Agreed,don't touch the so called big boys with a long stick.Mother in law had three Windows replaced last year by Royston windows.Can't remember exactly how much but the price was excellent and the Windows are very good.This was after Everest cold called and got her to sign up for the Windows at a ridiculous price.She is vulnerable so bang out of order,we had to ring and cancel,luckily we were still in the cooling off period !.
Our current door is terrible, need a new door. Since the patio doors gone in we've noticed a difference in the warmth downstairs - its replaced a door and window. All the houses were built using the cheapest Yorkshire Windows.
Agree GK for me the German owned company Veka is the best profile. Their main U.K. extrusion plant is in Burnley. They have now merged with WH Smith who are also a U.K. based extruder. I phoned Veka and they recommended three approved fitters who use their products. Questions to ask, what are the front to back dimensions of the profile (need 75mm) to avoid buying slimline. How many reinforcing channels are in the profile.? Do you partially or fully reinforce the profile.? What do you use to reinforce ( metal or aluminium).? I have aluminium in ours. Are the windows internally or externally glazed.? The winning quote for my six white PVcu windows was £2,950 ( two years ago),from Dewsbury Glass and Glazing. Three operatives rolled up and had the old windows out and the new ones installed in around six hours. Have to say we've been absolutely delighted. The windows are top quality as is the hardware.
Another question you can ask any provider AM, is what is the weight in kilograms of the various fully made up windows they intend to supply you with, before they are partially or fully glazed. Once you have that information you can roughly work out what it's cost to manaufacture the window ( excluding labour). I've Googled the cost of High Density Polyethylene. The most recent price I could see was £1,220 per tonne, which means one kilo of profile has cost £1.22. If the made up window weighs 120kg, the cost of the raw material for that window would be 146.40. This gives you a good idea of costs when you are bartering over any final price to be charged excluding assembly, installation and glazing.
Isn't there a load of metal in the frame too? Or am I giving window companies far too much credit for what makes up a window?
Best thing to do is dig around and find some window fitters, there's loads around Barnsley. Get them to measure and fit the windows for a fraction of the price of any window company, cut the middle man out. If you want, send me a PM and I'll pass you a number for a excellent fitter from Cudworth who will sort you out.
Not every extruder reinforces their frames. That's why you see the ridiculous adverts re- any six frames for £1000.00. I worked very closely with Barnsley Council when they set up their factory to make the windows for what is now Berneslai Homes. They head hunted a factory Manager from a leading private sector company and there was nothing that lad didn't know about the industry. I once asked him why in some cases you see doors and windows turn yellow. The main reason is because not enough titanium dioxide has been added to the polymer made to extrude the window, plus the manufacturer could have added a larger amount of regranulated material in the final mix, in contravention of the British Standard. Barnsley opted to use Veka profile as they had several brands tested by Trading Standards and that came out as the best all round quality. For a fully made up glazed, reinforced , fitted window we worked on circa ( £350 per frame). That was around 15 years ago. When I was getting quotes for my six frames I estimated circa £600 per frame which were of varying sizes re- circa £3,600. The winning quote to fit Veka with a profile guarantee of 10 years came from Dewsbury Glass and Glazing and was £2,950. For that they also removed from site the old frames and double glazed units.
I live across the road from this place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Park There are a lot of Ball Park Figures in the above article. I hope this helps.
High quality composite doors will really add to the cost (~£2k each). As said elsewhere UPVC look good and a lower maintenance than wood.
A good quality one supplied and fitted should cost less than 1.5k but you can get cheap ***** ones which will end up with no but problems with.