PVC-U Conservatories in Victorian, Edwardian and Lean-to styles - Price Guide - Introduction & Tips

In our Ask an Expert section we regularly get two questions (or variations on them) that on the face of it seem to conflict. 

	I've had a number of quotes and all of them - give or take a few hundred pounds - are the same. How do I choose which supplier to go with?
	I've had four quotes and three of them are virtually identical - however one of them is substantially lower than the other two (by several thousand pounds). How can one company be so much less than the other two?

With the first question it is indeed a fact that when you truly compare "LIKE FOR LIKE" that prices rarely vary as much as one might have thought from one company to another. After all, the supply of conservatories is a very competitive business and suppliers can't really afford to NOT be "reasonably" in line with each other.

The important point when comparing any quotation is to try and always compare on a "like for like" basis. 

With the second question it's almost certain that the supplier with the lower price has either forgotten something, is not fully aware of the complexity of the project, employs cheaper labour, or buys cheaper, inferior materials. This is especially so with, for example, glass roofed conservatories. Any supplier who regularly installs conservatories with glass roofs knows that they need to allow longer to complete the work and that handling glass in a roof is much more difficult than handling polycarbonate. A supplier who perhaps only ever installs polycarbonate in their roofs may not be aware of this and will under-estimate the amount of work involved - resulting in them trying to recoup some of their losses by asking for "extras" later.

As we will explain in our price guide it's quite possible to have variations of several thousands of pounds when comparing two similarly sized conservatories. The reasons for this are many. Here are just a few:

	One supplier is including for a glass roof - the other is not.
	One supplier has specified double glazing with Pilkington K Glass or LOW E glass and another has not.
	One supplier has specified 25 mm polycarbonate in the roof while another has specified 10 mm or 16 mm polycarbonate.
	One supplier has been established 10, 20 or 30 years and offers a longer more worthwhile guarantee while another company may have only recently been established.
	One supplier may have a larger infrastructure with dedicated service engineers and customer help lines while another may have no premises at all - perhaps working from home - maybe only using a mobile telephone number for contact. We have had numerous questions in our Ask an Expert section from people who could no longer contact their original supplier. Many of these suppliers where quite literally just "Man & Van" operations. Sorry to the many good man & van operations that we have just blighted with this last comment.
	One supplier has allowed for many more opening windows or roof vents, while others have not.
	One supplier provides their conservatory framing with an "equal site line" - i.e. even the fixed windows look like openers as "dummy sashes" have been fitted - while another supplier has not. Many people consider "equal site lines" more attractive. For more information on equal site lines click here.
	One PVCu conservatory supplier manufactures each of the sections that form the conservatory framework separately, and then couples each of these frames together with special structural mullions while another simply makes the conservatory out of fewer frames and then splits each frame 2, 3 or 4 times to give the impression of separate frames.
	One PVCu conservatory is FULLY REINFORCED and another is not.

The above are just a few of the points that can make similar size conservatories vary considerably in price. As we said above:

The important point when comparing any quotation is to try and always compare on a "like for like" basis.

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BUT I ONLY WANT A VAGUE IDEA!

Many people just want a guide price - to see if they can really afford it or to plan their finances. The Price Guide page will, we hope, help you with this. However we do offer one or two words of warning when approaching suppliers for just a VAGUE idea.

When suppliers provide a guide price they will usually have little or no idea of the complexities involved in building your conservatory. Building works for your base and walling can vary considerably - please see our Extra Costs page about that. Because of this we find that potential suppliers fall roughly into two categories when providing guide prices:

	Those who deliberately "under estimate" in the hope that you will come back to them. When you do eventually have them to provide a firm price they will of course increase the price for a whole variety of reasons. By this time it is of course quite probable that you will still consider their offer - even at the higher price.
	Those companies that perhaps over estimate what may be involved and give you a higher price because of it. These companies tend to be of a better calibre and will wish to disassociate themselves from the "sharp practice" of under estimating in order to get in the door.

The problem with vague prices is that it is all you ever get - A VAGUE PRICE - that may or may not be close to what you eventually pay. If you are serious about considering a conservatory or sunroom as an extension to your home then sooner or later you will have to let a representative (sales person, surveyor, or what ever they call themselves) visit your home. We hope that through the pages of this web site you will be better informed and prepared to "handle" that representative when they call. In our opinion asking for a vague price is just about one of the worse ways to start the buying process. It's much better to thoroughly research your conservatory project and know exactly what you are getting than a vague idea.

The above said, we do however hope that our GUIDE PRICE pages will give you some idea of whether you are going to be spending £2000 or £20,000 + for your conservatory. 

One Final Point - Email Quotes!

We are occasionally asked why we can't provide quotations by email. The challenge is that we at ConservatoriesOnline do not provide your quotations - your quotations come from the companies we introduce in the area where you live. 

While it would be possible for most companies to give you a SUPPLY only price it's just not practical or wise to do that with a Supply and Fit service. We are aware of some people supposedly trying to provide quotes by email and no doubt some of them have very genuine motives. We do however caution you about this approach and draw your attention to some of the "sharp practices" mentioned above. Without seeing the site and making a thorough examination no company can be realistically expected to guarantee a price. Conservatories and Sunrooms have too many variables to risk either buying or selling in this way.

To make a quotation request now - click here.

You can download this page as a Word document by clicking here.