Oak Door recommendations

[Buzz]

Need to order our oak internal doors, TBH both of us are getting choice fatigue as we near the end of the build and could do with some advice from those who have brought oak doors. 

We will require 28 internal doors and have a budget of around £100 per door excluding handles etc.

Quite happy with the vertical pattern called Suffolk/Mexicana or other depending on retailer or the horizontal ladder style various names. 

Most of the online retailers seem to sell the same brands, XL, JB, LPD and others and advice on what brands to buy or avoid for our budget would be greatly appreciated. 

Also, finished doors seem to be 30% more but is that good value or not considering i will have 28 to finish, how long would you expect to spend on each door to finish it to a good standard. 

Thanks in advance. 

 

[ProDave]

We got some very nice XL Joinery half glazed oak doors but they are over your budget.

 

Howdens do a range of Oak doors with the vertical pattern you mention for under £100

[Buzz]

Thanks Dave, not going for glass in any of the doors and had seen XL, good to hear you would recommend them. 

On the subject of Howdens is it worth trying to get prices from them as i have not been able to get any joy from our local branch regarding having an account and would only consider them if quality and prices were much better than elsewhere (they are so difficult to deal with).  

[saveasteading]

57 minutes ago, Buzz said:

On the subject of Howdens is it worth trying to get prices from them as i have not been able to get any joy from our local branch regarding having an account and would only consider them if quality and prices were much better than elsewhere (they are so difficult to deal with).  

Howdens are strict about being trade only.

We went to them with 2 kitchens to order and it was clear they were not about to break policy, and asked who our joiner was.

 

As it happens the family business does have an account so that was sorted.

 

I think this is fair, as they are entitled to sell only to trade, and it would annoy their regular contractors to miss them out of the arrangement.

Howdens used to have 2 price lists: one for public and one for trade, with about 20% added, which covers handling, margin and risk.

 

If not using a contractor, then I suggest you knock up a letterhead for your 'business'. Doesn't have to be limited.  You will be on project number 1 at present.

You surely have accounts at some merchants by this stage, or at least a history of purchase. They might confirm you have been trading with them.

Not that you are looking for a credit account, as they will want full payment.

 

I can only assume that the doors are appropriately priced, otherwise they wouldn't sell many.
 

 Think my first stab would be....visit depot and look at doors.. say you need to know the cost for 28 of them, and that you will open an account if necessary, but without knowing the price you couldn't possibly consider them, all in very polite and friendly manner.

 

Bottom line is that we are buying from them. The quality is fine, and the service has been good.

Sitting with them while they alter the design and units is much better when, for example, you can just stand up and handle all the door types.

The price was realistic from the start, then nudged down a bit, and a bit more.

 

Please keep us informed on the process. We haven't started on doors yet , and will have a similar number.

 

 

[Buzz]

I personally do not have an issue with the way Howden wish to do business,  the frustration steams from the rep visiting site 3 times to promote their products and despite me telling him I am self building and not in the trade he insisted I could buy from them , after the 1st visit to the depot it was very clear I could not have an account the second time he popped in he insisted the depot was wrong and I should be allowed to open an account , again the answer was no but I took the reps card with me and told them to have a word with him as he is not really being truthful with his sales pitch he did pop back in and came wandering through to find me , he took one look and I think the penny dropped i just said leave the books on the side (life's too short). 

[saveasteading]

Did you get an indication out of him on the price of doors?

 

Our joiner has an account, so we could have used that for the 'access' and paid Howdens direct. This would depend on agreement that any delivery or quality issues would be your problem not theirs.

But there was no need.

I'll have to check but I think we did get our own account, by showing business credentials. Depends on your circumstances. Needing a kitchen too?

[Buzz]

54 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Did you get an indication out of him on the price of doors?

No , when I was in the showroom I did ask about a price on a couple of doors in there and was told they can't tell me how much anything costs but they could give me a number or 2 of local fitters who if I told them what door it was would give me a price to supply and fit. 

[dpmiller]

Ignore your past dealings, go online with a made-up letterhead and start an account application. Some trades have no trade body or certification and so are impossible to validate so be a handyman, a self employed kitchen fitter, or somesuch.

[saveasteading]

15 hours ago, dpmiller said:

go online with a made-up letterhead

I checked with the team...we have set up a new account just as the couple doing the project.