Double Glazing - out of touch with prices?

[Tarquintar]

We've been looking to replace 2 x wooden casement windows about 900mm wide and 1300mm high with new pastel or wood coloured UPVC.
One opening, ground floor.

It's a long time since we've bought windows and have had a price just shy of £2,000 to supply and fit which may or may not be excessive? What does seem excessive is the cost of the bars that make the windows look like older style sashes. These add £120 to each!

 

[crank39]

Yep sounds about right, when I price glass units up Georgian bars or even just diamond or square lead makes up roughly a 1/4 quarter of the cost of the unit. Glass prices are crazy at the minute, everything went up because of COVID, then energy prices went up and this will be a factor when it comes to glass production, furnaces and toughening plants, some will even blame the war in Ukraine as having a supply effect

 

[robinbanks]

What did all 3 of your quotes come in at, each?

 

[Tarquintar]

What did all 3 of your quotes come in at, each?

?

 

[Tarquintar]

Yep sounds about right, when I price glass units up Georgian bars or even just diamond or square lead makes up roughly a 1/4 quarter of the cost of the unit. Glass prices are crazy at the minute, everything went up because of COVID, then energy prices went up and this will be a factor when it comes to glass production, furnaces and toughening plants, some will even blame the war in Ukraine as having a supply effect

Thankyou, yes 1/4 is about right, but in this case the bars are more expensive than the DG units themselves!

Is £1000 per window the ball park figure we can expect?

 

[crank39]

So let me get this straight, your replacing 2 wooden windows at 900mm x 1300mm with upvc to be a pastel colour or a coloured woodgrain, an opener in each, well that's a cost there on its own, then is the glass toughened or standard float glass, is it A rated along with the frames, that's a cost too.

The georgian bars, are they duplex/back to back spacer bars because that there is a huge hike there even standard internal 18mm georgian bars hike the price up, then will you have external stick on astragal bars(you will be if it's a duplex/back to back spacer bar), another cost to consider

I don't understand how a georgian bar on its own is greater than the dgu itself?

 

[Tarquintar]

So let me get this straight, your replacing 2 wooden windows at 900mm x 1300mm with upvc to be a pastel colour or a coloured woodgrain, an opener in each, well that's a cost there on its own, then is the glass toughened or standard float glass, is it A rated along with the frames, that's a cost too.

The georgian bars, are they duplex/back to back spacer bars because that there is a huge hike there even standard internal 18mm georgian bars hike the price up, then will you have external stick on astragal bars(you will be if it's a duplex/back to back spacer bar), another cost to consider

I don't understand how a georgian bar on its own is greater than the dgu itself?

Yes, I think you've pretty much nailed the spec there? Internal bars I believe?

Having found the invoice for windows we had fitted 10 years ago I've clearly lost touch with prices!

Probably influenced by Homes under the Hammer where the purchaser can roof repair, install heating, bathroom, kitchen, re-plaster, decorate lay a patio, landscape the garden and still see change from £15k

 

[diy_fun_uk]

?

I think the assertion is did you obtain 3 x quotes from 3 x reputable installers so you can then make a decision on who meets your requirements most.

 

[Tarquintar]

I think the assertion is did you obtain 3 x quotes from 3 x reputable installers so you can then make a decision on who meets your requirements most.

Yes, a totally unnecessary and unhelpful response that Robin hoped to make part of his points scoring contribution to this forum.

Personally I prefer to get a single quote from a reputable installer, who in this case was recommended and we've used before, prior to wasting the time of others.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Yes, a totally unnecessary and unhelpful response that Robin hoped to make part of his points scoring contribution to this forum.

Personally I prefer to get a single quote from a reputable installer, who in this case was recommended and we've used before, prior to wasting the time of others.

It's an interesting approach and not in itself wrong, we all approach things differently. However for more sizeable jobs obtaining 2-3 quotes can be useful and you can sometimes save yourself some £££ in the process.

 

[opps]

It's an interesting approach and not in itself wrong, we all approach things differently. However for more sizeable jobs obtaining 2-3 quotes can be useful and you can sometimes save yourself some £££ in the process.

Agreed. A very good friend of mine recently quoted one of my customers to repoint the side and rear of her property. To be honest, he wasn't particularly interested in taking the job on, so he submitted an inflated price.

She has seen his work and would really like him to do the work, but she got a quote from the pointer used by another friend of hers. That quote is half the price. I haven't seen the other guy's work. My mate is the best weather struck pointer that I have come across, but, side of the property, who is gonna see it?

I am a lowly decorator. If my prospective customers got additional quotes to repaint a single room, yeah, I probably wouldn't want to work for them. If I was quoting 5 grand to paint the exterior windows, I would expect them to get other quotes.

 

[robinbanks]

Personally I prefer to get a single quote

Then you can't really have any basis for comparison can you?

Option 1: Getting several local suppliers, in touch with local prices, to come and look at the job and price for the can of worms

Option 2: Giving people on the internet a vague description of the windows you want, and asking what they reckon they should cost fitted

Which of these two approaches do you think will give a better overall picture of reasonable, comparable prices?

 

[Tarquintar]

Then you can't really have any basis for comparison can you?

Your smug attempt at sarcasm wasn't required for me to get a helpful response from crank39. I can now move forward and get second quotes or a tub of filler for the existing timber windows.

Why only 3 quotes when you could get 5, 6, 10 and waste the time of all but one tradesman?

 

[robinbanks]

You can get as many as you like; 3 is a reasonable starting minimum to allow you to detect outliers.

If all 3 come in around the same, subject to reasonable differences then you probably found the price.

If one is exceptionally cheap, you might end up let down by that one.
If one is exceptionally expensive, they might not want the work.
If all 3 are spread, get more or check whether the min/max understood the job