Fire door sales show signs of recovery

Summary
• Just over 29,500 timber fire doors were sold by the survey’s respondents in the fourth quarter of 2009.
• FD30 doors continue to account for the majority of timber fire door sales.
• The proportion of fire doors sold with unfilled apertures continues to grow.
• Three-quarters of sales go to building contractors.

Some normality has returned to the timber fire doors market, according to Rigby Research’s latest survey on behalf of the BWF CERTIFIRE Fire Door & Doorset Scheme.

“BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme label sales have shown over time that the fire door market follows a recognised pattern,” said BWF chief executive Richard Lambert. “They tend to drop away by about one-third from the summer’s peak during the second half of the year. Last year, the recession accentuated the fall: the drop was more than half. This year, the pattern is closer to normal, which must be seen as an optimistic sign.

“The latest trend survey also shows that things are slowly starting to improve. As always with this survey, which samples different companies each time, you have to look at trends rather than absolute numbers. The fourth quarter of 2009 is still below the same point last year, but not anything like as much as in the two previous quarters. And the large manufacturers have rallied.

Unfilled apertures

“I have, however, to return to my worry that the number of doors sold with unfilled apertures continues to increase. The industry has put time, effort and money into establishing an effective and disciplined certification process, and to promoting the message that the certification must be maintained throughout the supply chain. It is an anomaly to continue to place apertured and unglazed doors on the general market, effectively releasing them to general purchasers outside the certification system. There may be a market for them, but should we bow to that demand if it undermines certification?”

This quarter’s report is based on interviewing 45 joinery companies in January 2010, sampled by company size (in volume and number of employees) and region to ensure a balanced spread.

The sample is made up of joinery companies carrying out further work on manufactured timber fire rated doors without affecting the performance; for example, fitting vision panels or making frames to suit. It includes companies certificated for these processes by the BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door & Doorset Scheme, companies certificated by other certification schemes, and companies whose alterations to fire doors aren’t covered by any certification scheme. The sample doesn’t include prime fire door manufacturers.

Sales

Just over 29,500 timber fire rated doors were sold in October to December 2009 by the sample of joinery companies interviewed. This compares with around 21,100 between July to September 2009 – and 35,200 in October to December 2008. As the sample of companies is different each quarter, the volumes will vary depending on the mix of firms interviewed; however, the number of firms in each size band is generally comparable. The table shows the percentage of total volume sales by company size and the total number of timber fire rated doors sold each quarter. The percentage of fire doors sold by large companies has bounced back after declining significantly in the second and third quarters.

Fifty-eight per cent of timber fire doors were bought in by joinery companies as door blanks, with the remaining 42% being bought in as completed fire doors.

Timber doors with a 30min fire resistance continue to account for the majority (90%) of all timber fire door sales, with FD60s accounting for 10%. Two joinery companies sold a few doors with 120min resistance, but the numbers were insufficient to register on the chart. No firms interviewed had sold FD90s.

Fifty-eight per cent of timber fire doors were sold with a filled aperture, which includes vision panels, air vents and letter plates, a proportion which has fallen a little after rising steadily in recent quarters. Thirty per cent were sold with no aperture and 12% were sold with an unfilled aperture – this segment continues to grow.

Most timber fire doors were sold as door leafs (55%) or door sets (38%) and only a proportion were sold as door kits (7%). The average price of a door set was £288, a door kit was £174 and a door leaf was £136 – this latter price steadily increased throughout 2009.

Customers

By customer, joinery companies mainly sell to building contractors – with almost three-quarters of their sales going to this group. Installers account for just over 16%, with the remainder going to joinery businesses, merchants or other companies.

Forty-one out of the 45 joinery companies interviewed this quarter (91%) reported selling timber fire-rated frames – over 11,300 timber fire-rated frames in October to December 2009. This is less than half the number sold in the same quarter of 2008. Sales ranged from two to 3,000 timber fire rated frames.

Of those selling timber fire rated frames, 87% were manufactured in-house and the remaining 13% were bought-in.