44 | Sector Focus: Wood Plastic Composites
Above left: The HD Deck Dual reversible colour board has a new colour option – Natural Oak / Slate Above right: HD Deck Pro extra wide boards in oyster
◄ extra protection and several having a woodgrain pattern.
The diverse range includes HD Dual, which
Mr Taylor describes as a “game changer” in the market due to it being a two-colour reversible board.
“This allows stockists to halve their stock [by not having to stock separate coloured boards] and have double the chance of selling it.
“The installers are being a bit more creative as the reverse side is usually an alternative colour, so they can do borders in the other colour as a contrast, just like in hard landscaping.”
A new HD Dual colour option is Natural Oak / Slate - adding to the two existing Dual options – Walnut / Oak and Antique / Carbon. The Slate is a dark grey, which feeds into the popularity of grey colours for WPC decks, while the Natural Oak is matched to American white oak. “A lot of the trends we are seeing is mixing grey and brown together for a contrast.” Mr Taylor estimated 90% of overall sales were for grey products.
When the pandemic hit last year, Composite Prime was testing the water with a new product HD Deck Pro – a 200mm wide capped board with a woodgrain look in two colours, Champagne and Oyster. “The uptake was so big that we ran out of stock almost immediately. But this year we are ready for the demand.”
Then there is HD Deck 3D – an uncapped board featuring a deeply textured woodgrain finish and made with a colour fusion technology so every board is a slightly different colour, similar to natural wood. The mid-priced product is 146mm wide. HD Deck XS (Extra Strong) is a contemporary looking product that has different grooving designs (contemporary thin / wide groove) on each side. This board and HD Deck 150 (150mm wide product) are both
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available as a Class B Fire Rated board, seen as ideal for contractors to use on balconies, verandahs and roof terraces.
One of the newest additions is HD Protect tape – a protective tape applied to the top of softwood joist bearers. This is something that is seeing widespread application in the US. HD Protect is a HDPE/butyl tape available in 63mm x 20m long rolls. “Your average joists are 45m wide, so the tape creates a bit of an overlap/umbrella effect so the water actually drips past the timber and gives that extra level of protection.”
Six rolls would be required for an average composite deck, costing a extra few hundred pounds in total to project cost, which is still far cheaper than installing composite joists. Samples have been sent to installers, with a big marketing campaign starting in the spring.
WPC CLADDING AND FENCING Composite Prime is predicting a growth in cladding and fencing applications for its composite products.
Last year it launched HD Clad Pro – its woodgrain cladding product in four colours including a cedar brown and cedar grey to fulfil demand for the new and weathered western red cedar cladding look. Recently, 330m2
of HD Clad Pro was
installed at Wexham Park Golf Centre’s new driving range. The project, led by RB Structures, used Pontrilas Merchants to supply the product. “We’re seeing it going into a lot of garden offices,” added Mr Taylor. “Also, we’re seeing demand in shops and retail outlets, fencing and anybody that wants to cover up an old breeze block wall.
“It’s also great for dormer roofs for the new build sector where it is replacing uPVC cladding. The good thing from a timber merchant perspective is where they would
have lost timber cladding business to uPVC years ago, they now have an option for customers who want that timber look but with low maintenance.” Mr Taylor said the WPC fencing market was growing “massively” in Europe. “We knew it would be a slow burn here because the retail price on a composite fence with a post can be anything up to £200 for a 1.8m bay. It’s not a mass market product. But people who have installed a composite deck are seeing they need to do something with the fence.”
EDUCATION
Educating installers and stockists about the product is key, Composite Prime says. Fitting a composite deck is slightly different than a timber deck, with a clip installation system and different joint centres. “We launched our Pro installer network last year and invite all our stockists to tell their customers that regular installers of the product can become a Pro installer,” said Mr Taylor. “We give them lead generation, online training, and put them on our stockist locator because we get a lot of consumers contact us about supply and fit.”
Composite Prime has had 500 installer applications so far. “Every stockist we take on we insist they do training so they know the basic principles of the product and how to sell it in the right way.”
A Rewards scheme gives regular prizes to installers, stockists and consumers. “We are expecting an extremely busy year.
People know that they are unlikely to go on holiday this year unless it is late summer. Consumers have got money in their pockets to spend on home improvements. I think restaurants will be investing in outdoor spaces. Even if the country takes a few backward steps [in the pandemic] I think there will still be a lot of trade outdoors.” ■
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