The Colour Revolution: Here to Stay
September 14 2016
Are you joining the colour revolution?
The days when PVC building products were only available in white are rapidly disappearing.
Colour specialist Freefoam Building Products has always been at the forefront of promoting choice to the homeowner and championing change in options for roofline and cladding products and are now seeing this major trend towards colour continue with an increase in the sales demand for grey products.
Freefoam statistics confirm this growing momentum across its roofline range for grey products. With combined sales of Storm Grey, Anthracite Grey and Dark Grey fascia up an amazing 77% year on year, window trims up over 100% and Freefoam’s Plastops pin and nail fixing range up 53% the grey revolution is on its way and here to stay.
The shift in demand can be traced back over recent years as the economy began its journey out of recession and housebuilders started to look to differentiate their offering with kerbside appeal by providing home buyers with choice of colours for window frames and doors.
Using colour is a quick and cost effective design feature that brings a contemporary feel to exterior façades of both new home and apartment developments. It’s a trend that has steadily grown all around the UK and is now used by many major housebuilders. Freefoam stockist Willmotts of Reading has many years of experience working with national housebuilders, George Petts commented “Willmotts have seen sales of coloured Roofline & Cladding products increase dramatically, particularly over the last 3 years, as the visual presentation of new houses becomes even more important. Style matters, and coloured roofline is now seen as the first statement of this style development witnessed by prospective purchasers. In our opinion, Freefoam have got it right. Their Colormax range is excellent, the quality of the colours, their performance, and the attention to detail of board sizes, trims and fixings, offers House-Builders the best all-round package of coloured PVC. One of our first developments was an Apartment Block in Reading in 2007, and 9 years on the colour is as fresh as when the product was installed, with no sign of fading. We see the opportunity for colour growing even more, and are sure that Freefoam will be at the vanguard of this developing market, building on their strengths and reputation”.
As with many trends within the building industry changes and new developments within the new build sector soon filter through to the renovation and refurbishment market. Homeowners still find improving an attractive proposition and a real alternative to moving. A survey by respected financial website This Is MONEY.co.uk reports that adding a home extension, kitchen extension or loft conversion to a home can increase the value of a property by between 5 and 15%. as well as creating the extra space needed for changing circumstances, all without having to go through the hassle of a move.
Many kitchen and extension projects are featuring bi-fold doors, with all the major fabricators and manufactures reporting rapidly growing sales. With the most popular colours being grey, black or aluminium the addition of this feature has fuelled the demand for grey fascia, soffit, trims and guttering.
Colin St John, Commercial Director, summarised “We believed in colour roofline from the start and are delighted that our commitment to extending product range is delivering significant increase in business. It’s interesting to see how new build has influenced the replacement market. The future is always difficult to predict but we can only see colour, and particularly grey, becoming a larger proportion of total sales. Could this be the catalyst for the long overdue dawn of a new era in the replacement and refurbishment home improvement market as discerning homeowners choose to bring their home into the 21st century?”