All this has driven lintels to be regarded as a commodity by the majority of customers - A lintel is a lintel no matter who you get it from” according to Michael Constable, purchasing director of Martin Grant Homes.

Flat Moves
Mark Hughes the new Marketing Director of Expamet, whose sister company is IG Lintels, explains that external forces have also played their part: “There’s been a very significant move to flats/apartments, which has had an effect of reducing the number of lintels by about 10%”

To see how the leading manufacturers are overcoming the problems Michael Herson of The Strategy Works has interviewed the leading manufacturers in the UK, and conducted end user research amongst their customer base across all sectors.

The size of the UK steel lintel market is generally acknowledged to be just under £50m nett of the deep discounts and rebates paid to merchants and housebuilders, which are common industry practice. Buying power is incredibly concentrated with the top 37 house builders representing 63% of the market in value; and four acquisitive national chains of builders merchants, Travis Perkins; Jewson; Buildbase and Builder Center dominating in that sector. Buildbase’s parent company, Grafton, also own the UK’s largest distributor, Hendricks, which is run as an autonomous business.

In contrast, consolidation of manufacturing capacity is only just beginning to materialise with Expamet having transferred all their production to the IG facility at Cwmbran in South Wales. Catnic, who pioneered the steel lintels market (previously lintels were solely concrete), are now owned by the steel group Corus; with both companies now challenged by a new entrant into the UK market from Ireland – Keystone - who have quickly established a major presence. Estimates of brand shares, based on 2002 data, are currently as follows:-

Mark Hughes, who recently joined Expamet from one of their key customers - Jewson - recognises the need for industry consolidation. “We have rationalised production and are now looking to rationalise sales and marketing activities”. Hughes believes that Expamet / IG are able to ride the storm better than competitors because their extended range of Expamet building products enables them to achieve critical mass on delivery costs, allowing smaller customers to make up the minimum order of £250. Expamet’s building division turns over £70m in total and includes the Metpost and BAT brands.

However there is growing evidence that prices may now have bottomed-out with customers indicating from research it is the price, quality and service relationship that is now more important to them than price alone

Top Housebuilders and Builders Merchants now expect proactive account management from their lintels supplier. “I expect them to work with us on business plans to grow the business as partners" states Peter Hoole,business manger at Builder Center.

Keystone – who have grown to be the number 2 UK manufacturer in just 5 years – have achieved this by responding to the need for higher service levels - Managing Director, Sean Coyle reports Keystone have 8 technical staff based in their new factory in the UK at Swadlincote, giving technical advice on the telephone and conducting visits.

Keystone also recognise the importance of ‘backselling’ on behalf of the merchant. Their sales representatives target contractors which Coyle feels is fundamental to their strategy - “We go out to the end user, promote the product and bring the business back to the merchant”.

This approach is endorsed by Catnic who have traditionally advocated backselling to support their merchant only policy.

One area where lintels manufacturers can profitably differentiate themselves from each other is the sector of the market known as ‘specials’(non-standard lintels). The demand for specials is being stimulated by new building regulations that require 1 in 3 houses to be differently designed within a new development.

Design Pressure
Thus there is increasing pressure on architects to design unusual features which require bespoke lintels, which has persuaded companies like Expamet to build up their technical departments in order to advise architects on the type of specials they can produce and influence the specifier.

According to Hughes, “It has increased the demand on technical to produce more varied schedules”. This practice is confirmed by Roger Thomas of Catnic “ We’ll schedule the number of lintels that actually go into a house – for all of us it is an overhead that we bear”

The research confirms ‘Specials’ are indeed a ‘front of mind’ issue to customers – two thirds of the sample believe their availability to be ‘important’ or ‘very important’
"There seems to be more and more bespoke business out there" confirms Peter Hoole of Builder Center

'Patrick Kennedy-Sanigar, Chartered Designer at Space Shuffle adds “We’re a design practice and do a lot of unusual properties - we have very few which don’t have some specialist demands”

This view is endorsed by Mike Rolph, purchasing manager, at major developers St. George “We build large blocks of flats and it is very important for us to be able to purchase large blocks or heavy gauge lintels”

Keystone help architects to design specials by providing an AutoCAD facility enabling them to put their drawings directly onto PC. According to Coyle “architects can carry out their dreams” - Keystone’s strategy is based on the specials “providing the inroad into the new work and the new jobs”.

Although essentially a concrete lintels manufacturer, Naylor confirm the trend towards specials which have doubled as a proportion of their business to 26% in the last 18 months. Naylor produce (concrete) products such as Fairfaced (exposed) lintels and ‘Fire Resistant’.

Customers increasingly require more advanced IT support from their supplier.

To meet this demand, commercial director Helen Firth reports that Naylor have a ‘lintels selector’ feature on their interactive web site which will specify a lintel based on the characteristics of the building plot.

The building sector has not traditionally been an ‘early adopter’ in terms of new electronic ordering methods, and fax remains the preferred method of choice to 52% of the sample. However there are signs that EDI is increasing its penetration and for 14% of the sample it is the first choice method, with Builders Merchants Travis Perkins leading the way. Others intend to follow with EDI - “Within 12 months we’ll definitely be doing it” states Alastair Barton, procurement manager of Halena Housing.

Some have taken a pragmatic view and are taking steps to reduce their dependence on standard lintels. Roy Chiverton reports that Hendricks sells over 50,000 steel and concrete lintels per month but, in order to protect their overall margin, Hendricks have deliberately reduced their dependence on lintels as a proportion of their total t/o to less than 30%, although not reducing their lintels sales value, and increased their ‘Heavyside’ business to over 70% - a complete reversal of the company’s product mix 5 years ago.

The inventor of Catnic lintels –Brian Robinson - who formed the company 34 years ago by using an abbreviation of his children’s’ names – Catherine and Nicholas - created for lintels what Hoover became to vacuum cleaners – a generic brand. Now Roger Thomas reports the company must adapt to changed market conditions - “We have got to look elsewhere - we will shortly be launching Catnic ‘Litetile’ which will utilise our current route to market via merchants”

With the research confirming that only 39% of customers single source lintels from one manufacturer; market volatility is set to continue, especially amongst the 61% who dual source. It is clear that those suppliers with the best service offering who meet their customers technical and delivery requirements will succeed.

About us <Home page>