Conservatories Worcestershire – Buyers advice part two.

Make sure you are buying from a manufacturer!

Now, you may well be thinking that surely, all conservatory companies manufacture the products they sell?

Well, the fact is that the majority of companies who sell conservatories these days do not actually manufacture anything, preferring to simply buy in ‘trade’ frames from one source, glazed units from another source and so on and so forth.

This can obviously lead to major problems if a replacement frame is needed urgently and you have to wait while the part is manufactured and delivered from the other end of the country.

(To any company who is buying this way in order to sell conservatories, Worcestershire can seem an awful long way away!)

Another common problem is that the company may find a cheaper source of frames, which means the replacement will not match the existing installation.

Buying conservatories is not like buying, say, a new car. Whilst a 3m x 3m Victorian conservatory from one company may look pretty much like any other, the way they are made and what they are made from varies considerably from one supplier to the next.

Or, put another way, if you were buying a new car, would you be happy if you found that the dealer was buying in trade bits and pieces, bolting them all together and passing it off as product made by Ford or BMW for example?

What I would recommend you look for is a well established company (preferably with 20 or 30 years trading behind them) with excellent continuity of supply and who actually manufacture the products they are selling.

When you visit prospective conservatory showrooms and ask about their manufacturing facilities, don’t be fobbed off with excuses such as ‘We manufacture in the next town/city/county’ or ‘We have a factory down the road’. (They perhaps do have a factory nearby, but it may well be just a storage place for the trade frames which they are buying in).

So, how do you find out if the company manufacturers or not?

Simple. Just insist on a guided tour of the factory to see the manufacturing process.

And don’t accept any excuses!

Conservatories Worcestershire buyers advice – At a glance round-up.

When visiting the showroom, always insist on a factory tour – or you could end up buying from a middleman instead of a manufacturer.

Conservatories Worcestershire – Buyers advice part one.

Ten year guarantees – Watch out for the “Smoke and Mirrors”!

So, you’re looking for conservatories Worcestershire and would like some help and advice to get the best possible value for your money.

A quick way to find out whether you are buying a good quality conservatory is to look at the guarantee which comes with it.

Why?

Because very few 10 year guarantees are what they appear.

The problem is, your definition of ‘the conservatory’, is all too often totally different to what it is to the industry.

To the industry, the conservatory (or ‘window’ or ‘door’, for that matter), is the frame, whereas to the public, it is the entire structure (base, dwarf wall, frame, glass, hardware, roof structure, roof material, trim, any glass-fibre products, etc).

To demonstrate what I mean, here are a few excerpts from a small selection of supposed “10 year guarantees which I have been given by my customers recently;

“Double glazing replacement windows are subject to a 10 year guarantee . . . . . . All sealed units have a five year guarantee”

Here’s another-

“We guarantee that the profiles supplied in white and coloured UPVC will not discolour within 10 years of the date of delivery. . . . . . . . . We will give you a guarantee for all sealed glass units for 5 years from the date of delivery and for hardware for 1 year from the date of delivery. . . . . . . You cannot transfer the guarantee set out in paragraph 8 to a new owner of the property . . . . .”

And another-

“All PVC-u products supplied by **************** Ltd carry a 10 year guarantee . . . . . . . . All sealed units have a five year guarantee. All window and door hardware carries a twelve month guarantee”.

And another-

“Sealed glass units are guaranteed for a period of no longer than 5 years. Locking mechanisms, hinges and metallic moving parts are guaranteed for 1 year. Conservatory roof sheets are not guaranteed against abnormal weather conditions. Door panels are guaranteed for a period of 12 months. All building work is guaranteed for 12 months. The guarantee is non-transferable”.

And another-

“All uPVC products are guaranteed for 10 years. Glazed units are covered for 5 years. Hardware (hinges, locking mechanisms, etc) are guaranteed for one year. White door panels are guaranteed for 5 years, wood-grain panels for 2 years. Conservatory bases are guaranteed for 12 months”.

As you can see, guarantees are rarely what they appear, but unfortunately what happens in 99 out of 100 instances, is that the customer asks “How long is the conservatory (meaning the entire structure) guaranteed for?”, to which the salesman replies “The conservatory (meaning the frame) is guaranteed for 10 years”.

Regrettably, that is as far as the questioning goes in virtually every case and the stark reality only hits home when major problems arise a short time later, when very expensive repairs are required, which aren’t covered by the guarantee.

Ask yourself this question – If the product is of a high standard and quality, why is the guarantee so poor?

Conservatories Worcestershire buyers advice – At a glance round-up.

Never rely on a verbal promise of what the guarantee consists of. Always ask to see a full copy of the guarantee well in advance of signing the order and make sure it covers –

The base works

The frames (for discolouration, splitting and warping)

The glazed units

The hardware (hinges, restrictors, window locking mechanisms and door locking strips)

The roof structure (rafters, ring beams, valley gutters, etc)

The roof material (polycarbonate, glass, tiles, GRP products)

Esure that the guarantee is on the conservatory, not you, so that you can transfer it to new owners if you sell the propery.

More advice on buying conservatories Worcestershire coming soon.

Contact us

We are Bewdley based Banbury Windows, Worcestershire’s longest established manufacturers (over 34 years!) of Premium Quality Hand Finished conservatories and windows.

Over the coming weeks, I will be giving you free advice on how to get the very best value for money when buying your new conservatory or windows and how to make sure you don’t get short-changed, overpriced, high pressured or bamboozled in the process!

In the meanwhile, if you need any help or advice, I am Mike Broome and I can be contacted on 01299 -266527 or email me at bewdley@banburywindows.co.uk