Hurst’s Bold Investment in Colour Choice

Hurst is helping its customers meet the increased homeowner demand for colour by investing in a new state-of-the-art paint shop at its site in Hull.

The new £200k dedicated paint facility comprises of Downdraft preparation bench, bunded paint mixing room, fully enclosed spray shop with forced air input system, dedicated ATEX-rated flash-off area, and market leading Schubox Catalytic IR drying system.

The whole facility is supported by an overhead track system allowing products to be loaded from the prep area and suspended throughout the whole process to the despatch area.

The new paint facility will give the leading door supplier greater control over the manufacturing process, while minimising error and reducing lead times in the process.

“This is an exciting development for us,” Sales Director Mark Atkinson said. “Our recent customer research found that the majority of our customers have seen an increase in demand for bespoke colours, and it is important that as a key supplier we can react quickly to those demands.”

Hurst surveyed its customer base at the start of 2024 to learn more about how the latest trends among door specifiers and homeowners were feeding through to supply and installation.

It found that 62% of respondents consider the appearance and design of the door to be the most important factor in selling entrance doors. It also found that four in five respondents had seen an increase in demand for bespoke colours.

“We know that colour has become really important for our customers,” Mark said. “They use colour to differentiate their offering, and we can supply them with over 1600 RAL colours now.

“Our new paint shop will give us greater control over product development, including new colours, that will allow homeowners to make bold statements with their entrance doors.”

When it comes to popular colours, Mark said that being unique is a key trend of the day.

“They’re going for every shade of grey, pinks and blues,” he said. “And they are taking greater care to match the colour of the entrance door with the interior design.”

Hurst’s increased colour capability dovetails neatly with its investment in its marketing support, including its new augmented reality (AR) sales tool, which fully integrates with a new composite door brochure and professionally created sales videos.

The door styles featured in the new Hurst AR Composite Sales Tool include options drawn from across its Classic, Cottage, Contemporary and Designer Collections.

And Hurst’s new aluminium-inspired Designer composite collection taps into the demand for the aluminium aesthetic but without the heavy price tag.

“We know definitively that our customers want to be able to offer a wide range of colours to their customers,” Mark concluded. “Not only have we invested in the infrastructure to allow us to do this on a quick turnaround, but we are also providing the modern marketing tools to help them sell.”