Conservatory Outlet Blog

James Clarkson’s Account - new boy at Conservatory Outlet:

 As the “new boy” in the double glazing industry (4 months in, lifetime to go) I’ve noticed a few things!

Firstly, the fact that someone like myself, no previous knowledge of the PVCu industry is hard to come by as it seems once you’re in you’re in. And you may pass from ship to ship but that’s it; New blood is unheard of.

So trying to compete against years of experience may seem hard but in the Conservatories / Window Industry, I think a pro-active approach coupled with fresh ideas and a willingness to learn and succeed are core to the latter.

Obviously the experience and knowledge will come but if you don’t have that foundation there, then the chance of having your name recognised in this business is slim to none.

Take West Yorkshire Windows, for example, a company that started with little knowledge and a sum of £200 pounds in the bank, and armed with a tape measure in the back pocket. They have proven that drive, hard work and ambition to succeed, is all you need. Not just in the double glazing industry, but that formula relates to anything, “put the effort in and thou shall be rewarded” if not a commandment then bloody common sense!

So West Yorkshire Windows and Conservatory Outlet is today one of the market leaders in the north of England. So that itself is proof for myself and the other “new boys” that we can, and will, succeed in an ever changing and problematic industry.

All it takes is to stand up and be recognised. Watch this space!!!

In the first of a serious of posts, we’re going to look at some of the best conservastory and double glazing companies in the UK.

Firstly, we would like to talk about West Yorkshire Windows.

West Yorkshire Windows work predominantly in the Yorkshire area - Wakefield, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, Pontefract, Castleford, Horbury and Ossett.  They also conservatories, windows and doors in parts of South Yorkshire, such as Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham, South Emsall and Doncaster.

They are famous in the area for two things.  Firstly, they have been featured on a number of TV shows, including Carol Vordermann’s ‘Better Homes’, DIY SOS, and as the experts on ‘House of Horrors’.  They are also due to appear on a forthcoming TV show called ‘Natural Born Sellers’.  And they have a regular TV advert running on Yorkshire TV - with Andrew Glover, the Managing Director, discussing the latest offers, such as a free laminate floor with every conservatory order.

West Yorkshire Windows fit uPVC conservatories, windows, doors, double glazing, pvc French Doors, pvc Patio Doors, upvc Bi Folding Doors, Sash Windows, Global composite doors, and PVCu roofline (fascias and soffits).

For a fantastic double glazing company in West Yorkshire - then look no further than West Yorkshire Windows in Wakefield!!!

The guys at the Lancashire and Cheshire Conservatory Outlets, have developed a fantastic new conservatory website:

This new website has great sections for pvc conservatories, pvc windows and pvc doors.  There’s some great special offers they are running on the website, such as offering a third off conservatories, and Rock Doors fully fitted from £775.

There’s information about how to find their three conservatory showsights at:

• Lancashire Conservatory Outlet - showroom in Leyland, Preston.
• Cheshire Conservatory Outlet - showroom in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
• Knutsford conservatory showsite.

There’s some good general advice also, such as why choose a conservatory, personalise your conservatory, and conservatory planning.

So if you’re looking for conservatories, windows and doors in the North West of England, why not try the Conservatory Outlet website!

We manufacture uPVC conservatories, windows and doors from our 15,000 sq ft factory in Wakefield and supply these to a network of conservatory companies throughout the UK.

Most of the frames we manufacture go to window companies in West, North, and South Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire, but we do have companies throughout the UK.

We manufacture the Synseal Synerjy conservatories.  Synseal is the market leading product in the UK, and has recently invested in a TV campaign on ITV - Ask For It By Name.

We pride ourselves on making the best uPVC windows and conservatory frames possible, by using a combination of the latest state of the art machinery combined with a dedicated staff of manufacturing craftsmen. We have made big investments in machinery to ensure our frames are manufactured to the highest possible standard.

To complement our frame manufacturing plant in Wakefield, we have recently invested in a new sealed unit plant in Huddersfield. From this factory we manufacture all types of double glazed units, including toughened, laminated, bevelled and decorative styles.

By manufacturing our sealed units with the award winning ‘Super Spacer,’ we are able to produce one of Yorkshire’s first energy efficient window systems.

Conservatory Outlet specialises in manufacturing bespoke uPVC conservatories, windows, doors and double glazing products.  We supply a network of quality conservatory companies in the UK, each with the same great product, service and quality.

The advantage of dealing with Conservatory Outlet is that you get the best service possible from one of our local installers, but with the backing of one of the UK’s leading manufacturers.

Each Conservatory Outlet dealer offers a full range of uPVC products, which includes conservatories, porches, casement windows, sash windows, residential doors, French Doors, Patio Doors, composite doors, Bi-Folding doors and uPVC roofline.

If you’re looking to buy a conservatory in Yorkshire, then Conservatory Outlet has a number of great showrooms in your area well worth a visit.

For conservatories in North Yorkshire, Orion Windows have two fantastic conservatory showrooms - in Harrogate and York.  The Harrogate showroom is massive and is possibly the best display of uPVC conservatories in the UK.

For conservatories in West Yorkshire we have two showrooms.  Firstly, we have the Visual Effect showroom in Mirfield where there is also a great display of uPVC windows and doors.  In Wakefield, West Yorkshire Windows have 13 conservatories on display, and the base for the main Conservatory Outlet factory.

For conservatories in South Yorkshire, you could visit the Prime Windows conservatory showroom in Dinnington - an extremely good display of pvcu conservatories, windows and doors.

West Yorkshire Windows have recently been running a highly successful TV advert on Yorkshire TV, encouraging consumers down to their conservatory showroom in Wakefield.

The advert has been so successful that a similar ad is now being planned for April, which will include all the Conservatory Outlet dealers in Yorkshire.  The script will be as follows:

Hi, I’m Andrew from Conservatory Outlet.  I’d like to invite you down to one of our Conservatory showrooms in Harrogate, York, Mirfield, Dinnington and Wakefield.

We have some fantastic deals on at the moment including:

3 year interest free credit

or

Buy now pay nothing for 12 months

Or if you order your conservatory before the end of the month, I’ll give you a free Laminate floor, if it’s windows and doors, I’ll give you free fitting worth up to £600.

But you better be quick ‘cos these deals can’t last forever!

Also, a similar advert will run on Granada TV with similar special offers, and directing people to the conservatory showrooms in Lancashire and Cheshire.

Synseal conservatories can withstand 160mph wind speeds and 9ft snow loading and this video shows the testing procedure.

A Synseal conservatory from a Conservatory Outlet dealer is designed to cope with the extremes of the British weather.  The following video shows recent tests which were performed on the conservatory roof system:

Conservatory Roof Video

This is what Synseal had to say:

14 January 2008 Synseal took its conservatory roof to be tested. The Synseal roof system has BBA approval but with so many changes in the UK’s weather we wanted to make sure it could stand up to the most extreme conditions. Plus we wanted to put to rest some outrageous and desperate competitor claims.

British weather has become more unpredictable than ever. Torrential rain followed by drought; hail storms in July; and tornadoes in Birmingham. This year we’ve seen a month’s rainfall in just two days, high winds and even snow. Ironically testing almost had to be postponed because of bad weather.

Synseal has all the accreditations and standards available on its conservatory roofs. Extreme weather doesn’t follow rules. We wanted to put our conservatory roof through the worst conditions of wind and snow.

But we had some strict rules for ourselves.

We had only one shot. It had to be a standard roof, no different to what we would sell every day. It had to be installed as we recommend; no extra bolts and braces. And, most importantly no tweaking or retesting. When conservatories are installed you have to ensure that the recommendations are adequate. After all that’s how they are installed in the real world. In the real world you don’t pop back and make good in between hurricanes!

The engineers at Wintech were brilliant. They specialise in curtain walling and have some impressive projects under their belt including Canary Wharf, the Houses of Parliament and Arsenal football stadium. And they’ve tested conservatory roofs before.

Wintech explained what would happen and all the possible outcomes. We knew we wanted to take the roof to its extremes. Aiming a DC6 engine at the roof was a good way to find out how it would stand up to strong winds.

The DC6 engine creates the equivalent of 90 mile an hour winds and by adding negative pressure this speed can continue to rise. This test has already been performed on some conservatory roofs and the best previous result was 135 miles an hour.

The engine was fired up. Apart from the guttering that was shaking under the winds the roof stood strong. The roof went passed 90 miles an hour, then 100 and it kept going up. It sailed passed the recorded highest rate of a competitor roof at 135 miles. And it was still in working order at 160 miles an hour. Eventually at 165 mph one sheet of polycarbonate came loose. Impressive when you consider that the New Orleans disaster peeked at 115mph.

The test centre told us we could probably go even higher with a few modifications, but we declined. Any modifications made would not be the way we recommend our conservatory roof to be installed. It’s important that the roof we tested was built to our standard recommendations.

Also we wanted to perform the snow load test. This test was performed on the SAME roof that has just been tested in extreme winds.

Rather than load the roof with weights, the downward pressure is created by sucking the air from the conservatory. The advantage of testing this way is that not only does it apply dead weight to the roof; it guarantees that all the seals remain intact during the test too. If the seals lose their integrity the test has to stop because the pressure cannot be increased.

It’s fantastic to witness. You can hear the glass and frames creaking under the pressure and move over six inches but despite this the frames and roof stayed intact - through to snow loads of an incredible nine feet.

We put our roof through the 160 mile an hour winds and then subjected it to nine feet of snow. It already had all the accreditations on the market and the roof has been tried and tested in the field for over five years. The ease of installation makes it the most popular roof in the UK. In fact one out of every four conservatories in Britain is installed with a Synseal roof. We also wanted to show exactly what a Synseal conservatory can withstand without any extra bolts or braces — exactly as we recommend it’s installed. We weren’t surprised it surpassed the best result from any other conservatory tested… but we expect our competitors will be.

Conservatory Outlet are probably the largest installers of uPVC conservatories in the North of England.  We’ve always been strong in the Yorkshire region, but with the recent opening of two further showrooms in the North West of England.

Our dealer network now consists of showrooms in the following locations:

• York, North Yorkshire - Orion Windows
• Harrogate, North Yorkshire - Orion Windows
• Wakefield, West Yorkshire - West Yorkshire Windows
• Mirfield, West Yorkshire - Visual Effect
• Sheffield, South Yorkshire - Prime Window Systems
• Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria - Evalast Windows
• Queensferry, Deeside - Conservatory Outlet North Wales
• Leyland, Lancashire - Lancashire Conservatory Outlet
• Holmes Chapel, Cheshire - Cheshire Conservatory Outlet

We’re now looking for Conservatory Outlet dealers from the Midlands to join our expanding network.

We’re looking for great conservatory companies who are already strong in their local area, who are looking for that extra support from their supplier that will help bring added business.

Conservatory Outlet has expanded its dealer network to nine, making it the largest installer of bespoke conservatories in the North of England thanks to the opening of showrooms in Leyland near Preston and Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.

These new showrooms have been opened by Chris Mitchell and Andy Ross, two former managers of My Planet and backed by John Beaty who was involved in the success of the previous trading company Planet in the early years. John’s partner from that period, Dean St John, has no involvement in this new venture whatsoever.

With full agreement from the official administrators, the new company, trading as Lancashire Conservatory Outlet and Cheshire Conservatory Outlet will be assisting in the completion of unfinished installations and returning deposits, where required, taken by the previous company. This new trading agreement has quickly secured jobs for approximately 50 loyal and hard working staff.

The concept of the Conservatory Outlet dealer network has proven hugely successful thanks to the extended levels of marketing support including what is arguably the most comprehensive website within the industry at www.conservatoryoutlet.co.uk and its sister site http://www.conservatorytv.com/. Throughout the dealer network, each showroom has been able to achieve strong growth each year and the prospects for further success look very promising, something which attracted John Beaty to the Conservatory Outlet concept.

John Beaty comments: “The decision to venture back into the industry was a cautious and measured one. I wanted to be in a position to offer the consumer a strong and well-respected brand and the Conservatory Outlet dealer programme and branding will prove to be the perfect vehicle.”

Matthew Glover, managing director of Conservatory Outlet concludes: “This is a fantastic opportunity for all those concerned. John’s decision to venture back into the industry is a welcome one and the fact that he’s chosen our dealership programme shows that we have a very capable and proven business model.