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Business is booming. That’s probably what you’ll hear if you talk to most any contract glazier about their work these days. That is also evident in the February 2022 issue of USGlass magazine, which includes our annual ranking of the top contract glaziers. And in case you missed it, you can also read about that good news in the annual Contract Glazier Outlook Index (CGOI), which is now available.
If you’re not familiar, the CGOI is a numerical measurement of the optimism and current health of the glass and glazing industry compiled by the KMR Research Department. It’s just one segment of KMR’s Glass and Glazing Industry Outlook, an annual in-depth report on the state of the industry (Available here). Our research director, Nick St. Denis, leads the project every year to bring this important data to the industry. You can read his CGOI report in the February USGlass, but I also wanted to point a couple of the big highlights I see.
The first, after coming off its lowest mark since it started six years ago, the indicator is now at its highest ever. The 2022 CGOI is at 72.2 compared to 51.1 last year; any score above 50 represents a positive outlook—and the higher number, the better. Contract glaziers were asked to grade, on a scale of 0-100, the degree to which 2021 met their expectations in terms of overall business. A grade of 0 represented “Extremely dissatisfied,” 50 represented “Exactly as expected” and 100 represented “Far exceeded expectations.” The average of all respondents was a grade of 72, up from 2020’s grade of 66. The better-than-expected rating over the past several years shows the industry is typically cautiously optimistic—which is especially notable given circumstances resulting from the pandemic.
KMR’s Contract Glazier Outlook Index improved to its highest reading in 2022 since its inception six years ago.
According to the report, contract glaziers are optimistic about the year ahead with the majority expecting to see an increase in sales. Compare that to last year when only a tad more than half said they expected a sales increase, and you see a much better outlook today.
Of course, there’s still a lot of concerns and challenges. Many of those companies ranked in this year’s top 50, pointed to the supply chain challenges (which could now be impacted even more by what’s happening in Ukraine), logistics and labor shortages as reasons for worry. On the positive side, contract glaziers report that it seems we’re finally making it to the other side of COVID, there’s increasing technology and innovation in the market and lots of work to be had.
Do you agree? Drop me an email at erogers@glass.com to share your thoughts.
We’ll continue to keep our eyes and ears open as the year progresses, so be sure to keep an eye on usglassmag.com and our daily USGNN™ e-news for the latest reports.
