I am looking at getting a new conservatory installed (south facing), and have narrowed it down to two companies, Zenith, and Anglian.
Both seem to use units with kite marks, are BBA certified, and members of the GGF. Zenith is ISO9000 (or 9001?) certified. Both also seem to have around for a while and have done quite a few in our area.
Has anyone any experience with either that they can share? They can both provide reference sites, but it would be nice to hear if anyone has a conservatory from either company that they think is particularly good.
When I was looking around for my conservatory Anglian was loads more then the local independent which did the job in the end. You should be able to find a local guy who is a member of a Trade federation. Baz
The general advice is to avoid the national companies. Choose a local glazing company finding as many recommendations from people you trust as you can. You may even find a local builder willing to erect a supply only conservatory (such as U-fit or Baltic Pine).
There are relatively few PVCu profile systems, and there is a good chance that the company with the full page weekly colour adverts, the fleet of vans, sales reps at supermarkets, and radio advertisements will be using exactly the same materials as your local builder.
The companies are also likely to employ the same sub-contact fitting teams.
ISO 9001 is an administrative certification, and does not relate to the quality of the finished product. BSI and BBA certification is a standard thing. Its how it is all fitted together that counts.
And remember the foundations, floor, dwarf walls are not part of any conservatory system certification.
An [independent] insurance backed warranty should be provided, and enquiries on after sales customer care made.
You should also not only look at a recent job (they all look nice when new), but look at ones done 1, 3, 5 or 10 years ago to see how they have preformed.
Having recently gone through your experience, I accepted a quote from a fairly local company that actually manufactures the stuff. In fact, they supply materials to some of the other companies that were quoting me. I concluded that a manufacturer of 15 years standing was more likely to be around in five years time than an installer who bought his product. Add to this the fact that their sales guy's approach was to work on a relatively small commission by giving me a price that was immediately attractive compared to others. I got the feeling that some of the people quoting were attempting to judge how much I was prepared to pay, rather than giving me a competitive quote. For the record, I am in Telford, and will happily pass on some company names to anyone local who is wondering which way to jump
Except that double glazing vendors are better than most at insulting the intelligence with inflated prices that miraculously get reduced at the drop of a hat - so refreshing to find one that starts off with a realistic price level
I am intelligent enough to assess the reliablilty of the company concerned and the worth of its product.
I have a lifetime of experience in business that enables me for instance to look at a company's last accounts filed at Companies House, and to assess their balance sheet.
I refuse to be insulted by people like Andy Hall, who knows sod hall about the way in which I conduct my purchases
Don't be so touchy. It was a tongue in cheek remark and a general observation not directed at anybody.
As a matter of interest, because I too, look at accounts of companies and their statutory returns at Companies House, this source of information is somewhat limited.
Since January of this year, a business can file an abbreviated (actually much abbreviated) set of accounts if it meets two out of the following three criteria:
- Turnover less than £5.6M
- Balance sheet total less than £2.8M
- Less than 50 employees.
If you have looked at one of these sets of abbreviated accounts, as I have with my accountant a few times, you will realise that they convey virtually sod all about the viability of a company.
The abbreviated accounts of a small company or LLP don't have to include the full balance sheet, profit and loss account or director's report normally required by Companies House.
In effect, you see very little.
If you consider a typical local glazing/conservatory company, it is highly likely that it will fall into all three categories.
Alternatively, it may be classed as a medium sized company if
- annual turnover is between £5.6 million and £22.8 million
- balance sheet total is between £2.8 million and £11.4 million
- average number of employees is no more than 250
and have to do very little more.
If you look at the large national companies, they are typically a PLC with a bunch of subsidiaries, the accounts for which are obfuscated from view.
So unfortunately, CH no longer provides a very useful source of data concerning company viability. If an accountant cares to prepare the accounts creatively, you will see almost nothing.
Nowadays, one needs to look in a lot more places if one is concerned about stability of a supplier before doing business.
Sure. I believe, though, that the thresholds have gone up. IIRC correctly, it was previously below about £2.5m and £1.8m on balance sheet. My accountant said that it was part of an EU harmonisation.
The other aspect is that auditing is not required in most cases either, especially if the director is the sole shareholder. That is not to say that accountants don't normally play a straight game, but it does leave a loophole for abuse. Not that I am wildly enamoured with auditors either - especially those at the large firms.
One can look at charges against the business and whether the directors have interests in other similar businesses. That can be a clue that they do the business equivalent of chain smoking by running one business, letting it go bust leaving the debts behind and having another ready to go.
Nowadays, I tend to do any significant purchases through the use of credit agreements or cards with early payoff. At least there is then some form of protection. Also, a number of the cards now offer purchase protections.
No problem. Actually I looked at the piece of thread again and realised how you could have thought that it was a dig at you, and I'm sorry for that - it really wasn't intended and I'm sorry that I was somewhat sloppy about the post.
When this change first came in my accountant said, pragmatically, that if I was on the fiddle it would probably be a case of monies received in cash and never booked. As all his audit could do was confirm that the accounts I actually give him are correct it really didn't make much difference to the reliability of the filed figures. Where it saves a bit of time and money is that in audit days he would write to my bank asking them to confirm the end year balance - which they would for £25 - whilst now he just assumes that the statements I give him are the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (they are ).
Accountants have got a bit more wary though: in early non-audit days the accounts came back as usual with the accountants name on them, just different notes inside. Now they don't have the accountants name anywhere, just ours.
Well, for the record I went for a large company in the end. Sure, I paid more than from a smaller company, but I felt more comfortable for the reasons you mentioned (likelyhood of being around 15 years from now!).
It was difficult because at the end there were three companies we were seriously considering and we spoke to people who had conservatories from all of them and they all seemed very happy!
Maybe next time I will be brave enough to attempt to buy the bits and build it myself.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.