QUALITY: THE ISSUE OVERLOOKED

Quality: The Overlooked Issue

They say in life, it’s always about “quality over quantity”. That saying can be applied to your building materials, in particular, building façade products. Most of the time manufactures will do their best to give a fair price. What you run into sometimes is a manufacture going in very low to try to win the order on price. That is something to be wary of, because a low cost product usually reflects a low quality product and vice versa. Whether they have a lower price because of quality or because they are desperate for work, you should be careful about putting a low-cost façade on your building! On the opposite end of the price scale, some manufactures will come in high priced to make it seem they are more prestigious than the other manufactures, touting their brand recognition as the key benefit to their product. Be careful, because the name doesn’t say it all!

1. Overseas Brands:

Low- Cost overseas products may not conform to the same testing requirements as the United States. Also, who will you turn to when the product fails or even for just a few more sheets of material?

I know if you google “Aluminum Composite Panels” on the right hand side a bunch of ad’s come up boasting their low cost panels.

1. Pricing

2. As I mentioned before pricing is a key indicator of material grades. It’s important to go through each material before you decide. Just because one is lower in price doesn’t mean it’s the best to go with, lower price COULD mean lower quality and the best way to judge quality is to inquire about testing. Ask yourself the question, why is their price so low? What don’t they have that their competition is offering in terms of quality or service? Are the raw materials used in the product the right quality and grades?

3. Warranty

5. I think the warranty is one of the most important aspects in choosing your product. If a company has great confidence in their product they will offer you a great warranty. If they don’t, you might want to ask some more questions. Vitrabond offers up to a 20 year Warranty on the material, where the industry standard is only 5- 10 years. We are very confident that our product can deliver.

6. Cost (not to be confused with price)

8. Cost and price are two different things. Price is what you see up front. Cost is how your purchase affected your bottom line profits. Risk is a major factor in a purchasing decision. If a product manufacturer can reduce your risk by offering better warranties, and better service, and goes the extra mile to help see your project through to success, you can be sure that they will stand behind you when you need them. Their price might look higher, but the cost of doing business with them might be much less than the headache of dealing with a “low-cost provider”.

9. Conclusion:

11. Quality is sustainable and with that creates a long lasting look on your building that you worked hard to create. You deserve to have the best products representing that building and your vision. And you don’t deserve to be replacing the “cheap” product when it fails, which is much more costly than the small percentage saved at the initial product selection!