New porch, is Anglian any good?

CliveOfIndia

dllive said:

would it be cheaper to get a local builder to do it, or someone like Anglian (or similar)?

A local firm, every time.  As others have said, ask for personal recommendations from neighbours (via a local community Facebook page if you have one, not adverts on Facebook).

Just look at it purely logically.  The "big name" firms need to cover the costs of swanky showrooms, TV adverts, salesmen's commissions, all the staff and bean-counters, plus make a big fat profit on top to appease their shareholders.

Your local family-run outfit - they're looking to make a reasonable, rather than outrageous, profit.  More importantly, they live or die by their local reputation, and rely on repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations to survive.

It's your choice, but I know which I'd go for.

As always, get at least 2 or 3 quotes.  Any kosher tradesman will be expecting you to do this and won't be at all offended.  Be honest with them - tell them you want a quote, and that you'll be contacting another local firm for another quote as well.  If they're honest, they won't mind at all and should give you a reasonable quote which allows them to make an honest profit without ripping you off.  Don't forget, this is their livelihood - of course they need to make a profit on every job to feed their wife and kids;  but they also want to do a good job, build up a good reputation and get lots of local repeat business.

ThisIsWeird

FreeBear said:

ThisIsWeird said: They are charlatans, with devious and vile operating practices.

I'd be careful using words like that to describe the company - They have a large, well funded legal department (you need to ask yourself why that is....).

Certainly, their sales pitches & practices leave much to be desired, and their pricing structure along with the "discounts" are questionable - But the salesmen want their bonuses, and the junkets the company puts on have to be paid for somehow. As for the quality of work, the few I've seen would be rated as "could do better, a lot better".

Personally, I detest the use of door knockers to drum up business, and point blank refuse to engage any company that uses such tactics - Even worse when the idjits knock on the door whilst someone is in the middle of installing new windows (yes, they did that to me one year).

Find yourself a local independent company, either a builder or someone that does conservatories, and invite them to quote. Unless you are in a conservation area, the property is listed, or an article 4 directive is in place, you won't need planning permission as long as the porch is less than 3m²*. And as long as you retain the exterior grade door, FENSA certificates will not be needed for the windows & outside door.

*) There are also rules about distance from boundaries, height restrictions, and drains - An architect should be able to guide you through the requirements. Just don't take a builder's word for it.

Happy to say it, based on my real life experience in our previous house.
The utter phoniness of the inflated quote, special manager deal, "I'll call him up right now!", "oh, they're a lovely couple - I want to do good by them" etc etc etc.
I'd heard of this beforehand, by my jaw hit t'deck from it actually happening. I could almost predict the next line he'd use.
Utterly offensive. 

ThisIsWeird

Also keep an eye out for recent work done in the 'hood - extensions, obviously even porches. Approach the homeowners, and ask.

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said: Happy to say it, based on my real life experience in our previous house.
The utter phoniness of the inflated quote, special manager deal, "I'll call him up right now!", "oh, they're a lovely couple - I want to do good by them" etc etc etc.

or the one that goes "Your partner needs to be present whilst we do the sales pitch."

"My dear boy, I am quite capable of making financial decisions without having to consult anyone. Oh, and I don't think the cat will like you anyway (he is a lesbian)"

dllive

Thanks all for your comments. I have gone through the local Facebook pages and compiled a few local builders that have been consistently recommended. I will contact them for quotes.

ThisIsWeird said:

dllive said:

Did they go bankrupt!?

Are the similar companies (Brittania, Everest etc) also extortionate? I assume so as they probably operate a similar business model.

.....

Give some thought to the design of the porch - it can make a huge difference to your house's kerb appeal.

If you post a photo of your house front on here, almost certainly folk will be able to give good design advice.

That would be great to get some design advice. I have a fairly good idea of what I want, but would be good to get others opinions. I wont be expanding the footprint of the original porch that is there, so thats one less complication.

I wont a timber-framed style porch, but I know thats going to be prohibitively expensive. So Ive made some compromises. My current thoughts are dwarf wall, uPVC glazing (hence why I was thinking of Anglian!), with slate roof.

I will post some photos on here later of the current porch, and what I have in mind.

Thanks

Also, is Anglian bankrupt? They look to still be operating?

ThisIsWeird

dllive said:

Thanks all for your comments. I have gone through the local Facebook pages and compiled a few local builders that have been consistently recommended. I will contact them for quotes.

ThisIsWeird said:

dllive said:

Did they go bankrupt!?

Are the similar companies (Brittania, Everest etc) also extortionate? I assume so as they probably operate a similar business model.

.....

Give some thought to the design of the porch - it can make a huge difference to your house's kerb appeal.

If you post a photo of your house front on here, almost certainly folk will be able to give good design advice.

That would be great to get some design advice. I have a fairly good idea of what I want, but would be good to get others opinions. I wont be expanding the footprint of the original porch that is there, so thats one less complication.

I wont a timber-framed style porch, but I know thats going to be prohibitively expensive. So Ive made some compromises. My current thoughts are dwarf wall, uPVC glazing (hence why I was thinking of Anglian!), with slate roof.

I will post some photos on here later of the current porch, and what I have in mind.

Thanks

Also, is Anglian bankrupt? They look to still be operating?

Oops, I was thinking of Everest. :-(
I will amend my original post.
They are of a type, tho' - high pressure sales methods using cunning psychological tricks. 
I have had two personal experiences of this, the first more than 25 years ago in our previous house - where I was gobsmacked by what went on - and then again in our current house, around 8 years ago, when I added them to my list of three (the other two being local) as a comparison, and to see if their methods had changed. It hadn't, and he was asked to leave after a loooong hour.

dllive

OK, here is my current porch which is - literally - falling down:




I wont be extending the footprint, due to costs and not wanting to go through planning.

In an ideal world, this is what Id like:



But obviously, this will be prohibitively expensive. So Ive scaled-back my expectations to perhaps something like:



So, rather than a place where I would 'sit and read the newspaper', it would just be an area that I can hang wet jackets and dirty boots. But Id like it to look nice because it is the main entrance to the house.

You can see - where the current door opening is, there is about a metre gap to the chimney. I am considering extending that bit, and having the door on the widest side.

So my current thinking is: slate roof (no need for velux window), dwarf wall (probably rendered the same as the rest of the house?), with big uPVC glazed panels and a nice door.

Any thoughts/comments/opinions welcome!

Emily_Joy

Our new house has got Anglian windows and the front door, installed in 2019. A few weeks ago I was about to leave the house to catch 5:40am train to work when I realised I cannot lock the front door from outside - at all. After checking the lock works perfectly when the door is open, I thought it is perhaps just a bit misaligned, so I managed to lift it and lock from inside. Later that day I called Anglian as the door is still under warranty. I was told that (1) an engineer could visit in 3 working days (2) I can call locksmith if I need help sooner, but this will invalidate the Anglian warranty (3) they don't provide any kind of emergency services themselves. 

Since problems with doors often come under "emergency" category, I wouldn't be using them myself. I also wouldn't expect the door to develop issues after 4 years only...

FreeBear

dllive said: Also, is Anglian bankrupt? They look to still be operating?

Anglian Windows went through a management buyout back in 1991 and have since been under ownership of a couple of different investment groups. The group is struggling with debt, but appears to be servicing their current loans reasonably well. Although the future looks tough as we go through an economic downturn, Anglian should be able to weather the storm for a few more years. Would still want to see an insurance backed guarantee just in case they go the same way as Zenith or SafeStyle.

ThisIsWeird

Others have a better eye than I do, but certainly all your options are very attractive and should hugely improve that corner.

Worth checking your Planning Portal to see what size limits there are on porches, as you might be surprised at how 'big' (relatively) you can go. Most of the designs you show will be far less impressive if narrowed down to your current footprint (but you know this )

And going bigger - say double - won't mean a doubling of the costs by any means, as there's always a 'starting minimum' cost involved, and then going bigger is 'just' materials and some additional labour. I guess going outside the footprint, tho', will mean founds being required, so that could be a notable extra amount.

But, you won't know until you have folks out to quote.

If you cannot increase the width of the porch - how far out it comes - then I agree with your thoughts of increasing its length right up to that stack. But what I'd do is to follow the 'canopy' idea of two of the designs you show, so the new roof (yes, nice slate!) continues as one, but you and visitors have a covered area as you fumble for your keys.

Like these two:

These two also show what appears to my eyes to be the ideal roof slope angle. Be ready to raise the roofline from the existing to get the proportions right. Also, do not skimp on the roof overhang along the side - too abrupt is hellish to my eyes, and almost the bigger the better.... This, for example, looks very awkward to me for both reasons:

Most, if not all, of the designs you've shown can be nigh-on 100% built by a joiner, so no 'general builder' necessarily required, so try and target a few self-employed chippies to quote as well. Even a dwarf wall - if they didn't want to get a brickie - can be built from a timber + ext ply construction, with cladding added of any description including stone or brick. 

What a project - I'd love to DIY this :-)