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Letter to Fabricator, June 2010
Dear John
Recently a friend bought a new house from a large national house builder who was promoting the properties as sustainable homes. In his mind sustainable homes meant energy saving light bulbs, cavity wall insulation, and low maintenance long lasting PVC-U windows and doors. However, during the build the buyer soon realised that in fact he was getting timber windows and doors and based on past experience was not impressed.
Some things, like long snagging lists, never change. On completion, as the list of things to fix or change grew they got around to the timber windows and doors. The buyer was disturbed to find the front cills completely damaged and there were chips to the windows. The builders had tried to mask the damage with some sort of filler but had bodged it. The buyer demanded they be replaced.
Having had bad experiences with timber windows and the high maintenance needed to keep them serviceable, and had a good experience with PVC-U, the buyer expressed his preference for PVC-U windows and doors. The immediate response by the housebuilder was: "No, PVC's the enemy, these are sustainable homes."
Apart from trying to foist a patently damaged product on the customer, if this emotional view of PVC-U among large house builders is widespread it is worrying. Trying to sell timber windows as sustainable without making it clear that they are timber is a particular concern. The BRE makes no such distinction; both timber and PVC-U being accorded equal ratings for sustainability. In practice of course, PVC-U is a lot more sustainable, as new home owners with timber windows will discover soon enough when it comes to maintaining them. PVC-U is at least as good as timber and in many ways far better, but perceptions are reality, and if house builders who have been taken in by timber's propaganda specify timber windows and repeat this nonsense to enough home buyers we will all lose out.
That's why it's important we unite and make the case for PVC-U using the facts. This involves everyone across the supply chain, from system companies to fabricators and installers to sell the benefits of PVC-U as a material to specifiers, contractors, developers, house builders and homeowners.
Fight back and make the case for PVC-U - visit http://www.PVCaware.org or download a fact sheet from http://www.fightingbackwithfacts.com
Yours sincerely
Martin Randall
Chairman of Crystal Direct & Founder of Fighting Back with Facts
Recently a friend bought a new house from a large national house builder who was promoting the properties as sustainable homes. In his mind sustainable homes meant energy saving light bulbs, cavity wall insulation, and low maintenance long lasting PVC-U windows and doors. However, during the build the buyer soon realised that in fact he was getting timber windows and doors and based on past experience was not impressed.
Some things, like long snagging lists, never change. On completion, as the list of things to fix or change grew they got around to the timber windows and doors. The buyer was disturbed to find the front cills completely damaged and there were chips to the windows. The builders had tried to mask the damage with some sort of filler but had bodged it. The buyer demanded they be replaced.
Having had bad experiences with timber windows and the high maintenance needed to keep them serviceable, and had a good experience with PVC-U, the buyer expressed his preference for PVC-U windows and doors. The immediate response by the housebuilder was: "No, PVC's the enemy, these are sustainable homes."
Apart from trying to foist a patently damaged product on the customer, if this emotional view of PVC-U among large house builders is widespread it is worrying. Trying to sell timber windows as sustainable without making it clear that they are timber is a particular concern. The BRE makes no such distinction; both timber and PVC-U being accorded equal ratings for sustainability. In practice of course, PVC-U is a lot more sustainable, as new home owners with timber windows will discover soon enough when it comes to maintaining them. PVC-U is at least as good as timber and in many ways far better, but perceptions are reality, and if house builders who have been taken in by timber's propaganda specify timber windows and repeat this nonsense to enough home buyers we will all lose out.
That's why it's important we unite and make the case for PVC-U using the facts. This involves everyone across the supply chain, from system companies to fabricators and installers to sell the benefits of PVC-U as a material to specifiers, contractors, developers, house builders and homeowners.
Fight back and make the case for PVC-U - visit http://www.PVCaware.org or download a fact sheet from http://www.fightingbackwithfacts.com
Yours sincerely
Martin Randall
Chairman of Crystal Direct & Founder of Fighting Back with Facts
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