Windows firm CR Smith sees demand surge from locked-down home-owners

Window and home extensions business CR Smith has reported a surge in enquiries as locked-down Scots look to stay put and invest in their properties.

Gerard Eadie CBE is the executive chairman of CR Smith, which is headquartered in Fife. Picture by Lesley Martin

The Fife firm said enquiry levels were up 22 per cent compared to the same time last year from customers looking to extend their homes, while FIX, the company’s repair business, had seen a 23 per cent uplift, primarily from customers of firm that have gone bust leaving them without a guarantee.

The Dunfermline-headquartered group, which operates its own state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, said it had focused on innovation during lockdown, starting with its product line-up, including its flagship Lorimer window system.

The firm is also rolling out new styles of home extensions to meet the rise in customer demand to add an additional room or extend an existing room for open plan living areas.

Greater use of digital technologies and a planned new website is allowing the business to “build in new levels of efficiency”, bringing down costs across the operation.

Gerard Eadie, who bought CR Smith as a 22-year-old in 1974 and continues to lead the business, said: “As a long-established company, we have been taking a pragmatic approach to ensure our business is resilient to the knocks inevitably landed by the pandemic.

“But necessity is also the mother of invention and this crisis has forced both us and our customers to think and act differently.

“Lockdown and more time at home has got our customers thinking in real detail about what they need and want for their homes. They have great ideas for home offices and transforming kitchen areas to open plan family rooms and we have responded by developing a 3D architectural virtual service, so they can bring these ideas to life from the comfort of their own home and without charge.”

He added: “We have had to adapt to the uncertainties of the new business landscape and chart a new course forward for our staff and our customers. The past few months have shown us that we can be more efficient for our customers and that there are tangible opportunities in the home extension market and across our repairs business.”

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