Is this double glazing quote reasonable?

garak112 · 10 Jun 2016 at 18:11

Just had a quote for double glazing and wanted to check how reasonable it is:

French door 1700x2100
2 openers above French door 850x300 ea
Upstairs window 1750x1330 3 panes 2 opening
Bay window 6 panes 600x1000 each 2 full height opener one half height
Bay window 7 panes 1350x550 ea 3 full height opener 1 half height
Front window 1160x1330 2 panes one opener

All with leaded glass, making good (Inc plaster) London prices £6800

Slam62 · 10 Jun 2016 at 18:19

No idea, but seems a lot of windows

Vanquish-Storm · 10 Jun 2016 at 18:48

Last year we had;

French doors
bedroom
Front room
Back bedroom
Office
Kitchen
Bathroom
Landing
Front door

For £5500 with a reputable local company

I am not sure of the sizes off the top of my head

Shoza · 10 Jun 2016 at 18:51

Hard to tell - we had 4 x large (victorian house) double glazed windows installed for £1200 total.

Excellent work, great windows..

Johno please? · 10 Jun 2016 at 19:27

Seems alright, get rid of the lead (and trickle vents if they have priced for them) and ask for triple glazing instead, better value for money.

garak112 · 10 Jun 2016 at 19:34

Johno please? said:
Seems alright, get rid of the lead (and trickle vents if they have priced for them) and ask for triple glazing instead, better value for money.

I need to have lead unfortunately. I hate it but every other house has it except one which looks odd.

He said the windows had to have trickle vents?

Triple glazing was £1k extra on all the windows and he wasn't convincing about the benefits.

SDK^ · 10 Jun 2016 at 19:53

Seems about right.
We paid the same last year for a few more Windows but no French Doors or front door. We did those separate and they cost just over £4K.

mx0range · 10 Jun 2016 at 20:07

trickle vents have to be fitted to meet regulations

Johno please? · 10 Jun 2016 at 20:14

garak112 said:
I need to have lead unfortunately. I hate it but every other house has it except one which looks odd.

He said the windows had to have trickle vents?

Triple glazing was £1k extra on all the windows and he wasn't convincing about the benefits.

mx0range said:
trickle vents have to be fitted to meet regulations

Not true, only if a building inspector says "you must have trickle vents"

No building inspector? Then you don't want or need them.

I put customers off them due to the fact you're having brand new windows and then cutting a hole in the top and putting a bit of plastic over it.

jpaul · 12 Jun 2016 at 07:38

for vertical panes in double glazed windows, are there any mechanisms that allow the window to be locked open at intermediate positions - open a jar such that the window will not fly open if the wind catches it ... like the traditional window catch, with spaced holes permitted.
This would be part of my spec for new windows, as have now had multiple properties with this problem

Lumeycom · 12 Jun 2016 at 11:56

Johno please? said:
Not true, only if a building inspector says "you must have trickle vents"

No building inspector? Then you don't want or need them.

I put customers off them due to the fact you're having brand new windows and then cutting a hole in the top and putting a bit of plastic over it.

Depends a lot on the property too, older houses tend to need some sort of air movement to combat their natural 'dampness' compared to new builds. Sealing an old house up is never going to end well.

Abyss · 12 Jun 2016 at 18:53

Johno please? said:
Not true, only if a building inspector says "you must have trickle vents"

No building inspector? Then you don't want or need them.

I put customers off them due to the fact you're having brand new windows and then cutting a hole in the top and putting a bit of plastic over it.

I'm not sure what industry you work in and who your customers are but I'd be concerned if you are giving blanket statements of not installing trickle vents.

Buildings need ventilation in some form or another to minimise the risk of bacteria building up, and on many properties trickle vents form a part of the ventilation solution. When replacing windows you should not be making the ventilation any worse therefore if the existing windows have trickle vents you either need to have them on the new ones or install a suitable alternative such as air bricks.

Neither FENSA or building control will allow you to make the ventilation to a property any worse as a result of replacing the windows and I'm surprised a reputable installer will risk their FENSA accreditation by offering to do so

See page 17 on the below FENSA document for more info:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CIAtGSgIwt-TXCPzQ&sig2=MQNhKEh5RclVYLGLAq4b-Q

Johno please? · 12 Jun 2016 at 19:43

jpaul said:
for vertical panes in double glazed windows, are there any mechanisms that allow the window to be locked open at intermediate positions - open a jar such that the window will not fly open if the wind catches it ... like the traditional window catch, with spaced holes permitted.
This would be part of my spec for new windows, as have now had multiple properties with this problem

Not sure what you mean by vertical panes but all modern windows have a way to have them open slightly but still locked so no one can enter from outside.

Abyss said:
Buildings need ventilation in some form or another to minimise the risk of bacteria building up, and on many properties trickle vents form a part of the ventilation solution. When replacing windows you should not be making the ventilation any worse therefore if the existing windows have trickle vents you either need to have them on the new ones or install a suitable alternative such as air bricks.

Neither FENSA or building control will allow you to make the ventilation to a property any worse as a result of replacing the windows and I'm surprised a reputable installer will risk their FENSA accreditation by offering to do so

See page 17 on the below FENSA document for more info:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CIAtGSgIwt-TXCPzQ&sig2=MQNhKEh5RclVYLGLAq4b-Q

The thing is though, Fensa nor Certass inspect hardly any jobs that you register through them, and besides how would they know if there was trickle vents before?

Anyway, I stand by my point trickle vents are a waste of money, just use a bit of common sense and open your windows when needed.

jpaul · 12 Jun 2016 at 21:53

Johno please? my description was poor I mean a casement window opening vertically eg

Alll the ones I have seen do not have a mechanism that allows window to be
opened reliably at say 10degree opening, so it is not susceptible to gusts of wind, function that used to be provided by a window stay
[it would be great if you could just rotate handle and it would lock off the window at that point]

kefkef · 12 Jun 2016 at 21:58

Trickle vents should be a no cost option. The first company I had price up said:

Trickle vents, £100 per window, required by building reg law!...
Extra strong glass on downstairs Windows as a child under 5 living in premises, £100 per window.

Sacked them off for a quote £5000 less........

Maundie · 13 Jun 2016 at 14:20

kefkef said:
Trickle vents should be a no cost option. The first company I had price up said:

Trickle vents, £100 per window, required by building reg law!...
Extra strong glass on downstairs Windows as a child under 5 living in premises, £100 per window.

Sacked them off for a quote £5000 less........

The double glazing industry has long been mistrusted by the public and when you see things like this mentioned you can understand why, if trickle vents are required by law then they shouldn't be charging extra for them they should be in with the starting price and not mentioned.

Simon42 · 13 Jun 2016 at 15:46

I will be replacing my windows soon and some extra ventilation via trickle vents is something we want for certain rooms. However what annoys me is the poor design of so many trickle vents which leads to loss of noise/heat insulation when closed.

If trickle vents are on the increase you would expect some better design as it makes a mockery of triple glazing and everything else only to just rely on a couple of mm of plastic flap and no seal!

the_r_sole · 14 Jun 2016 at 10:03

Simon42 said:
I will be replacing my windows soon and some extra ventilation via trickle vents is something we want for certain rooms. However what annoys me is the poor design of so many trickle vents which leads to loss of noise/heat insulation when closed.

If trickle vents are on the increase you would expect some better design as it makes a mockery of triple glazing and everything else only to just rely on a couple of mm of plastic flap and no seal!

velfac do some lovely trickle ventilators - but most upvc windows use the same rubbish components, you are hard pushed to find decent looking trickle vents

garak112 · 19 Jun 2016 at 10:55

I've had the last 2 quotes in, both came to £7,250. One sent me an list of all the windows and materials that he had worked up in CAD which showed it was 17 panels for all the windows. The £6,800 quote was for 6 less (2 windows) so works out a bit more.

I'd obviously hoped for less but with all the quotes coming back in that range that looks to be the right price.