First of all a huge word of thanks to our customers, our suppliers and our friends and supporters. Dovecote is now back up and flying.
I don’t know about you, but it feels to me as if I am waking up from a long and rather uncomfortable sleep.
The Covid-19 lockdown certainly isn’t over (as friends and colleagues up in Leicester are quick to remind me) but around here it really feels as if things are rolling again. June saw the Dovecote Team fully back at work, wearing rather unbecoming masks, but very much at full throttle.
I just wanted to drop you an explanation about the post-lockdown world of “fenestration”. We have been so pleased that lots of you want to upgrade your windows, doors and conservatories. Like me, many of you have been stuck in your homes and spent a lot of time wondering how you can make it nicer for the next virus (joking – I hope!). Clearly a lot of great plans have been laid and ideas spawned. Personally, I am redecorating my house, replacing some old bits and upgrading other pieces whilst doing a general, if rather late, Spring Cleaning.
Meanwhile, the Dovecote fitting teams are working flat out trying to catch up with work we were unable to do in the lockdown and to respond to your new ideas as fast as we can.
They are working long days and spending a lot of time trying to obtain the various supplies that we need in order to get on.
For our suppliers, the problems caused by the lockdown are still very much a reality. Supplies of materials dried up for a long time during April, May and June and many are only now becoming available. Part of this was caused by the closure of factories, another by the collapse of transport systems. Amazingly your new window is often the result of 4 or five different chains of supply (think glass, frame, paints, locks, hinges….) and they all have to come together with us before we can pop in to your place do the actual fitting. Anyway, our suppliers are doing a great job and stocks are starting to roll. Things should get better pretty quick but some things are taking longer than usual – for example orders for some special colours of aluminium are proving tricky as a result of strains at the fabricators colour shops.
So, a huge thank you from us for welcoming us back into your homes and offices. We are so glad to be back and so proud to be serving our Oxfordshire customers again. We really try to bring you top value and service and we are deeply grateful for all the support you have given us.
And now – back to the hand sanitiser and into the van….
