. Sometimes theres nothing you can do but at 6.5m I’m surprised.

Check the spec, if UK glass it’s usually etched in the corner (visible) you’ll need to check. If European, it’s usually marked on the spacer bar.

That's the scary thing. Manufacturers/suppliers that take the utter **** and those customers that haven't received multiple quotes or are fairly happy with the product and pay the price they were supplied. They shouldn't have been in a position to knock £10K off to get your business. If they were comfortable with £15K in the first instance, then why did they "try" and fleece you for an extra £10K in the first place?

I’m curious. Why did they drop the price by £10K and did it not ring alarms bells? That’s basically £10K profit they’ve dropped or they bought the project, so how much did they and are they marking up in the first instance?

I'd supply from UK manufacturers for PH suitable windows in a heartbeat "if" the quality was good and I have yet to find a UK timber alu clad window supplier that actually supplies a decent quality window. uPVC are pretty much imported profiles (some may be extruded here) and aluminium profiles are pretty much European profiles (Reynaers/Schuco for example). Bottom line, I've yet to be convinced by a UK timber composite product or as I said, I would supply in a heartbeat. They're just not very good.

G Value is based on the glass spec only. Know them well but they aren't cheap on par with Internorm/Gaulhofer and the likes. Transport costs are ridiculous and my installer does the service work for Katzbeck.

Don’t rule them out, they slide like butter. One bad experience shouldn’t result in them being discounted. I’ve done a 19.5m lift and slide triple track & triple glazed with 2 half tonne doors sliding right and another 2 sliding left (12.5m clear opening). 1 tonne when sliding together and you can slide them with ease.

Was this just internorm stand or was this all stands? If all stands I would blame Build It rather than those displaying.

Makes sense.

That's weird, the sliding panel would have been 1750 width and you should be able to move that with 1 finger (any lift and slide system). What they might have had on the door is the soft closer/opener, which does require a tiny bit of inertia to overcome it.

Just had an interesting chat with one of our suppliers and I was discussing costs as some timber is coming down. That's raw timber and not engineered timber. He sent me a comparison of his fuel bill for Dec/Jan, rounded up below. 31st Dec 8,100 eur (closed 22nd Dec) 31st Jan 15,700 eur (re-opened 10th Jan) That will give you some idea of the costs that suppliers are incurring just in fuel. That will be similar (different figures obviously) with other suppliers. So glass suppliers, aluminium extruders, engineered timber suppliers etc. I don't see costs coming down anytime soon if I'm completely honest, I reckon another 12 months of uncertainty price wise.

Most want timber internally and not aluminium. There's also the mindset of cold, timber gives a warmer feeling but also a better Uf value generally & a better overall Uw without having to add to a standard profile to obtain a better Uf.

Look & maintenance. You can give a timber window a completely different look by appling alu cladding. External maintenance is reduced to pretty much zero. The window is essentially the exact same as timber.

No issue with timber windows, no reason why a softwood (pine/spruce) cannot be used but a harder timber makes more sense, however. Maintenance is paramount, fail to maintain them and it will bite you in the ***e. Different finishes will have different timescale, lighter lacquers will have different timescales from darker lacquers. Painted will have a longer timescale but will still need maintenance. All windows need maintenance. If you actually look at your warranty guidelines (everyone), you can technically be voiding your warranty if you don't maintain yearly. Some manufacturers/suppliers are not that fussed about it but others are sticklers. Alu clad for example should have the aluminium washed down (just water) once a year. As for the uplift, it's not much to be honest, it's about 5%. As for the choice, alu clad everyday of the week - oak (personal preference) if you can afford too.

Any form of background ventilation is suffice, as long as meets requirements and controllable.

Give me a shout, I’ll put you in touch with a team I use. You’ll be able to deal direct.

It's not over, you kindly offer a pit stop with a coffee and soup when on my travels. So in a sense windows will always continue to be with you ?