Bifold Doors

Wolf82 · 19 March 2019 at 11:29PM

I’ve had three separate quotes to supply and fit aluminium bifold doors approx 3m in width;

Smarts Visofold 1000: £2300
Schuco ASS70FD: 4200
Aluk BSF70: £3500

Do these quotes seem fair? Any recommendations on which bifold is better?

Thanks!

ytfcmad · 20 March 2019 at 1:47AM

Smarts is bargain basement.
Schuco is German engineering with the OTT pricing.
ALUK is middle of the road.

The Smarts price is very very cheap.

Wolf82 · 20 March 2019 at 11:17PM

Thanks ytfcmad,

Any recommendation on which to go with based on cost and quality? Is the smarts quote suspiciously low?

s_glover · 21 March 2019 at 11:18AM

We are having bifolds installed next week. When choosing which to go for I did quite a lot of reading around and we viewed both the Smart, ALUK and Schuco systems. I would not describe the Smart as bargain basement, they were a good quality system and offered good value for money at the prices we were quoted. The ALUK system was similar in my opinion, although the quality of the hardware wasn't as good.

The Schuco really are a top quality product, very well engineered and very smooth running, albeit at a significantly higher cost.

This independant website has lot of information on each brand and is well worth a read.
https://www.aluminiumtradesupply.co.uk/

If you can, go and see each of the systems for yourself.

Any of the 3 systems should be fine if they are fitted well. I would place just as much importance on choosing the company who install them as to the manufacturer of the doors.

king132 · 21 March 2019 at 6:28PM

Take a look at Panoramic Doors UK.

I had 4m ones fitted around Xmas and they are fab. The doors are independent of each other and you can slide them to a few configurations.

Probably in between Schuco and ALUK price wise.

greenface · 21 March 2019 at 11:34PM

first one seems very cheap . other 2 are about average depending on the job . I charge about 800/900 +vat per leaf so that would be over 3k for a 3 leaf alli bi-fold

ytfcmad · 22 March 2019 at 2:19AM

Wolf82 wrote: »

Thanks ytfcmad,

Any recommendation on which to go with based on cost and quality? Is the smarts quote suspiciously low?

Smarts is cheap because its an older system and every man and his dog fabricates it. The wall thickness on the profile helps keep costs down. i think they are up to 4 different variants now so you may not be comparing apples with apples quote wise anyway.

ALUK have recently launched a new Bifold, the one you quote is the older poorer performing product (S Glover wouldn't know that because they dont work in the industry) the hardware is different on the new one Luminia F82.

Main difference with the Schuco is the gearing, rollers etc they will be of a slightly better quality, the Aluminium and paint part will be more or less be on a par with the ALUK. Once fitted you are pretty much paying the extra for the name.

I'm betting your having a 3 pane probably in 7016 Grey? Only really using the doors in the summer? If so id go with the ALUK but the new product not the old, it's personal taste really as they'd all suffice.

As stated the industry norm is £1k a panel fitted so that Smarts price stands out and i know more or less what the metal, hardware and glass has cost the fabricator to make that door and how long it takes to make it!!

aj9648 · 2 July 2019 at 1:20PM

king132 wrote: »

Take a look at Panoramic Doors UK.

I had 4m ones fitted around Xmas and they are fab. The doors are independent of each other and you can slide them to a few configurations.

Probably in between Schuco and ALUK price wise.

hey King132

Have you got pics / vids of what you had installed.... I am looking at these as well - roughly 8m wide extension

Did you go direct to supplier or someone else?

greenface · 2 July 2019 at 9:09PM

try frameline based in Liverpool but work national http://www.frameline.co.uk/

Bifold Doors

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