Wild quotes and building regs for windows and doors

[GP41]

We've been looking at window and door options for a retrofit.  We'd homed in on alu-clad timber Norrsken and Internorm but the prices were crazy high.  We'd put this down to the long distance we are from the South Coast and the significant travel for Norrsken, and the generally high quotes people seem to get for Internorm.  We've worked our way down the Internorm range, ending up, sadly, at uPVC.  We were always having white anyway and from a performance perspective there doesn't seem to be much in it.  We are also coastal and uPVC will probably fair better, so not all bad - I was just hoping to move away from uPVC.

 

We've a couple of Internorm distributors close to us.  Quotes from the first were heading up to £40k fitted for the cheapest of the range.  Just by chance we decided to get a quote from the other local Internorm distributor and their fitted price (including delivery, access, lifting, etc.) for the top of the range was the same as the supply-only price for the cheapest option from the other distributor (~£850/sqm including a sliding door).  This is making me nervous! The distributor in question has been around a while and seems credible but the price difference has knocked me off guard a bit. Is this just the craziness that is window pricing or does it seem strange - which price is the unusual one??

 

I'm also intrigued about building regs.  As far as I can tell, neither distributor is registered under a competent persons scheme, with one of them saying they didn't see BR being an issue in our case and that they didn't need FENSA because they've had the required training from Internorm.  Does being an accredited distributor give you the cover you need?

 

 

[Redbeard]

FENSA is a Self-Assessment body, in the same way as HETAS and certain elec bodies for their areas of expertise. If you don't use FENSA (AFAIK there is not another windows SA scheme) you (or your contractor if you have one) have to apply (and pay) for B Regs approval. I nearly always do that via a Bldg Notice. Around £200 when I last did it. May be more now, and prices vary a bit between authorities anyway. If you do all  the installation work yourself be sure you are happy with assuming the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor roles yourself (shouldn't be an issue with windows but may be for more involved work. Still *could* be for complicated window installs, I guess.)

 

Given the passage of time S & F for £850 sounds not so far from my c£735/m2 supply only in 2022 for another high-spec 3G supplier.

[GP41]

7 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

FENSA is a Self-Assessment body, in the same way as HETAS and certain elec bodies for their areas of expertise. If you don't use FENSA (AFAIK there is not another windows SA scheme) you (or your contractor if you have one) have to apply (and pay) for B Regs approval. I nearly always do that via a Bldg Notice. Around £200 when I last did it. May be more now, and prices vary a bit between authorities anyway. If you do all  the installation work yourself be sure you are happy with assuming the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor roles yourself (shouldn't be an issue with windows but may be for more involved work. Still *could* be for complicated window installs, I guess.)

 

Given the passage of time S & F for £850 sounds not so far from my c£735/m2 supply only in 2022 for another high-spec 3G supplier.

OK, thanks - that was what I'd understood.  I think Certass are the other one.  I just found this on the website of another Internorm partner down in Shropshire, which backs this up. CERTASS - Spectrum Architectural Glazing

 

Based on your figures, that makes my cheap S&F second quote sound very cheap. 

 

Quote 1: supply only £950/sqm, S&F £1250. Cheapest range

Quote 2: S&F: £850/sqm. Best range!

With inflation (not insignificant!), your supply only sounds comparable to my second cheaper supply & fit quote

so my cheaper quote is really cheap, and my first, more expensive quote is really expensive! 

 

Distributors of the same kit in the same neck of the woods too.  Bizarre.

[Russell griffiths]

I wouldn’t think your location would have much bearing on cost, the windows don’t come from down south unless your thinking of Dover, as most of them come in from Lithuania. 
the fitters just travel around the country so that shouldn’t have much bearing either. 
 

if you can accept the windows directly you will save a big chunk, you will need a forklift to offload though. 

[GP41]

12 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

I wouldn’t think your location would have much bearing on cost, the windows don’t come from down south unless your thinking of Dover, as most of them come in from Lithuania. 
the fitters just travel around the country so that shouldn’t have much bearing either. 
 

if you can accept the windows directly you will save a big chunk, you will need a forklift to offload though. 

OK, thanks.  It wasn't so much the materials as the fitters.  I was certainly left with the impression that being at the wrong end of the country wasn't great for them.  To be honest though, I think we are going to have to discount that supplier anyway, just on cost grounds.

[JohnMo]

I ended up looking about locally, as I got the same run around you are getting. A local firm made wooden windows from scratch, about 5 miles from the house. They measured, made, certified and installed. Everything was way easier. Had a couple of alignment issues 2 years after install, they were here to sort, an hour later.

 

But locally made if you can.