Merchants Anticipate Better Sales For Fire Doors

The latest BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme survey of fire door sales through builders’ merchants recorded one of the highest ever levels of optimism for future sales, despite a continuing lack of confidence in the current market. BWF Chief Executive Richard Lambert comments, ‘The first quarter of the year is always quiet for the joinery market.  This time last year, that natural lull accentuated how the market had fallen away over the previous quarter at the recession bit hard.  I expected to see things fall back following the gradual improvement over the rest of 2009, but not as much as the year on year comparison we see here.  It shows just how far the fire door market has to come back. So what then are we to make of the sentiments in the market, where the single biggest problem appears to be lack of confidence in the market, but the survey records one of the highest ever levels of optimism for future prospects in the history of the survey? For my money, the former strikes me as reflecting day-to-day experience, the latter the more general sense across the construction sector that things this year are nowhere near as bad as they were at the same time last year.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out through the year.  Only hindsight will tell us whether the mood is genuinely improving, or whether it owes more to comparisons with the desperation of a year ago. The RMI market is still stronger that new build, and I’m afraid that the recent high profile fires will keep up the pressure on those responsible for fire safety in buildings to make sure that their risk assessments are in place and have been acted upon.  Over the past two months, the BWF’s technical helpline has been inundated with questions about fire doors.  There is evidently a greater awareness of the importance of fire safety, but the lack of understanding of fire doors, how they are constructed and how they work is frightening.  Is there a role for merchants in guiding customers towards buying the right components – and taking the advantage for cross-selling while they’re at it?’