craig Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Hello All, I suppose I should let you all know who I am. My name is Craig and I've been in the passivhaus industry now for nearly 10 years and built up my knowledge and understanding from friends, colleagues and learning about the methods and different construction methods etc. I've mainly been involved in the supply of windows and doors and Im basically the tech guy at Ecowin/Gaulhofer Windows & Doors in the UK. I'm not here to self promote or claim we are better than everyone else but I'am happy to help anyone with my knowledge and understanding. I recently turned 40 (ouch), I have 3 wonderful kids and I was recently surprised to be informed of an impending fourth. As mentioned, I do work for Ecowin/Gaulhofer and I'm not here to generate sales or push products or claim we are better than anyone else, as a lot of good suppliers/manufacturers exist (a lot of poor ones also). If I can be of any help, please let me know. Thanks Craig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Hi and welcome to the forum. I am sure your knowledge will be most welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz07 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Do you have a telly? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 13 minutes ago, Oz07 said: Do you have a telly? Yeah, we can't get on it for the kids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Hi and Welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Welcome. I will have an up to date window schedule making its way to your desk very shortly (hopefully it's correct this time ?). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 2 hours ago, Alexphd1 said: Welcome. I will have a up to date window schedule making its way to your deck very shortly (hopefully it's correct this time ?). Excellent, always look forward to receiving schedules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 Hi Craig. Thanks for the introduction, and an early welcome to the 4-kid club , ( which really buggers up your choice of family car btw ). Your input could be quite helpful so hopefully you'll stick around 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 Welcome Craig. American family near us has 7 kids, one with ADHD. Father usually seen driving around in a two door, two seat American car. Can't think why :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Welcome Craig. I've recommended Ecowin/Gaulhofer to a couple of people in the past (one definitely used you) based on running into Thomas on my way out of Ecobuild a few years ago. I went with another supplier in the end, although it turned out that the reason we went with them over Ecowin was actually due to Thomas being more technically knowledgeable about his products than the people we went with! (Basically, he looked at our window schedule and pointed out that some of them weren't possible as openers due to their size. The other lot didn't realise this until we'd committed to using them and their technical department got more involved). Will use you next time, I promise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) On 2017-6-10 at 07:22, Nickfromwales said: Hi Craig. Thanks for the introduction, and an early welcome to the 4-kid club , ( which really buggers up your choice of family car btw ). Your input could be quite helpful so hopefully you'll stick around Go classic. Saab 95 or Citroen CX Familiale - you get swmbo, 5 kids, and a ride-on mechanic just like the Mille Miglia. Edited June 11, 2017 by Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 39 minutes ago, Ferdinand said: Go classic. Saab 95 or Citroen CX Familiale - you get swmbo, 5 kids, and a ride-on mechanic just like the Mille Miglia. I needed to consolidate to one vehicle so sold my van and 4x4 and bought a Mercedes Vito Dualiner ( 2 rows of 3 seats ) and as its xlwb I have enough room in the back for my tools, plus it's got a huge roof rack. One tax, one mot and one insurance. Tres bien. . Just got to find the time to rack it all out now......not tres bien. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 18 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: I needed to consolidate to one vehicle so sold my van and 4x4 and bought a Mercedes Vito Dualiner ( 2 rows of 3 seats ) and as its xlwb I have enough room in the back for my tools, plus it's got a huge roof rack. One tax, one mot and one insurance. Tres bien. . Just got to find the time to rack it all out now......not tres bien. . On the Mway yesterday I passed a crew-cab lorry towing a big caravan. It makes sense. I do not think it was a showman - would have had a trailer with an elephant on the back of the caravan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) My middle aged daughter was born with a rare condition called SMA-LED with cortical dysplasia. She was the only child in the world with this particular variant, so the car we have is a Nissan X-Trail but about to switch to a wheelchair accessible Ford Torneo or similar. However, I'm also about to buy a Nissan Elgrand. @jack sorry to hear the difficulties experienced and your choice to go elsewhere. We are different from others, we tend to send out as accurate as possible quotations. So that nothing is missed and the costs we supply shouldn't really vary. I've seen some competitor like for like quotes and wonder at times how they get away with sending them out. We are also very keen to seen proposed section details as early as possible. Why? Basically some details may need wider frame / cladding details, may not be optimised and we may need to run thermal calculations on the detail and supply alternative proposals. We are also not scared to run away from challenges, if we think we can achieve a solution we will. We priced a glass cupola 5m (domed) glass to glass 8 sections. The fixtures and and fittings to be gold plated and a 500KG chandelier to be hung from it as well. We were on the extreme verge of technical possibilities but we did it, didn't win it in the end as the client changed his mind in a big way. We can't win everything but we do try to and we do try to be different from other suppliers. Edited June 11, 2017 by craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 1 minute ago, craig said: We priced a glass cupola 5m (domed) glass to glass 8 sections. The fixtures and and fittings to be gold plated and a 500KG chandelier to be hung from it as well. We were on the extreme verge of technical possibilities but we did it, didn't win it in the end as the client changed his mind it a big way. Well if you've still got the designs I'm sure @recoveringacademic needs something for the downstairs WC of Great Newt Towers .... What is the current turnaround on windows these days ..? We hear the horror stories of 3-4 months delay so would be worth understanding what the "real" market is like. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 @craig, the quotes actually didn't change, we just needed to split a couple of windows into two leaves rather than one. I can't fault the (German) manufacturer - their product is very high quality, and they were a pleasure to work with (the MD sat with our architect for two hours going through installation details and provided some very helpful ideas). The installers, unfortunately, did a poor job. Missed that the windows were to be packed up by 15mm to allow fitment of cills, which meant we had to hack off the edge of the cavity closers to make space. Then it turned out that they hadn't realised they needed access from the side to mount the external blind rails to the window frame, so I had to go around taking of all the exterior battens. They left on the the morning of day 5 of a fixed price "5 to 6" day job, then demanded full payment for travel time (they came over from Ireland) and accommodation to come back and finish the job when the issues above were identified. To add insult to injury, I found out some weeks later when I went to remove the cills to work on the butchered cavity closers that they'd obviously not had the right screws to hand to fix the cills, so they used construction adhesive to permanently attach them! I would never, ever consider having installation handled by anyone other than the window supplier. The opportunity for buck-passing and excuses is just too high. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, jack said: I would never, ever consider having installation handled by anyone other than the window supplier. The opportunity for buck-passing and excuses is just too high. I agree, but then most of the window companies we got quotes from had their own installers, and the one we used, Munster Joinery, have an in-house installation team. I think the thing that amazed me more than anything else was the massive variation in price, for very similar spec windows, from different suppliers. I just couldn't get my head around why Internorm were two and half times the price, and had a 10 to 12 week lead time, the longest of any of the companies we had quotes from. Edited June 11, 2017 by JSHarris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) 4 hours ago, PeterW said: What is the current turnaround on windows these days ..? We hear the horror stories of 3-4 months delay so would be worth understanding what the "real" market is like. It depends really. standard windows (square, rectangular) - 15 working days production. Add a sliding door 20 days production. Add shaped windows 30 days. Add entrance doors, 8 to 12 weeks. Special requests can vary but these are all standard production timescales. Add 10 days for invoicing and payments being received/ transferred and 7 days delivery. We can be on site within as little as 4 weeks (tight but possible), just depends on the order. Generally we are 6 to 8 weeks, you also need to take into account time to package items for exporting (48/72 hours). Edited June 11, 2017 by craig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 3 hours ago, jack said: @craig, the quotes actually didn't change, we just needed to split a couple of windows into two leaves rather than one. I can't fault the (German) manufacturer - their product is very high quality, and they were a pleasure to work with (the MD sat with our architect for two hours going through installation details and provided some very helpful ideas). The installers, unfortunately, did a poor job. Missed that the windows were to be packed up by 15mm to allow fitment of cills, which meant we had to hack off the edge of the cavity closers to make space. Then it turned out that they hadn't realised they needed access from the side to mount the external blind rails to the window frame, so I had to go around taking of all the exterior battens. They left on the the morning of day 5 of a fixed price "5 to 6" day job, then demanded full payment for travel time (they came over from Ireland) and accommodation to come back and finish the job when the issues above were identified. To add insult to injury, I found out some weeks later when I went to remove the cills to work on the butchered cavity closers that they'd obviously not had the right screws to hand to fix the cills, so they used construction adhesive to permanently attach them! I would never, ever consider having installation handled by anyone other than the window supplier. The opportunity for buck-passing and excuses is just too high. That is the exact reason we prefer to supply the full package, we will only offer warranty on the window/doors. If a fault develops, who is to blame, what's caused the issue, how has it happened. We can usually tell if it's the result of install or misuse, however, it can cause falls outs with contractors/clients which we wish to avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 (edited) 4 hours ago, JSHarris said: I agree, but then most of the window companies we got quotes from had their own installers, and the one we used, Munster Joinery, have an in-house installation team. I think the thing that amazed me more than anything else was the massive variation in price, for very similar spec windows, from different suppliers. I just couldn't get my head around why Internorm were two and half times the price, and had a 10 to 12 week lead time, the longest of any of the companies we had quotes from. Depends on how the calculate the costs, what equipment is required, does the installation cost include transport and accommodation costs, compriband, membrane etc. These additional items need to be fitted and add cost onto an installation which is not just foam filled for example. I'll be honest, I have looked at numerous comparison quotes and wonderered how on earth they can offer it for that price and then questioned, how good is the installation service/after care. Edited June 11, 2017 by craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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