Alumunium windows in a bay question

tightasagnats

Hi folks,

I've had a quote for removal of three UPVC windows in a downstairs Victorian bay - replace middle window with a single door with opening top window - and two new fixed windows - one either side. Removal of brickwork and make good etc.

One West London windows firm quote was £3500 for UPVC and this is going to be top end price I reckon. Posh firm/location, posh prices. Other was more local Essex building/renovations firm quoted £2150 for aluminium (which is the product I shall go for) and seems on the low end of cost. I'm waiting for one more firm to quote me.

Question I have is this, aluminium windows seem standard-ish - in terms of how they look and I want something plain anyway - but are there large variations in the QUALITY of the windows? So is one firm cheaper because of cheaper quality product? My guess is that it'll be labour costs that vary more than product. The firm that quoted me the lower price use Legend UPVC windows which are A rated, so assume something similar with aluminium.

System

I have never had a quote for windows of similar specs come back with aluminium coming in just over half price!!
They must be terrible windows for that price imo - similarly specced aluminium windows would be more expensive that their upvc equivalent

tightasagnats

I agree with the half price - but the first quote for UPVC is very high. The UPVC quote for other company was £1650 which seems about right. He told me the units would cost £850 and the rest is labour and removal of waste etc.

tightasagnats

Also, what does "a terrible window" mean? THat was my question really, how much do they vary.

System

tightasagnats wrote: »

Also, what does "a terrible window" mean? THat was my question really, how much do they vary.

Badly constructed frames, not thermally broken, poor quality materials, poor workmanship, poor performance glazing, unsuitable profiles etc etc, they vary a huge amount.
Ideally you should see a corner sample of the window before ordering or establish the exact specification for them, are they SBD certified, what u-value are they etc

tightasagnats

That all sounds marvellous but if someone handed me a sample and said it was SBD thermally broken and u-value x or y I wouldn't have a clue but that's good to ask, because I'll get an idea of whether they're on the defence and I'll post the info here.

Thanks for your time mr/ms sole.

System

tightasagnats wrote: »

That all sounds marvellous but if someone handed me a sample and said it was SBD thermally broken and u-value x or y I wouldn't have a clue but that's good to ask, because I'll get an idea of whether they're on the defence and I'll post the info here.

Thanks for your time mr/ms sole.

SBD is "secure by design" i.e. police and insurers like them - but not all windows will have accreditation, depends what you are looking for in your window, but locking mechanisms are fairly important and usually the first thing to go wrong...

U-value on replacement windows, I think (off the top of my head) 1.6 is the maximum to meet regs, they'll not be that great, C rated are usually that iirc - A rated maybe 1.4 (could be wrong on that) but 1.2 is pretty common these days and the lower the better. It's a bit of a trade off and there's no point in putting super insulated, expensive windows in an old draughty house....
Aluminium frames rely on having a decent thermal break, the reason they had a bad reputation previously was because they were badly made and the metal frame was one piece from the outside to inside meaning they got covered condensation and leaked heat, the better the separation the less heat escapes through the frame...

As a comparison for you, I had priced windows for my new house - the cheapest of 4 aluminium companies was 21k for 10 windows installed, Timber windows with aluminium cladding came in between 12k-16k and PVC was around 6.5-8k
(they are all large windows and one is 4.6mx2.3m which is pretty costly)

tightasagnats

Thanks, that's very informative. I have two windows in a bay, middle one will be a door, they're about 1.5 x .8 metres presently. I've dropped the builder an email to ask about the ratings etc.

Thanks again for your help.

tightasagnats

Builder has CERTAS accreditation, windows have to have thermal break and comply with certain energy standards, so looks good.

System

tightasagnats wrote: »

Builder has CERTAS accreditation, windows have to have thermal break and comply with certain energy standards, so looks good.

yes but what are the "certain energy standards"?!
the devil is in the detail on something like this - I would highly recommend getting a quote from (at least one) a different manufacturer for aluminium windows - get the specifications and prices of both and compare them

tightasagnats

Yes, I am, two others, always.