Latest BWF-CERTIFIRE Survey Finds Mixed Fortunes for Merchants in Fire Door Market

The latest BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme survey of trends in fire doors sales through builders’ merchants confirmed the expected seasonal dip at the end of the year.  Although the short-term mood amongst merchants is for a fall in sales in the opening months of 2010, there are clear expecations of better things as the year progresses. BWF Chief Executive Richard Lambert commented, ‘It would be unrealistic to expect anything other than a quiet winter.  Given the effect of the seasonal downturn, it’s not entirely fair to compare these sales figures with the previous quarter.  The year-on-year comparison shows that despite the fillip during the year, there is still a lot of ground to be recovered.
 
The impression I have from talking to BWF members is that work started to tail off towards the end of November, and they expect a quieter first quarter than usual.  Most are relieved not to have seen the sudden, dramatic slide which characterised the last quarter of 2008.  Hardly surprising, then, that merchants are tending towards expecting a drop in sales at the start of the year.  But there is a gathering sense of optimism about the market, which I think stems from the thought that if winter is quiet again, then activity should burst forward in the spring.  It’s curious that the optimism is strongest in the south of the country and amongst the larger merchants. You might be surprised that optimism is there at all, given the bleak forecasts published in the past couple of weeks.  For all that it is (and will continue to be) a tough market, there have been pockets of success throughout the recession.  The Government’s public sector building programme, which has underpinned the fire doors market for the past year, will continue through this year.  It is also worth watching out for the consequences of the high profile fires in tower blocks, which have woken many up to the full meaning of responsibility under the fire safety regulatory reform order.  We’ve noticed a definite increase in the number of enquiries about checking, maintaining and replacing fire doors.’