I had a solidor fitted and to be honest if you can I'd recommend waiting - its really good quality, keeps the place warm and looks great 2 years on
Having had Banham round to price up a front door (and having only just picked myself up from the floor) I am looking for some recommendations for front doors, please.
Obviously i've ruled Banham out and have got a survey for Solidor next week (about a third of the price roughly) but their lead time is into September now. Yes, I should have started looking a while ago but we are where we are now.
Budget around £2k fully fitted, no PVC, preferably not cheap foam composite. Approx 1000x2500mm aperture and we'd like a top light.
Thanks in advance.
I had a solidor fitted and to be honest if you can I'd recommend waiting - its really good quality, keeps the place warm and looks great 2 years on
Make sure you get timber composite doors, rather than polyurethane composite.
A set of three locks for an existing front door fitted is about £1k from Banham so I bet the cost of the door was eye watering.
I thought you had Batman round for a minute.
Had an origin door fitted very pleased. Aluminium , solid.
Solidor here excellent door.
I'm getting quotes for a new door at the moment. First one came in at £5k minus a few quid (door plus sidelight) - needless to say the search continues... For solidor I got an online quote from timbercompositedoors which was a fair bit cheaper than a local showroom I popped into and is useful to give an idea of cost (around the £2k mark for me fitted for me, so on budget for the OP, and the door looked pretty decent). I'm quite tempted by aluminium though due to the insulation value, but this seems likely a more expensive option. If anyone can recommend anyone in the Cambridge area please share!
Last edited by Pathtower; 27th April 2021 at 22:31.
We’re fitting a Rockdoor to a house we’re currently building. A local company are supplying and fitting for just above £2k.
All trades are exceptional busy at the moment which could be having an impact on your price.
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We’re fitting a Rockdoor to a house we’re currently building. A local company are supplying and fitting for just above £2k.
All trades are exceptional busy at the moment which could be having an impact on your price.
Perfect thread and well timed…
I have just started the search - hopefully got someone coming today to quote for the garage door.
And just starting to look for a Front door….
So look at Solidor and timber composite - thats what I gathered so far.
I hear that hormann doors can also be very expensive…
Whichever I go for I do want it to match colour wise with the garage
cheers
matt
Getting a Rockdoor fitted here too, lead time probably end of June/July and that’s from a family member who happens to be in the trade, thankfully.
When we spoke last week he was telling me that suppliers have been wacking their prices up 2-3 times this year. Blanched when he told us the price of a new door, side panels for the porch and bi-folds, but having read this thread i probably won’t be arguing with his quote!
We’re having a hardwood door made by a local carpenter, do you have any good local carpenters that could do this for you? We then bought all the hardware ourselves online. Total cost I think is around £2.5k including frame and side window.
Thanks for that - not as bad as I thought it maybe !
Are you happy with the fit/finish/quality etc ?
wow never knew a door could be so expensive! mental note if the wife ever asks for a new front door!
We had a solid oak door with one light made and fitted for £1000 by a top notch chippie who has done work for us on the past.
Also had him fit 8 sash windows, patio door and back door.
We had a couple of quotes from well known window companies before getting him round because I couldn't bring myself to pay ridiculous amounts of money to companies who are essentially double glazing salesmen.
If you have the time and inclination I'd definitely recommend finding a decent local carpenter/joiner.
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We have two of these.
https://www.bereco.co.uk/timber-doors/entrance-doors
My friend owns a window company and he recommended them and did me a good deal.
They have been in a while and still look like new. Nice and solid and quite weighty. Plus they don’t swell up and jam in the winter
Another vote for Solidor - we had a (made to measure) offset double door fitted as our new front door when we did our extension. Really pleased with it. I think we got ours in 6 weeks from ordering to fitting.
Wood will always look nicer. But it will need painting regularly, last year I used 10 year oil based and it could already do with another coat. Part of the problem, I think, is the wood contracts and expands which causes issues
+1 for Solidoor. Long waiting time as in high demand with proven longevity.
Well got a couple of quotes,
4k for a origin door with side panel 😳
and then 3k for a similar style solidor with side panel..
Time to keep looking around - as I don’t really know how that matches up..
(but clearly more expensive than eagletowers 2.5k for a origin door)
Cheers
matt
Another one for Solidor somewhere around £1400, fitted when we had our windows done. We also had their back door with integrated window blind for about the same price.
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I wonder if demand and the supply issues means its a ramp up of the pricing??
Or maybe being down in the southeast adds a further % - at least I am not talking to Banhams !
Hi,
@eagletower - who supplied your origin door?
Did you purchase recently - or a while ago ?
4k is in Hormann territory but Have heard of a few issues with those and
in the end they replaced it with a Solidor.
Has anyone had any warping issues with their composite doors ? Not sure if this
is a widespread thing or just the internet !
Cheers
matt
Just to update with more prices…
Had a quote for a solidor with full glass side panel for 2.2k - so 800 cheaper than my local quote.
That was from timbercompositedoors.com part of the gfd group
Also got a quote for the same style door but a spitfire aluminium - this was 3.8k - a couple of hundred less than the local quote for a origin one - that was also from one of the gfd group websites.
My only concern about getting a solidor is the mention of doors warping and the support
from solidor being poor in getting it sorted.
Cheers
matt
I’ve been a window/door installer for 35 yrs now and the price of doors in my opinion have now got way out of hand. I am embarrassed sometimes to tell my customer the price as there is absolutely no way on this earth their getting the quality that the price is asking. Labour costs are now astronomical with every man and his dog wanting to earn £40/50/60K a year, I wouldn’t pay the vast majority of them £25K yet alone anymore. If the cost of the door is broken down from say Solidor a huge supplier of composite doors in the Uk, door slab £200, outer Upvc frame £40, slam lock £65, hinges & handle set £10, glass £40 add on an extra £100 for luck and it’s still only well under £500 !! It takes a decent fitter 3-4 hrs to fit and suddenly its a £2K+ door. I know I’m in the trade but I can buy nearly 80% of the most popular Solidor doors for less than £800, my advice is instead of going online touting for the best price go to a local established firm whose fitters are of an age where their experience counts for the best installation of your door.
Solidor are are sadly a victim of their own success as most companies are, they came out with a very good product at a premium price, great advertisement and selling and the brand grew very quickly over night. Then customers and in tow suppliers wanted better prices and the only way to do that is in material qualities as labour costs will never go down. And hence in the last 2 yrs I have experienced at least 6 Solidor composite doors have that major issues with warping and they throw a deaf ear at any criticism of product. But they are still the best of the mid-cost suppliers, again my advice is do not buy a dark colour Upvc, composite door that is South/South west facing as in the hot, hot summer months these are the doors that are failing in huge numbers.
The best door on the market £for£ regarding build quality, security, longevity etc is a Smarts aluminium residential door it does exactly what it says on the label.
Thanks ! - i am more than happy to get a local firm in… its just trying to get quotes back and understand
where the price quoted sits in reality.
my local firm quoted 3k for the solidor door.. As we want a anthracite grey and my house does get hot out the front all afternoon then maybe aluminium will be the way to go.
looking at the door we have now since the house was built it seems to be wood core with a steel cladding.. never has any issues other than its all looking tired now…
I will take a look at the smart doors !
Thanks
Matt
Found a local installer for the smarts doors - so lets get a quote and see where we go from there.
Thanks for the advice !
cheers
matt
Glad to give you my honest opinion and I hope you find a satisfactory supplier/fitter.
Aluminium started to fade out in the mid 80’s when Upvc first started showing popularity, the problem back then being you could only have aluminium in an anodised (silver) or white finish. Because of the poorer quality materials back then the white powder coating would come off on your hand when wiped and so plastic was a welcomed alternative.
However the quality of powder coatings today coupled with the vast colours from the RAL range aluminium is making a huge comeback and is easily way ahead in the new build markets. Smarts are right up there with all their products, residential, bi-fold, sliding doors fantastic quality products that will last and look good for 20+yrs if maintained properly. You can always tell which product is generally the best by asking the fitters/suppliers themselves which product they’d prefer or have fitted in their own homes and the majority of fitters I know have aluminium doors and Upvc windows.
A good quality Upvc window is so much more thermally efficient and equipped to deal with the UK weather, but the constant opening/closing and wear and tear from every day use needs something a little more robust when choosing a door. And aluminium every time will win, no swelling, shrinking, painting, fading and will look as good as the day its fitted if cared for properly according to manufacturers guidelines.
Thanks - its a bit like watches - buy the seller (or in this case the installers )
Origin - 4k
Spitfire - 3.8k
Smart - tbd
I shall update next week.
Matt
Has anyone got, or viewed in person any of the modern steel front doors?
Just a couple of other places that might be worth looking at for aluminium and steel doors online: Qualdoors and Domadeco - both supply European manufactured doors (Welthaus, Lim, the former also appear to do what appear to be Rockdoors at a very competitive price...). Pricing for what I'm looking for pretty competitive, as you would expect varies with the spec - supply only in the £1.5K to £3K ball (inc VAT, door plus triple glazed side light, 1.5m wide, steel or aluminium with uPVC frame at the lower end, full aluminium at the top end). I've spent more time searching than I would have thought possible...
Watches ?? What are they 😂
tbh not worn one in the last year - all the money now going on home improvements 🤔
@Anygreg The sectional garage doors on Domadeco look nice - had a look even though I fitted some a couple of years back...
Will be interested to see the smart doors quote...
I have couple of firms to call.. not sure if smarts make it all or its their designs/profiles which are manufactured by the local firms ?