Starting a business of any kind requires a huge amount of effort and commitment and there are many factors to consider before venturing into the world of business ownership.
The door and window fitting business is no different, requiring an expert knowledge of your products, the skills to fit them into any home or business, and a high standard of customer service at all times.
If you are looking to run your own new front door Glasgow fitting business, this guide will hopefully help you along the way, giving you all the key information that you need to get your dreams off the ground.
Do your research
The very first thing that you need to do when starting any business is to identify and research your target market. In the window and door fitting business this might seem pretty simple, its people who want a new door right? Sure, but its not quite that straightforward. Are you going to target commercial premises or domestic homeowners? What type of property is located in your target area and what designs of doors are likely to be popular there? How large a population is in the area you intent to supply?
These are just some of the important questions that you need tot be able to answer when starting a door fitting company as they will determine a big part of how you go about your business going forward. There is no point only supplying aluminium or ultra modern composite doors in a rural area packed with period properties, for example.
If you choose to work in the commercial industry, providing doors and windows for schools, office blocks, and more, you will need to focus on winning contracts and securing major clients, rather than relying on work of mouth and locally targeted marketing.
Often construction companies and major window installation firms will use the services of sub-contractors in order to fulfil major orders and this is something that you could benefit from whilst looking to get your start-up company off the ground.
Analyse the competition
A big part of doing research for a new company is conducting analysis of your competitors, identifying what it is that they are doing well, and what improvements that they could make that you can capitalise on.
If there is an excess of competition in one certain area if may be worth targeting a different area with your marketing instead. We’re not saying that the services you are going to supply aren’t going to be superior to these other companies but starting a new company in an already crowded market is a high risk strategy that often requires a very large advertising budget in order to stand out.
Decide what services you are going to offer
This may sound pretty simple. You’re going to start a window fitting company right? Window fitting is the service that you’re going to offer. Sure, but many window fitters also install new doors, and provide ongoing maintenance and window repair services. If you wish to venture into this market and expand your potential reach, you need to factor in any additional licenses that you might require to do so and the additional set-up costs that might be incurred.
Pick your product range
Any window and door installer is only as good as the products that they have on offer. It can be tempting to simply offer as many different types, colours, and designs of door and window as possible but sometimes, especially when starting a business for the very first time it can be beneficial to focus on quality over quantity and select a few products to specialise in.
If possible, it is incredibly helpful to build connections with window and door manufacturers as you may then be able to offer exclusive deals such as extended warranties to your customer on their products. If you can offer a longer warranty, it can be a lot easier to convince a prospective client to choose your services as they know that if anything goes wrong, for whatever reason, the issues will be resolved free of charge. This can be very reassuring when picking a new window fitting firm.