Quote for conservatory!

izaac

In Wiltshire, we're looking to build a 3.5 x 2.5m conservatory on the back of a linked terraced house; no planning needed, electrics but no heating, 'Edwardian' style roof, all Pilkington glass, low wall base. lino floor, cat flap. One side wall will be a solid panel as it's up against the neighbour's Leylandii, and this panel and the brickwork will be plastered. Existing French window from house, new French window into the garden.

No tricky things like huge trees, drains etc.

Any ideas what a sensible quote would be?

Davesnave

Hopefully the end panel will be cavity wall, not 'solid' but ground works will vary quite a lot. I imagine.

As a guide, I've just agreed £13k for 27m2, well specified with tilt 'n turn windows + 2 doors for the plastic, but with a simpler (glass) roof than yours. Did a good deal by offering to do all ground work and negotiating at a carp time of year.

izaac

Thanks, I had assumed the end wall would be brick, but the bloke said 'a solid panel'.

The roof is also glass, but in what they call an Edwardian shape', rather than say a lean to. Can I ask whether you got 'a company' to do it or an independent?

Furts

Davesnave is a fountain of knowledge. I will re-iterate what he said. The end wall should be cavity wall. But even then expect problems because of the Leylandii. When you said "no tricky things" I appreciate you were just winding us up!

Put conversely, your bloke saying "solid panel" is a good indication that he is either incompetent, or a poor businessman, or unqualified, or could not give a t-ss, or perhaps all of these!

Hope this helps.

ukmike

Had a same size conservatory built last year,with a blue tinted glass roof.£6,000 from a small local firm.

izaac

The point I was making was that the end wall isn't glass, it was floor to ceiling 'non-glass' i.e. 'solid'! This may have cost implications as I understand that the glass is the most expensive component of a conservatory.

I wasn't at the discussion, the information was relayed to me, so I didn't argue semantics with the quoter!

The Leylandii are 5' high, and there'd be a 2' gap between them and this 'solid' wall. No wind ups there!

Davesnave

izaac wrote: »

Thanks, I had assumed the end wall would be brick, but the bloke said 'a solid panel'.

The roof is also glass, but in what they call an Edwardian shape', rather than say a lean to. Can I ask whether you got 'a company' to do it or an independent?

"A solid panel" might be windows with white upvc panels in them instead of glass, if it's assumed no light is coming from that direction, or it might be....well, anything solid! I would want very firm specs before signing-up to a deal.

I used a local independent firm who've been around for 35 years and came recommended by my builder, who used to be in the window trade himself before partially retiring.

My best advice is to get three quotes, making them as like-for-like as you can. Then, haggle. My salesman wasn't terribly pushy. He was soon at the stage of, "Well, what price would suit you?"

I told him and we had a deal.... £5.5k below where we started.

Furts

izaac wrote: »

The point I was making was that the end wall isn't glass, it was floor to ceiling 'non-glass' i.e. 'solid'! This may have cost implications as I understand that the glass is the most expensive component of a conservatory.

I wasn't at the discussion, the information was relayed to me, so I didn't argue semantics with the quoter!

The Leylandii are 5' high, and there'd be a 2' gap between them and this 'solid' wall. No wind ups there!

With the Buildings Regulations in mind anything within one metre of your neighbour should be non combustible. Plastic end panels are not a good idea, neither is a plastic conservatory.

The plastic panels are flimsy and can be prone to water ingress, splitting and degradation. Have you looked at them with a scrutinising eye?

The plastic panels will also get pushed in by the Leylandii unless you are methodical with tree maintenance.

Foundation design considers the trees fully grown - there is no guarantee the Leylandii will remain at 5 feet forever. Building within 600mm is foolhardy, as foundations will be even closer and roots will be encountered when digging the foundation. This is all your call - you do what you wish but to get a conservatory company to offer a genuine 10 year guarantee on all work would mean foundations dug to typically 2500mm - could be less if ground conditions are suitable.

If the Leylandii do grow above five feet your new conservatory will gradually become a nightmare of darkness, fallen needles, green algae...and so on.

All of this, and much more, should have been pointed out by your conservatory "bloke". I accept that you were not present but if you are taking control of matters you really owe a duty to yourself to ask a few questions before jumping in.

izaac

The bloke was from http://www.applehomeimprovements.co.uk/ I'm not sure how 'big' they are as a company, but I'd imagine they'd do a good job, but at the price people looking for 'certainty' might pay?

We have control over the leylandii height, btw!

Really, I am not 'taking control of matters' (wish I could!), I am advising my very mild SN brother, 54, who owns the said house. The cash that'll pay for this is all he has.

He has been quoted £16000 to do this conservatory build which really isn't complex, back garden on a 15 year old link-semi, no PP required; plus he has asked for 1m2 bathroom under-floor-heating and 2 plugs to be moved for this price. I have requested the broken down quote!

But my fear is he was, at the same time, casually quoted £2250 to install a Council house style front door, as well. Wot??!

I may only be a gurly MRI radiographer, but someone's having a laugh... aren't they?

phil24_7

Furts wrote: »

to get a conservatory company to offer a genuine 10 year guarantee on all work would mean foundations dug to typically 2500mm - could be less if ground conditions are suitable.

The foundations for my 2 storey extension are nowhere near 2.5m, they were more like 400-500mm!

izaac

Phil, having had extensive extension work done on my own properties, both here and in Queensland- where they take world-wide regs on everything, then double them- the deepest foundation I've seen was 500mm!