It's sometimes hard to remember,
but long before PVC-U took over
from timber, and before national
housebuilders brought uniformity to
the British landscape, diversity ruled.

Different parts of the country favoured
different architecture, different bricks
and stone, wall coatings, claddings
& roofing materials. Window and door
styles varied, and colour was king.
In some areas windows were picked
out in black and white; in others pale
blue was common.

Reds and greens, yellows and browns, as well as softer creams and pastels were
used to match the look of the house and character of the owner. White, or a range
of whites, was commonly used in combination with colour.

Then in the late 1970s to the mid 1990s Britain's housing stock turned white as
homeowners converted to the benefits of low maintenance, high performance
white PVC-U. Polychrome became monochrome.

In the early days of PVC-U white was
also in fashion. Homeowners were
replacing their old avocado or
chocolate brown bathroom suites
with cool white modern ones.
White windows and doors looked
fashionable. It wasn't quite the only
colour on offer, but white simplified
the economics & logistics of supply.

Colour was available as a special
which suited commercial projects and
architects who could order the large
minimum quantities well in advance.
But fabricators and installers doing domestic or small commercial projects
could not consider colour apart from
a limited range of foiled woodgrains.
Even when special paints became an
option in the 1990s, logistics, scale
and cost favoured commercial projects

Ten years ago colour was less than
10% of the window profile market, but
homeowners are bored with a white
landscape. Both inside and outside
they are turning to colour.
They are more colour-confident and
willing to experiment. Even with the
limited colour palette generally
available demand is growing fast,
and today coloured profiles including
woodgrain are 16% of total UK volume.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland the
proportion is higher and growing.
It's growing as homeowners want to
match the colour in their houses,

differentiate themselves and add value to their property.
Colour is not just fashionable, it's fun. It's also increasing as installers seek
opportunities to grow and make more money by meeting this latent demand.
Housebuilders too are waking up to colour, using cream for example to help them
sell properties faster.

Availability is the key, and the systems company's role is crucial. Installers cannot
sell colour unless they have a wide range to offer. They have to be confident that their
trade supplier can supply reliably an equivalent quality window, door or conservatory
in the same time as their normal product at a reasonable price.
And fabricators can't do that unless they're confident that their systems company
can supply everything from stock in real time. That takes some doing, which is why
several systems companies have been slow to promote or commit to colour.

Colour is big business

Once consumers get hooked on colour, growth is rapid. In Ireland, both north and
south of the border, colour is big business and Spectus has been at the forefront
of this development. Colour has grown strongly over the last four or five years from
20% of total volume to around 50% and it's still rising. In Ireland homeowners have
taken to colour for new build and home improvements, and they pay more for it.
But systems companies have got to get the logistics right to provide colours easily,
quickly and cost effectively. Paul O'Sullivan, Managing Director of National Profiles,
one of Ireland's largest distributors of PVC-U, Aluminium window and door profile,
and the Spectus Window Systems distributor in the 32 counties, says:
"Having a balanced stock and supplying say eleven or more colours in quantity, in
normal delivery times, keeps everyone on their toes. You have to be more efficient.
The whole supply chain, from system company to end user has had to learn to
deal with colour."

A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

The UK looks set to follow the Irish trend. Spectus' foiled profile, including woodgrain,
increased from 11,000 metres a week to 19,000 metres a week during 2007.

The future's bright, but it's not just orange. Increased saturation in the core
casement replacement window market means choice is vital. You're more likely
to make a homeowner happy and seal a deal if you offer what they really want.