The One Visit Job

Thousands of multipoint locks, hundreds of different handles but only one visit…
The key to making double glazing repair work a success is completing the job with as few site visits as possible. Repeat visits are costly in both time and money and the Holy Grail is to attend site and complete the work in one visit.
Alex Pugh, marketing executive at Duffells sympathises with the repairer’s conundrum. “Duffells stocks over 12,000 security and repair products. One of our customers could encounter any one of those products at any point, so how do they fit them all on their van?”
It’s true that 80% of jobs can normally be completed with 20% of the stock but that is still an impossible amount of product to carry. Local suppliers will carry a limited range and unless you are lucky enough to work within driving distance of one of the larger specialist double glazing repair suppliers then you’ll have to wait for next day delivery.
An increasing number of big names have started to recognise that sometimes next day isn’t good enough. Many specialist double glazing repair products, aimed specifically at solving this problem, have been launched over the last few years.
Multipoint locks & doors
Rollers, hooks, deadbolts, centres, backset and operation. Hundreds of variations amount to thousands of possibilities and to avoid spending time moving keeps and cutting profiles, it’s important to choose the right lock.
Group Homesafe launched their repair lock several years ago to combat this problem. Only suitable for locks with rollers or mushrooms, it comes with a one piece keep designed to quickly replace a broken lock. Yale’s Doormaster range takes the concept a step further featuring versions with both rollers and mushrooms or hooks. They are either croppable or adjustable and come with a very clever set of replacement keeps. Available with either a 35mm or 45mm backset and a range of faceplates, Yale claims that the Doormaster range will replace 90% of the multipoint locking market.
The Yale and ERA products only suit locks with 92mm centres but CES’ unique Vario Flex features a lock case with adjustable centres. Supplied as a kit, the Vario Flex also allows the user to build a lock case with a backset between 30 and 45mm and faceplates ranging from 16mm to 24mm. It’s very handy when faced with an obscure or discontinued lock.
Replacement gearboxes are increasingly popular as a space saving alternative to full length locks. The case tends to be the first part of a lock to fail and most can be replaced. Look out for obsolete and discontinued items, such as Mila and old style GU as replacement gearboxes can even be obtained for those products. Yale’s gearbox kit covers most of the range and cases can be replaced as they are used.
The vital upsell need not be a pain either. When a lock breaks; there’s often an opportunity to replace the handle too and there are some clever alternatives to stop you being caught out. Handles with sliding plates that allow both centres and screw centres to be adjusted cover a huge range of the market. “Carrying one set of handles in 4 different colours, compared with a range of over 250 is a huge help to our double glazing repair customers” says Alex Pugh.
Windows
The range of repair products that has recently been launched also covers windows. A window espagnolette that can be cut down to suit the window has recently been launched and reduces the range of espags required from around 40 to 2. Repair products can also save time. Easifit’s new window handle is supplied with 5 different length spindles so that whole houses can be replaced in minutes and there is no need to either cut down a spindle or reuse the old one.
It’s not just time that is wasted. Most repairers have encounter a customer who, following the identification of the problem and confirmation that they would like the work to be carried out, have called back to cancel the repair. Often that’s because the customer has subsequently found another company willing to carry out the work at a cheaper price.
Also consider that if a customer had been visited by one of your competitors first, armed with specialist repair products, then maybe the customer wouldn’t make a second call at all.