Download a Conservatory Checklist
To continue with the original question, ‘how much will this all cost?’; we can now look at options that have the greatest cost variances.
How to keep costs down
The bottom line: Research the companies you want to do the work. Talk to friends and neighbours for word of mouth recommendations. Beware of ‘special offers’, they are usually nothing more than sales techniques. If you buy cheap, you get cheap!
Read enough already and want a quote? CLICK HERE.
Download a Conservatory Checklist
How much will all this cost? (Beware false economies!)
There are too many variables involved to give a definitive, one-size-fits-all answer to this question; however I’ll attempt to answer it in a different way.
The cost of the building works (i.e: digging the hole for the base, the base itself, dwarf/full size walls, skips, drainage etc) will be at least 50% (and perhaps as much as 75% if you have a lot of groundwork doing) of the final bill. If you have a friend or relative or tame builder who will do this work for you, it will certainly be cheaper than if you get it done through the conservatory people. HOWEVER, this comes with two very important points to remember:
The bottom line: Before you plunge head first into managing your own project, ask yourself if you have the time, experience and patience to do this properly. Like many things, it is not as easy as it looks!
Read enough already and want a quote? CLICK HERE.
Download a Conservatory Checklist
The salesperson is selling me a conservatory, how do I tell the difference between what I need from what he wants me to have?
That’s a very good question, I’m glad you asked it; well done, you. The best way to keep track of the various salespeople, their suggestions, promises etc is to work out a list of areas you need to discuss and ask the same questions to each rep. This does several things:
You will need the following things for a conservatory:
You will probably want the following things in your new conservatory:
You might want the following things in your conservatory
Since I am such a NICE GUY, I have uploaded the conservatory checklist I created back when I was a customer of Regent Windows, and before I joined the company itself. You can find this HERE; it is in Microsoft Excel so you can add and remove your own sections as you see fit. You’re welcome.
The bottom line: Use people who have built conservatories before; make sure they know their Building Regulations and make sure they are accredited (FENSA, Certass etc).
Read enough already and want a quote? CLICK HERE.
Download a Conservatory Checklist
Can I afford a conservatory?
I don't know, can you? Only joking.
Best thing to do is get some quotes in to get a feel for the costs involved. Most firms will offer a free quote and if they won't, go elsewhere. It is good if you have an idea of what you want so the salesperson has something to go on.
Think about what size you want it to be (more than 30msq/325sqft will DEFINITELY need Planning Permission!) and don't opt for a tiny conservatory either, especially on the grounds that it will be cheaper. Something that is twice the size is not twice the price and bear in mind that any space paced out in your garden will look big, but you need to remember that you'll be putting furniture in it and too much furniture will make a conservatory feel very crowded very quickly. A very common remark I hear from folks who are replacing a conservatory, or building one in a new house, having already had one is:
"We wish we'd built a bigger one in the first place."
So be flexible on the size and allow for walkways from the house to the garden (don't put a table in between the house door and conservatory door out into the garden, you'll only have to walk around it for the next twenty years). Remember to leave spaces for the doors to open into, floor spaces for lamps to stand in... you get the idea.
I digress.
Can you afford the conservatory? You need to factor in tiling, plastering, heating and electrical points (assuming you want all these things). Glass roof or polycarbonate roof? Listen to what the sales chappy says and MAKE NOTES! Believe me, all these guys blend into one after the third or fourth quote! You need to be sure who suggested/promised what.
The bottom line:
If you are going to do it, do it properly; don't build a tiny conservatory because you can't afford what you want, you'll only regret it.
Which brings us neatly onto the next section.....
Read enough already and want a quote? CLICK HERE.
Download a Conservatory Checklist
I want a conservatory - where do I start?
Bit of a minefield for the unwary buyer. Too many unknown quantities. What work does it entail? How long will it take? Do I need Planning Permission? Will I GET Planning Permission? Can the neighbours object? Who do I use to do the work? Are they any good? Are they going to rip me off? Will the job be done properly? How long will it take? How much will this cost? How much should this cost? I watch Cowboy Builders and don’t want to be had.
Easy to get wound up rather quickly, isn’t it? Start with the basics, the first of which is:
Will I be allowed to build a conservatory?
A conservatory is classed as a ‘temporary structure’ (although it feels fairly permanent when you’re sitting in it with the cat on your lap). As such, it is easier to get Planning Permission (PP) than it would be to get an extension with full height walls and a solid roof. As a general rule, so long as you stick within the parameters outlined HERE, you’ll probably get PP.
Bear in mind, however, that regulations change, as does Council Planning Policy, so always check the current rules before going ahead. The important thing to remember is that the onus is on you to decide whether you will apply for PP; it is not up to the company you employ to build it. If you do go ahead without PP and objections are raised, generally the worst that happens is that you are made to apply for retrospective PP. BUT (and this is a fairly substantial ‘but’), the Planning Authorities are within their legal rights to make you tear it down. Caveat paterfamilias*
The bottom line:
Read enough already and want a quote? CLICK HERE.
*Caveat paterfamilias; a bit like Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) or Cave Canum (Beware of the Dog), but not Carpe Diem (Seize the Day). Latin for "You're The One Who's Signature Is On The Mortgage, You Decide".
With winter approaching fast and heating bills edging into the stratosphere, presumably along with your blood pressure it is worth having a quick check to make sure you are doing all you can to keep your home warm and cosy.
Do all your curtains fit? Tuck them behind the radiator where you can. Are there any draughts from the doors? Get a door snake, or better still, make one (click here). Are any of your windows misted over on the inside? Is there any water in between the panes? If so, they are not 'working' to keep your house warm and need to be replaced.
Don't worry, this does not cost quite as much as you might think. If you already have PVC windows, you can probably just get away with changing the sealed unit, rather than the whole window. New window, about £200, new sealed unit, about £20. Bit of a difference, isn't there?
We can do this for you, or you can save on the fitting charge and do it yourself (we sell the kit you'll need). To do this with no further ado, please get in touch with us – click on our website link here - Regent Windows. For more waffle about glass, keep reading......
Now, this probably won't come as too much of a shock, but glass isn't very good at keeping the heat in; sorry. Anyone who has stood inside a greenhouse in high summer will notice it gets quite warm inside. And if that same anyone goes into the greenhouse in the evening they will probably remark on how cool it has become. This is because glass is naturally highly thermally emissive, compared to, say, a feather-filled duvet. Unfortunately, you can't hang duvets in the windows as they don't let an awful lot of light in, which, unless you are a student or in the middle of an armed siege is not ideal.
So we need our windows to up their game a bit and help keep the house warm, as well as well-lit. We can't use greenhouse glass (too thin @ 3mm), and clear 'float' glass @4mm is not much better. So we use double glazed units with an outer and inner pane of 4mm glass, separated by a 'spacer bar', set into PVC window frames. Much better. However, since double-glazing first started, things have moved along an awful lot. Glass with different types of coatings are now available; some to keep more heat in (low-emissivity, aka low-e glass), some to cut down bright light levels (solar control, often used in conservatory roofs); some that stop dirt building up (self-cleaning glass).
The government, realising that the UK is lagging behind the rest of (Northern) Europe in reducing its levels of carbon emissions has done proper British thing of blaming someone else. Specifically, you and me. That's right, its your fault and my fault that the penguins haven't got enough space to stand because the polar ice shelves are melting. So they are now telling us to be more responsible and keep more of our heating inside (the government, not the penguins). And now all windows have energy ratings, which indicates how efficient they are at keeping the warm in.
Still with me? Well done.
We're all used to seeing 'A' rated items in the kitchen (fridges, freezers, ovens, etc.). Well, they're doing this to windows too. There is a difference, however; while we assume that anything less than an 'A' rating is no good, this is not strictly true with modern windows. For example, if you have single glazed windows, or windows with old (possibly wood) frames, or even if you have older types of double-glazed windows; you will be losing a lot of heat due to how old they are. So if you replaced them even with modern 'C' rated windows, you would notice an immediate, dramatic and significant improvement in both increased warmth and reduced noise levels. In the same way that a new car in 2011 will be better in almost every way than a new car bought in 1981, so to will a window bought in 2011 be more efficient and better than a window that was the bee's-knees in 1981. Progress, innit?
Anyway, what on earth has this got to do with the misted up window in the spare room? Well, all the sealed units we make at Regent use a glass called Planibel A. Plan A, as we call it, is a modern 'low-E glass', and has a hard, thermally efficient coating which reflects heat back into your house. This keeps the government and the penguins happy, and you nice and toasty.
So if you want to know more, visit our website or give us a call. You can even pop in and have a nose about if you want (don't hang around for too long or you'll end up getting roped into doing the hoovering or something). All glass sealed units are made on-site in our Cheltenham factory by local people. We've been doing what we do since 1994 and watched a lot of other firms (good as well as bad) fall by the wayside. We don't do 'foot in the door' type sales, we have neither the time nor the inclination. But if you want an excellent product for a very reasonable price, then come to us.
Who's this chap in Piccadilly Circus? Anyone? Cupid or Eros, do I hear you say? Well, apparently it isn't, after all. This statue is actually of ANT-eros, the God of Unrequited Love (doesn't sound so zippy on a postcard, does it?!) it was put up in 1893 as the Shaftesbury Memorial (after the Earl of Shaftesbury). The Earl himself was one of the great philanthropists of the Victorian age and spent his life doing his bit against poverty (which was in ample supply during this time).
What has this got to do with windows? Well, the statue of Anteros (thank you) is one of the first appearances of cast aluminium. There you are, then.
We get all our Aluminium or "Aly" from Smarts Architectural Aluminium in Yatton, North Somerset. Smarts run a pretty tight ship and have regular 'training days' for its business partners. Needless to say, as with all things nowadays, there is a computer program that tells you how to put Aluminium together. This piece of bespoke software is called 'V6'. Adrian and Andrew from Regent went to Smarts for a V6 training day and some free sandwiches (Adrian hasn't eaten this well in weeks). Andrew, having a short attention span, and being one of nature's nosey-parkers, wandered off into the staff-only area with his camera and managed to take a few photographs before he was apprehended by the Aluminium Police and led back to the V6 Training Suite to practice the ancient art of swearing at a computer.
Smarts Facts!
One of the many questions I get asked when talking to people about conservatories is whether the bricks we use in the dwarf wall will match the rest of the house. The answer is generally 'yes'. Builders' merchants generally carry a wide range of bricks, both new and reclaimed. We can therefore add a conservatory to your property that looks as though it was part of the original build.
Photos of brick sample display courtesy of Travis Perkins in Gloucester Road, Cheltenham.
How to get an online quote for new windows:
You will need:
Shiny suit? 50% off today only? I’ll just call my manager?
I was at a networking meeting this morning (good bacon, but someone pinched all the mushrooms). It is a friendly (or so I thought) and informal affair. Someone gives a short talk on an area that interests them (not a sales pitch!) You drink bad coffee with strangers and fight the British compulsion to talk exclusively about the weather. Towards the end, you swap business cards (individually marked from 1 to 3) and have a 10 minute one-to-one with other people from the meeting. If you’re lucky, you get interesting, sharp types. If you’re unlucky, you get someone with bad breath and the emotional intelligence of a typewriter. Occasionally (or more frequently if you work in the fields of double-glazing, estate agency or accountancy) you end up in the unenviable no-mates position of having a business card or two left over (rather like being the last one to be picked for team games at school). The organiser will ask who has any cards left over and you are forcibly put together, the business situation equivalent of an arranged marriage (but with fewer aunts involved).
And so it was thus that I was paired with a ‘Website Creator’ who promptly started firing questions at me as he listed them off his fingers and speaking in a manner not dissimilar to Jeremy Paxman during the final minutes of University Challenge “Come on, come on, I need an answer!”, “You may NOT confer!!” etcetc
Wilting slightly under this barrage and positioning myself more favourably for a quick exit should he abandon words altogether and go straight for my throat, I attempted to answer his questions quickly and simply. If you’ve seen “Return of the Jedi”, fast forward to the scene where (SPOILER AHEAD) Luke Skywalker, having realised that Darth Vader and the Emperor will kill his friends, unleashes all his fury and drives his nemesis and (FURTHER SPOILERS) father to the ground with a flurry of lightsaber blows that drive Darth to his knees, one arm hanging over a railing and his own lightsaber raised helplessly in front of him in defence. Remember that scene? Well, that was me this morning, the hated double-glazing salesman on his knees; representing all that is evil in the Universe, making even Darth Vader himself look like a good choice of babysitter.
I digress slightly.
Anyway, the gist of it all was, why do no window companies put their prices online so that the intrepid internet shopper can look around, from the comfort of his own home and compare prices and service without having to resort to a self-imposed kettling by hoards of sweaty, insincere, desperate, target-driven salespeople?
I won’t go into the myriad of reasons (quite apart from the obvious) why nobody does this. Not now, anyway.
Instead, I would like to offer you an EXCLUSIVE, NOT TO BE MISSED OPPORTUNITY that has so far been missing from the world of double-glazing. If you would like an online quote for new windows, I would be very happy to provide you with one. In order for me to do this for you, I will need a few things from you (get a pencil and write this down)
Please go outside and take a photograph of each window you would like to be replaced. Take out your tape and measure each window (from the outside), from brick to brick, in millimetres. Write each measurement down; width first, then height. Once inside and having downloaded the photos, please name each window accordingly (e.g: kitchen, bed 1, bed 2 etc). Email this detail to me at regentwindows@live.co.uk ; or use the Request a Quote button on our website and I’ll come back to you with a quote. Want to see our work but not our salespeople?! Check out project photos on our website HERE.
And while I’m waiting for your emails to come in, I’ll go and polish my lightsaber. May the Force be with you.
Regent Windows
Units 1/2 Malmesbury Road,
Kingsditch Trading Estate,
Cheltenham, GL51 9PL
Tel: 01242 254 222
Fax: 01242 257 100
info@regentwindows.co.uk
Regent Windows has been manufacturing and installing windows, doors and conservatories for over 17 years.
Our customers range from small local builders to the supply and installation for some of the UK's largest national constructions companies and housing associations.