Replacing windows and doors means putting the security and aesthetics of your home into the hands of strangers. How do we know they are fitted correctly? Do these people know what they are doing? What if there’s a problem?
We understand these thoughts. Finesse celebrates its 40th Birthday of continuous trading this April, we are a true family business, we live and breathe windows, we handmake the majority of the products we fit, it’s been our family’s life work to ensure our windows and doors are the very best they can possibly be from the profile down to the very last screw…but still surely everything comes down to the fitting?
WE AGREE ! !
In 2014 we were delighted that a qualification was launched within our industry, called the Minimum Technical Competency (MTC). This meant that installers had to prove they had the competency to actually fit windows and doors. The process is rigorous, they are assessed on their knowledge of every part of an installation, they are also assessed on site actually doing the job. It’s tough!
We rejoiced for two reasons, firstly it meant unscrupulous installers could not longer get away with poor fitting and consumers had more chance of spotting them before allowing them into their homes and secondly our highly skilled and dedicated fitters could gain recognition for their craft.
All of our fitting teams hold this accreditation. This also applies to surveying; our surveyor Vic also proudly holds his MTC. They are qualified and they are experts at what they do. Unbelievably, some companies still do not insist on having the qualification in place for their teams and it’s always worth checking this out. All FENSA registered companies must ensure that their teams are complaint.
And it doesn’t stop there, they must be re assessed every 5 years. It doesn’t stop there for us either. We have developed our own fitting standards which is based on the MTC standards but is also a collection of everything we know about how to install windows and doors over 40 years, we call it the ‘Installation Bible’. The fitters have helped to write it, it is a handbook and a guide that we insist our fitters use. This means that no matter how many windows or doors you have fitted, and no matter who it’s fitted by, you can be assured the quality will be the same.
How do we know that? We have our very own ‘assessor’ who visits our installations everyday of the week, Ray is our Installation Supervisor, and it’s his job to check that our standards are being adhered to. He will visit every team to do spot checks, ask questions, tick off a check sheet. If there’s a problem of any kind he can sort it quickly and with minimal disruption. He also improves our teams; Ray has been fitting for over 30 years and draws upon techniques from his 30 year fitting repertoire to help our younger teams! We are lucky, our fitters stick around, and we are absolutely determined to capture everything they know and pass down their legacy as our company grows.
In our opinion Minimum Technical Competency is not really a suitable name, ‘minimum’ is not how we would describe our teams. We think ‘Mighty’ is a more fitting term!
For more information please call us on 0121-451-3724.