How much do new windows and doors cost? Bifolds or sliders? Is it worth upgrading to Low E glass? Why are all my aluminium joinery quotes wildly different?
If you’re building a new home, choosing new aluminium joinery can be pretty confusing. And it can be very difficult to make a decision between quotes if you’re not sure what technical specifications you should be comparing.
ALUMINIUM JOINERY 101: A QUICK GUIDE FOR HOMEOWNERS
Your builder is critical
Given the technical nature of our products, we always recommend that we work directly with your chosen builder or specialist installer to ensure you receive the best possible joinery solution, tailored to your home’s design. Builders are highly skilled tradespeople with the expertise to guide you through the selection and installation process, and they understand the technical aspects of fitting windows and doors correctly to achieve the best weather-tightness, insulation, and long-term performance. By working through them, we can ensure that every detail of your joinery is carefully considered and professionally installed. Don’t have a builder or installer? No problem. We can put you in touch with one.
How much?
The perennial question! All of our joinery is bespoke/made-to-measure, so prices for items vary a lot depending on what has been requested. Bigger windows require bigger, stronger profiles, and certain configurations cost more than others. For example, a bifold will be more expensive than a French door of the same size as it takes longer to build and uses more components/materials.
You can use our online Calculator tool to get quick, instant guide pricing for select window and door configurations.
Thermal performance
Different joinery suites and glass types will give you different levels of thermal efficiency, and a relatively small upgrade in price can result in a big difference in performance. In most cases, it’s worth investing a little more as the thermal gain relative to spend can be significant, as demonstrated by our ALTHERM cost/performance chart below.
Technical differences
Beware labels! Window names and types are not standardised in New Zealand. For example, an “Architectural” window from one manufacturer may not be equivalent to an “Architectural” window from another. Top tip: check the weights of the units in your competing quote schedules. Are they the same? Heavier units indicate a more substantial, sturdy profile.
Hardware can also have a significant impact on your quote total. Some quotes will include the most budget option by default – which isn’t a cost saving if you then upgrade your hardware at a later date. (We generally find our customers prefer the aesthetics of our mid-range hardware products.)
You can find out more about our APL joinery and AGP glass products here.
Expensive configurations
If you’re on a budget, it’s worth keeping in mind the following pricing hierarchy when choosing your configurations:
- Fixed & Awning (most cost-effective)
- Sliding windows
- French doors
- Bifold windows (most expensive)
You can use our Calculator tool to get an idea of costing differences between configurations.
Keep in mind, too, that the bigger you go (size-wise), the bigger and more expensive the profile required. NB: We do sometimes find that plans have been over-specified, meaning that the supplied schedule has been drawn with a more expensive suite when a less expensive suite could have been used.
Allowances
Sometimes, a quote can look cheaper because certain (often important) items have been excluded from the face-value pricing.
Site glazing – has this been allowed for? If not, extra costs may be incurred down the line if your builder needs extra manpower to install large, heavy, pre-glazed units. Items for which site glazing has been allowed for should be marked as G.O.S. (Glaze on Site) on your window schedule.
Flashings, sill pans, support bars – are these included or extras?
Warranty – check whether your supplier offers a comprehensive warranty. After-sales service might not seem important when you accept the cheapest quote, but if something is faulty it will become important to you pretty quickly!
Installation – is this included in the pricing? This often catches people out. Installation costs can be a significant extra, particularly for items that need to be built on-site by a specialist installer.
Fast, Cheap, Good
The infamous Fast, Cheap, Good triangle:
In manufacturing, this concept illustrates the trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality. Essentially, the premise is that you can only effectively optimise for two of these three qualities at once. There are definitely exceptions, and it is possible to gradually improve all three areas simultaneously with great processes, technology, and expertise. But – in broad terms – these trade-offs are always going to apply to pricing to a certain extent.
Bottom line? If one of your quotes is extraordinarily cheap or, conversely, astronomically expensive, then consider very carefully why that might be. Wildly different pricing nearly always indicates something is different between the quotes you’re considering.