Ventilation, Part F – And The Opportunity For An Upsell

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• Ventilation, Part F – And The Opportunity For An Upsell

Dean Bradley of Glazpart says the changes to Part F of the Building Regulations will make trickle vents the hardware that both fabricators and installers have to get their heads around – and use for an upsell.

Bradley writes, everyone in the window & door sector will be aware of the impending changes to the building regulations especially the requirement for trickle vents to be used on most new windows installed.

The lack of ventilation and the harm it does has been ignored by both installers and homeowners – and fabricators, of course. Add a lack of information and education and there has been little incentive or motivation to improve the environment in dwellings.

So the government has decided to act. Not only does poor ventilation damage the internal environment, it damages health. The NHS is aware that better ventilation could save it a small fortune.

The government’s view is that there is a need for regulation to address the issues informed in part by a study that shows that very few homes meet the current  minimum ventilation provisions recommended in ADF 2010: 2006.

The government audited 55 sites for compliance to ADF and only 2 sites complied to the 2006 regulations.

 

Profit

With trickle vents now to be fitted to most windows, this presents opportunities for the supply chain and installers to add value and margins to their products.

 

Performance

Today’s trickle vents are significantly different to their predecessors in terms of addressing issues of design and performance. The Link Vent from Glazpart for example has, depending upon how you view it either reduced its size by 50% or increased the equivalent area performance by 200%.

The 5000-link Vent delivers 5000EQA using a 13mm rout or 4000EQA on a 10mm rout with just a 454.5mm width. Consequently, you can fit (depending upon the application) the same number of vents you fit today in a habitable room to comply to the new 8,000sq.mm EQA requirement per habitable room. 

 

Compliance

It’s the scope of the windows that needs to be understood as the previous guideline of only fitting vents to replacement windows where the windows have vents fitted has gone and the minimum requirements for background ventilation must be installed, depending on the room type, especially as the use of the night vent position has been specifically excluded as a means of compliance.

What has changed however is how the products look, with the opportunity to upsell a trickle vent with a basic, better and best product. The key is to sell these as you would a high-end specification handle.

And don’t forget colour options - fabricators can now offer coloured or colour on white vents.

 

Basic

A basic trickle vent is one with the vent colour matched to the profile colour your customer wants and reduces the visual impact. Looks great on anthracite grey, cream and any number of other grey shades.

 

Better

A better tricklevent can be delivered If the profiles are foiled with the embossed ‘tick’ effect. They can give you a better product that matches the surface effect camouflaging it into the profile colours on the inside and outside of the window, even on white foiled windows.

 

Best

The best trickle vent can deliver a premium where the windows are wood grained, using various technologies we can now match these effects on the window - creating an impressive premium finish on Golden oak, Irish Oak, Natural oak and even Anteak.

 

Upsell

The added value is significant and should be seen as a route to make your offer different from the competition. Most investments in new windows as we know are not totally about price. If it were, everyone would buy a white window with plastic handles and we wouldn’t have seen the rise of coloured windows.

Picture: Could you utilise mandatory trickle vents as an opportunity to upsell?

www.glazpart.com/link-vent

www.glazpart.com/colour-options

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
25th March 2022

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