You can enter the window business in different ways: you can do intermediary services and manage with minimal investments, or you can organize the full production of windows, and then you will have to pay from 100 - 150 thousand dollars. Many companies, including leaders in this market, have gone through the complete technological chain, starting from dealerships and ending with their own PVC production plant.
The window market can be divided into the production of wooden products, the production of windows made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the creation of aluminum structures. There is still a business idea for the production of fiberglass windows. But this is absolutely exotic. The debate about the comparative consumer properties of PVC windows and wooden windows has not yet subsided. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages - including from the point of view of the manufacturer.
What is a modern window like?
What are plastic windows? Regardless of the material from which it is made, its indispensable attribute is a double-glazed window. This is a design of several glasses connected around the perimeter by durable rubber seals and a sealed thin-walled metal frame. Inside it is air of low humidity - so that the windows do not fog up in the cold. For the same reasons, a powder is added inside - a desiccant absorbing water vapor. Air can be replaced with argon. Another option is reduced pressure inside the glass. But in order to prevent the windows from being pressed in, they make small struts that are noticeable when approaching the window. In order for the double-glazed window to protect better, you can increase the number of glasses. Single-chamber is a double-glazed window with two glasses, two-chamber - with three, three-chamber - with four ... The thickness of a single-chamber is 20, 24 or 32 mm, two-chamber - 42 mm. This is the standard; thicker glass can be supplied if desired. You can also use the design of glass plus glass - great
almost the same as triple glazing. Glass for most glass packages produced in Russia is supplied by the Borsky plant, to a lesser extent - Saratov. The hardware is also almost independent of the type of window.
The most widely represented products from Germany. The leader here is Roto frank products. Widespread window fittings firms Winkhaus, Siegenia, GU, Aubi, Schuko (Germany), Maco (Austria). You can meet Italian and Turkish. At the heart of a metal-plastic window is a PVC profile. Profiles of several dozen companies are represented on the Russian market, most of which are again German: REHAU, KBE, Plustek, Veka, Schuko, Aluplast, Gealan, Artec, Kemmerling, Brugmann, Trocal.
Profiles are different. Manufacturers subdivide them into a frame profile, a profile for sash, impost, glazing bead.
Wooden windows can be very conditionally divided into Euro-windows and Finnish windows. Recently, worthy designs are developed by domestic companies. For example, the window design developed by VNIIDMASH was awarded a gold award at the Brussels exhibition. The main qualities of the windows that the manufacturer must provide are thermal protection, sound insulation and breathability. In Russia, to assess the heat-shielding characteristics of structures, the heat transfer resistance Ro (m2 ° C / W, the reciprocal of the heat conductivity coefficient k, which is adopted in DIN standards, is adopted. According to the Moscow city building standards MGSN 2. 01-94 "Energy supply in buildings. Heat protection standards, heat-water-power supply ", the reduced heat transfer resistance Ro must be at least 0, 55 m2. ° C / W for windows and balcony doors. The main factors affecting the value of the reduced heat transfer resistance of the window are: - times ep windows (including glass area ratio to the area of the window unit..) - cross sech
frame and sash; - window block material; - type of glazing (for example, the presence of a special gas - argon or krypton - in a double-glazed window); - the number and location of seals in the frame / sash system. Another option is sound insulation. It depends on: - the thickness of the air gap; - the density of the narthex (permeability of joints). An increase in the number of glasses does not always lead to the desired result. From an acoustic point of view, it is nevertheless more expedient to increase the thickness of the glasses and the air gap between them.
Where can I find out about my future business?
Entering the market, being quite an amateur, would be unreasonable. Therefore, before starting your window business, you need to prepare - study the technology, assortment of suppliers and future competitors.
This can be done using the Internet. There are a fairly large number of sites that view windows from a consumer point of view, there are specialized "window" sites where you can get not only consumer information, but also information useful to the manufacturer, for example. www.tybet.ru and www.okna.spb.ru. Information can be given by reading specialized magazines - Translucent Structures, Baulement Bau. But the most effective for entering the market entrepreneur should recognize visiting specialized exhibitions.
Intermediary services
You can start in the window business with a small start-up capital with mediation.
One of the areas is the provision of installation services. To start this business, $ 500 is enough, the main costs are tools and supplies. Earlier, a few years ago, the profitability of this business was great - in a month the team could, from a successful scenario, earn from $ 5 to $ 10 thousand dollars.
Now, the income of installers has changed significantly downward, but window manufacturers themselves offer installer services themselves. The cost of services for dismantling old windows and installing new ones today is usually 10-15% of the total order. Installation of ebbs, finishing slopes, giving the window color, can lead to an increase in the earnings of the installer up to 25-30%. from the value of the order. If we take the average cost of an order from one apartment for $ 1000 - 1500 and take into account that the full amount of work usually takes two days, it is not so difficult to calculate the income from installation. Engaged in installation, you can prepare yourself quite well for this business, and it is also easier to work in the installation and find a client and evaluate your capabilities when moving to the next stage of development. And it’s easy to get acquainted with installation technologies - almost every representative office of a western profile production company has similar techniques.
The next stage is dealership. Many manufacturers of plastic windows, including its leaders, started with dealerships. The entrepreneur has already had enough funds to buy an abstract order, which he himself found. Dealers are the most mobile and numerous layer in the window business. They earn on discounts from the base price - as a rule, this is 20%.
A less common area is window delivery. In this case, in addition to the truck equipped with a special pyramid under the windows in the back, nothing is needed. Despite the specificity of the service, you can earn in this niche.
And finally, the recently demanded service is the restoration of old wooden windows. The consumers of this service are those who, for some reason, do not want to install plastic windows, but there is no money for new wooden ones.
PVC production
The minimum set of equipment for the production of plastic windows will cost $ 10-25 thousand. It is better to buy equipment for the season - that is, in the spring, in order to quickly pay back the invested funds. Today, there are many companies on the market that professionally help complete the production with the necessary machines - TBM, Mosplast, Tehimport. The most famous - again German - manufacturers of equipment for the production of plastic windows - Fimtec, Urban, Italian Perticci and Stenoma. The basis of the assembly area is a machine for welding profiles (its cost, depending on the functionality, ranges from $ 5 thousand to $ 100 thousand). In addition to it, the “assembly” kit includes machines for cutting profiles, glazing beads, milling machines, machines for cleaning seams and milling angles. The minimum production space should have an area of 50 square meters (plus a product warehouse). The optimal production size is about 200 square meters and 5-7 workers. Ideal area for a mustache
Specialists consider 500-600 square meters of a complete set of equipment. Another important requirement for the room - the temperature in it should not fall below 16 degrees Celsius, otherwise, welding the profile will be of poor quality.
Both small and medium-sized manufacturers of double-glazed windows for windows order, and do not make themselves. The production of double-glazed windows is in itself a separate expensive type of business. The most simple "double-glazed" line "pulls" at least $ 50 thousand. Automated are more expensive.
If you start a business “on a large scale”, having built a complete technological chain, you will have to pay $ 60-100 thousand (but you can buy a new line for them for $ 200 thousand). The full set of equipment includes a double-glazed window production site and an assembly shop, the purchase of a compressor, hand tools, shelving and tables.
In order to calculate the required number of personnel for your enterprise, it should be assumed that a team of 7-8 people can make 15-20 windows per shift. One worker in such a production receives from $ 200 to 500. With this productivity, three teams of installers, two to three people each plus three or four sales managers, will be needed.
With the "minimalist" option, it is possible to recoup the invested money for periods ranging from six months to ... to infinity (it depends on your marketing opportunities). With amounts close to $ 100 thousand, production will begin to pay off, most likely, after the second year of operation.
The logic of the development of this type of window business is understandable and evolutionary. It is necessary to gain window sales skills by becoming a dealer of a window production. Feeling that you can solve this key problem, you can create an assembly plant. By the way, experts say that 80% of the plastic window market belongs to very small firms. The next step may be the acquisition of a line for the manufacture of double-glazed windows. further development may be associated with the automation of production to improve quality and reduce costs. As an apotheosis - buying a plant for the production of its own profile.
Production of wooden windows
To start the production of wooden windows means require much more. To start production of medium sizes, you need from $ 100 to $ 150 thousand. Such investments will pay off from 9 months to 2 years.
The market offers ways to reduce the amount of initial investments. For example, TBM (www.tbm.ru) offers its patented Start technology. Using the connection of window parts with a key, TBM achieved a radical reduction in the cost of the required equipment. From a commercial point of view, the technology looks like this: at an initial cost of DM 37 thousand, TBMs promise a payback for six months - provided that 200 square meters of windows are produced per month at a price of 350 DM per square meter.
Another way to reduce the cost of starting production may be to purchase used equipment.
With due return on initial investments, the entrepreneur has a lot of opportunities to expand production and reduce costs.
Further investments that will consistently save the entrepreneur money may be: a splice line (this equipment allows you to get wood with almost no defects), a press for the production of glued beams (and this is the main semi-finished product for modern windows). Let's not forget about the purchase of our own double-glazed windows, then the line of dryers will come. For example, medium-sized drying at a cost of $ 50 thousand can save $ 5 thousand per batch of dried wood. It will pay off in 10 months. The transition to the supply of raw forest from their own plots will complete the picture. On average, the rational cost of a woodworking enterprise, whose main core business will be the production of wooden windows, can be $ 600-800 thousand.
Sales problem
The main problem of the window business is sales. It is much more important not to produce windows, but to sell them.
In the promotion of window products has its own characteristics. For small firms, the main source of new orders is old customers. It is the service that can draw small enterprises out of loss.
For medium-sized companies, the main source of orders is the Internet, which, according to experts, is much more efficient than print advertising. But for successful promotion on the Internet, a well-developed website is required, and preferably with high-quality content, because potential customers go to the network for information primarily to make their choice later. Participation in forums and publications on specialized portals is also considered effective. So information transparency - if we pursue this policy consistently - has its obvious advantages.
According to some experts, another reliable source of orders is product samples that are exhibited in building materials stores and similar places. Such a sample is more likely to lead you to a client than an advertisement in an advertising newspaper placed among literally hundreds of similar ones. But it’s good to provide such samples with information on the assortment and cost of services. This can be done with the help of a sales manager who will be located there and will be able to give maximum and comprehensive information.
Well, in the last place in terms of efficiency, most manufacturers put advertising in non-core mass advertising newspapers. However, for large companies this is nevertheless an inevitable expense item; without advertising, they will not be able to maintain their momentum.
When entering the window business, one cannot, of course, overlook its obvious seasonality. Winter is a dead season for most window dealers. Few clients decide in the cold to replace windows. An exception is the installation of windows in new buildings, the peak of which falls in the fall. From mid-spring, customers come to life, and the active sales season continues until mid-autumn. It can be argued that an enterprise producing absolutely any type of window with a stable load is a very, very profitable enterprise. So it is the establishment of sales - the key to success. It is in this direction that you should not spare money.
The difficulties of the window business
In addition to financial, the novice entrepreneur has a lot of "paper" problems. Before starting a business, it is necessary to obtain a production license, certificates of conformity for the manufactured, for components. Obtaining a certificate for the product - a plastic window will cost $ 300, and licenses for its production - $ 800-1000. And all the procedures will take up to a month and a half.
Among other problems, an unpleasant surprise for manufacturers of wooden windows may be communication with the "fireman". It all depends on the individual characteristics of the inspector himself. But on the other hand, neglecting fire safety rules is also not worth it.
Another problem that can delay the happy moment when your company starts producing its own windows is the formation of a team of specialists. The selection of a professional team for the production of, for example, wooden windows is a very responsible matter. Here both the lack of experience and its overabundance are dangerous. To form a team of qualified professionals who are able to work in a team and for the team is a real problem for the owner of the company. In addition to manufacturers, you will definitely need sales managers. Indeed, sales indicators, and hence the financial result of the company, are more dependent on them.
According to the materials of the site www.eurokna.ru
08/18/2019