Insights in Fenestration

Like many industries, the fenestration industry had a year of both challenges and growth in 2025. From global market disruptions to supply chain challenges, there was quite a bit of uncertainty around building materials including windows and doors. But with every setback comes opportunities to move forward stronger, and that’s what should propel us into the new year.

Staying strong amidst uncertainty

The building industry experienced uncertainty around tariffs, including exemptions from them and how and when they would be implemented all the way into Q3 of 2025. That uncertainty created volatility that manufacturers, builders and customers had to contend with for most of the year. The lesson from this experience is that markets are not independent and they can change based on many external factors, one of those being government intervention. It’s a good thing to keep in mind as we move through the next year so we can be more prepared for any type of disruption that impacts supply chain planning, pricing and market parameters.

We learned during the pandemic, and again this year, the importance of long-term partnerships. When COVID hit, we dealt with scarcity of materials and managing shortfalls; and strong customer-supplier relationships were critical. Open, transparent communication becomes even more important in uncertain times, and it’s exactly that kind of communication that is already established within long-term partnerships.

Manufacturers this year had to make tough decisions amidst the dynamic market environment. Could they absorb the cost of tariffs or would they have to pass it on to customers? To support continuous partnerships and build trust, many manufacturers strive to strike a balance between absorbing part or all of the tariffs to help ensure customers continue to manufacture and deliver products to their eventual end-users. In volatile markets, relationships, trust and transparency become competitive advantages.

Looking ahead in 2026

In 2026, I expect continuous growth beyond traditional fenestration including: expansion beyond just windows to the broader building envelope, a move toward a more homogenous building appearance, continued merging of interior and exterior design elements and a strong emphasis on outdoor living spaces like canopies, kitchens and four-season rooms. Many of these trends are already happening, but should see even more emphasis in the next year.

The use of laminates on doors and windows has been in the market for quite some time, but there’s increasingly a push toward using laminates across the entire building, like in cladding, siding, trim board, soffit, railing and fencing. As builders and consumers are looking for ways to make the building uniform, it makes sense to use the same materials across the full structure.

As laminates are used on more parts of buildings, the laminate market share will continue to grow. The superior features of laminates are driving more adoption. They are flexible, weather resistant, have low heat build-up and come in many textures and haptics.

Compared to some other industries, the construction industry is fairly conventional when it comes to design. There’s growing interest in new colors in a conservative palette: blacks in various shades, dark browns, bronzes and grays. There’s emerging interest in clay tones and green-grays as accent colors. We always see regional variations in color preferences across different climate zones, especially as architects and builders seek to streamline interior and exterior design elements.

Our industry is positioned for expansion as laminates continue to prove its value. The hurdles we encountered in 2025 reinforced the importance of strong partnerships and transparent communications, which will continue to serve us well in the next year as we see even more innovation across the entire building envelope.