Rod Appleyard's appearances on BBC TV's Watchdog have served to underline that you are only as good as the people you employ, and most important are the surveyors and fitters
Glassex is but a distant memory and Interbuild has been and gone.

Nonetheless, Glassex was not the doom and gloom predicted. No, it may not have had the razzmatazz of those in the heady days in the 80s but we are all grown up now, or so I would like to think.

This month I intended to give the surveyor's view of Glassex with a mention of Merlin's new very good and very much needed PLS2 laser.

Vertical or horizontal, it does the lot and from what I see it's a much needed bit of kit that can be relied on. Not cheap but then the good things in life seldom are.

I then wandered over to the other side of the hall and there on a side aisle was 'Widgets'. We have watched this small family business work very hard and being engineers they have looked at our peripheral components. There was the answer to all bay problems, available off the shelf, no need to get by with a bodge. The tidiest and best type of bay pole I have seen in a long time. A good bit of kit, easy to use and nearly, I did say nearly, fool proof.

Watchdog winner
Moving on, lets look at the classic of all classics. As many of you will have seen or heard I have been called in to work on Watchdog a couple of times. The last was an absolute winner down in Surrey.

It is common knowledge now that Coldseal AKA Bryco Ltd received a complete demolition job courtesy of Auntie Beeb. I am not going to comment on the complaints department bit, I am sure they have sorted that out very quickly, but I am going to look at the installation part of the feature.

I always try to explain to people that unfortunately the company they deal with is only as good as the people they come in contact with from that company. Coldseal is no different.

Lets look at the installation in the cold light of day.

Every frame was cement pointed in, two were flush with the face of the brickwork, and none had been silicone sealed correctly. While you read this I hope you are reaching for BPF 348/2 revised 2001 and due to be updated this year (you promised Paul).

Did the directors do this? NO! It was those loveable lads we place our fortunes in, the fitting team – those smiling faces peering out of the van window every morning not sure whether they should be out of bed let alone fitting windows.

Their innocence obvious by the blank expression of their faces as you give them the next contract to install. With their grunts and silicone sealed overalls, yes we draw them to our hearts like indigestion or a bad case of colic.

Now lets look at the only point that Watchdog made public knowledge, the bay windows. They were falling away and yes I could get my hand in the cracks with ease, and yes it was about to go. Props were installed the day after filming. They were not well installed, and the fixings were not in the correct position as with the whole job.

And the bit you all viewed where the bay poles were missing: The reason was that lying propped up in a corner in each room was a complete set of bay poles with top and bottom fittings still in the bags.

I think Del Boy used to call Rodney a complete plonker at moments like these. Well this sinks lower than that. There was no reason not to install them, just too much trouble at the time. As for the cement pointing, it leaves me speechless.

This is a terrible indictment of our industry and I know we will never get rid of the cowboy element, but come on, get your fitters trained, make sure that not only they have all the bits and bobs to carry out a good installation but they know what they are for and how to fit them.

Meeting expectations
As good as your management and advertising is, you are only as good as the people you employ, and most important are the surveyors and fitters. Training should be a big part of your budget if you are going to survive and live up to your customer's expectations.

Can anyone out there give me a figure of how many windows and conservatories are installed each year? Do you know your complaint ratio to windows and conservatories you fit? If you are certified you should know.

Do you have a real complaints procedure, not just on paper on a nail? I often add to my talks on installation that at the end of a job or if things have not gone right, fix it then deliver a bunch of flowers with a thank you message. Your cost £10-£15, cheap PR, the lady of the house likes the flowers and the husband is happy because she is happy. The little niggles are forgotten and every one will hear about the nice company that put it all right and gave her a bunch of flowers when they had finished.

Just a word of caution, you do have to do it right or put it right first!!!!!

As for the Conservatory Casanova. Well, you have to take your hat off to him. Is he smooth or what?

Source

Glass Age