Trends are changing for external building products particularly doors, windows and roofline.
For many years white was right, the only option and the only choice but colour has now become a viable option with doors and windows now available in a myriad of shades and finishes.
Freefoam Building Products, the colour roofline specialist, report a significant rise in sales of colour roofline products with Anthracite Grey showing a 47% increase closely followed by Sable and Black. These figures mirror trends in the market place with specifiers increasingly choosing grey and black for windows and doors giving developments a contemporary feel.
Traditionally colour is achieved by applying a top coat, either by spraying or foiling. Freefoam set out to innovate and overcome the issues of fading and cracking and developed Colormax – its own patented technology. An advanced master-batching process with a special blend of natural PVC compound is dosed on-line and co-extruded with specific concentrations of pigment for the required colour. This means that the colour skin and the foam core are intrinsically bonded together creating colourfast products.
Freefoam is the only company to manufacture 10 colours as standard but with its Colormax technology there is no limit. Housebuilders and Developers have the option to request any colour for large projects giving the flexibility to create a really distinctive roofline feature.
Confidence in the Colormax technology and extensive weather and laboratory testing allows Freefoam to offer its unique ten guarantee showing customers that they can rely on exceptional colour performance. Recognising one of the key barriers to sales was lead times Freefoam’s manufacturing process means the majority of colours are always available ‘off the shelf’ complete with matching trims and fixing pins.
George Petts, Sales and Technical Support at Freefoam customer Willmott's of Reading Ltd, reports “Freefoam’s Colormax range has helped us win new business. Freefoam has a colour option to suit all styles of home from traditional Tudor designs, where black, pale gold and sable blend beautifully with oak and render finishes, or more contemporary designs where storm grey, anthracite grey and dark grey fit the bill perfectly.
"We’ve also seen increased demand for colour from commercial developments, where Freefoam’s colour range is seen as a simpler and more cost effective option to traditional powder coated aluminium products.”
