The price of our goods and services has been a hot topic over the last month or so. Companies going bust like Uniglaze has brought into question the cost of raw materials and that prices need to become sensible if companies are going to survive through this topsy turvey economy. But I think the general discussion also raises the question of what us as installers should be selling our wares at.
Let me set my stall out first. This is a rough guide to what I think we should be selling our wares at, and what our current averages prices are:
Single door: roughly £1000-£1200. More like £1200 for colours and wood grains.
Single white windows: £480-£500 per window. More for wood grains/colours.
French doors: £1400-£1500
Sliding patios: £1300-£1400
Verticle sliders: £900-£1000 per window.
That’s my rough guide. A door, depending on specification, sold for £1000-£1200 should provide enough for a fitter to get a decent wage, the company to make a decent profit, the sales guy to make a decent wage too. Obviously some doors may cost slightly more depending on what options are chosen, these are just averages.
There is no reason why we cant sell a house full of windows and doors, say 10 windows and 2 doors for about £7000, quite likely even more when you add in things like bevels, new internal window boards and so on. Everyone should be able to make decent money out of that. There is also an argument that these costs, depending on location in the UK, should actually be more.
We’ve been hit quarter after quarter with price increases in all areas of our industry. Glass, PVC, trims, steel, aluminium, lead etc have all seen price increases, yet rather than pass these costs on to maintain a healthy profit margin so we can all stay in business, we let it eat into our margin because we’re scared of actually putting some realistic prices in front of our customers.
These are just our prices, on average and based where we are in the UK. It would be great to know if you agree or disagree with these prices and what you think the average window and door should be costing the customer. I see no reason why any company cannot make a good 15%-20% margin, if not a little bit more. So, what do you guys think we should be selling at?
Hi DGB, that’s really interesting and agree we are all being undercut by people with lower overheads. The one man band will always be happy with a pocketful of cash. How do you beat that? OR are some companies cutting corners? As we don’t sell uPVC bifolds or windows I would be also interested in an estimate for ali bifolds and windows.
Peter @Bristol Bifold
Hi Peter
We work on roughly £900-£1000 per leaf. What do you guys work on?
The OMB’s will always do business they way they are now. That’s just how it is. We as a business promote the extra services that a 32 year old business is able to give, justifying a higher price. Some companies round here do just cut corners and under-cut other companies massively. They seem to be missing the point that they do actually need to make profit out of their jobs!
Thanks for your comment!
About £1000 fitted and with the VAT is about right for some bifolds. We sell the Easifold which is a better door than most (8 point lock, 20 year guarantee etc.) so in white its about £1100 plus a bit for other colours and things like stainless upgrades. We gain as a specialist bifold company and don’t discount at all. We have tried especially hard to promote the bifold door as a special product that needs experience and a different skill set to sell and install. Seems to pay off for us and we hear horror stories all the time… Read more »
Sounds about right Peter. The last line of your comment there is spot on. We never discount on any of our products and we tell our customers exactly the same as you do. Priced and sold correctly, there should be no reason to discount in this industry.
I do agree that we should stick to sensible prices, however the retail industry is so competitive I’m not sure if it is possible. We may quote against 4 other companies, 2 of which will be these one man bands that are just making a days wage out of each job… they have no intention of offering guarantees etc.
We should definitely stick to our guns and try to make more from each job, however as a single door is around £200 to manufacture do you think your figures are a bit much? Or do you mean for single products?
Hi Doncaster
We pay more than £200 for our doors to be made. They are an excellent quality however and do command a higher than average price. The prices I gave were based on a single item. Of course if you broke down a house of 12 windows and 2 doors the average price would probably be a little bit under than that.
What would you sell a single door for and what type of door?
Thanks for your comment!
Hi DGB,
We manufacture Synerjy Profiles, Steel Reinforced case frames and sash, Lockmaster locking, UAP anti snap cylinder with soft coat, warm edge & argon gas.
I suppose our cost is slightly over £200. We would sell to retail for around £800-900. Depending on door panel design. (White)
All our costs are different ,that`s a given!! however in order to make this possible and let us know your thought process we would have to pick one product,Lets say a door,If it was sold at a £1000 how do you break the cost down, Fitter £££ Sales£££ Trade price???? What do you feels Fair for each person to give the customer good value and a great product and give you the margin you would like?….
Hi Leon I suppose it all depends on the company and what sort of costs and overheads they have. I don’t want to reveal too much sensitive info on here but I will tell you that we pay our lads £80 per door and depending on the type of door, material costs can range between £300-£550. The door costs at the £500 materials mark would probably retail at the £1250 mark at least. We always try and make sure all our staff make something reasonable out of a job, and at the same time not trying to screw too high… Read more »
£80 To fit? or to sell?
To fit Leon
Example. We had a compo door delivered the other day. Talking to the driver he asked us how much the door would cost for us to supply and fit to the customer, i replied normally £800-£900 he said that up where he was from the doors are being fitted for about £650 and the company also sell to the public and the customer gets a local fitter to fit for about £150. I know we are fairly cheap for our doors but we do not really have massive overheads.
Thanks for providing this example. It’s been good getting the various views and examples today on this. It really does show the differences in our industry. Being a bit cheaper than others is OK if you don’t have lots of costs to pay for. You should really only charge what you have to, to make sure your business runs well.
If i got the prices, you get.
I`d work less hours a day than you GB ;-)
I don’t think anyone can work as little as me Nige ;-)
you mentioned uniglaze in the original post who were very cheap and unfortunatly went under, out of interest what do you guys think the going rates are for sealed units e.g softcoat,warmedge,argon,optiwhite in both float and toughened options as i have a lot of people ask me to make them for less than the materials cost. – dont forget the energy surcharge as a lot firms apparently dont pay this?