Conservatories

[Mike Mitchell]

I'm just looking right now at an advert in the local paper, for conservatories, and I'm shocked to find how expensive they are! There's this glorified lean-to for - wait for it! - £7,395! And it looks like it could not possibly contain more than £500 worth of materials. The "Victorian" (top of the range?) model is £8,799. Incredible.

MM

[Andy Hall]

Is that just for the structure or the building of the base and erecting the thing as well?

.andy

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[Mike Mitchell]

Oh, no, they do throw it up for you!

Okay, so yes, the labour is included. But over 7 grand for a dwarf wall, some plastic and a few windows? Couldn't our resident shed builder do a far better job for half the price?

MM

[Paper2002AD]

Try Nordic Pine Conservatories, if you don't mind a wooden structure with double glazed windows - their designs look the same as the placky ones though

[Andy Hall]

You didn't say what size it was...

The quality of materials varies quite a bit; there are choices of type of roof and glazing and so on.

I don't know what was on offer in the ad that you saw, but some firms build a proper foundation suitable for an extension if you decide you want to go for that later, concrete floor with reinforcing, the works.

The sort of pricing that you are describing is towards the top of the cheap range, and unless the bulding is small, at the lower end of the range for one of the national concerns.

So no, they are not cheap, especially if you want a good quality one.

If you want a real surprise, call Amdega or someone like that and ask them for a price.

.andy

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[Christian McArdle]

I've just ordered a Baltic Pine one. 3,235 quid, but I have to provide the base and paint and bolt it together myself. 3.1m x 2.6m. It has pretty much all the extras. Wooden framed rather than plastic (which will rot quicker than any well maintained wood), with thick fielded wooden panels instead of a dwarf wall, it has safety glass double glazed units in all doors, windows AND the roof (no noisy polycarbonate to let all the heat out in winter), with all sorts of Georgian bars, fanlights and arched beadings. Without all the extras, it would be about half the price.

I've also got to spend 500 quid on a metal base (including insulation and base flooring), as I can't use wet concrete, and 50 quid on concrete blocks for the base foundations. After that, it is just slate, adhesive, paint, fan convector, prog thermostat and zone valve.

I'm intending to use it daily, even in winter, but only for short periods. It will be a dining room, so a grotesquely oversized fan convector is perfect. It'll warm the air quickly to make the room usable in no time, without actually being on long enough to warm the structure very much, which, hopefully, will mean it is cheap to run. Indeed, a -1C heat loss calculation shows only 2kW, which actually compares favourably with the other rooms in the house. The intended heater is 4.2kW, boostable to 6kW.

Anyway, with all the bits added, I'm talking about £4,500 which gets me a fully double glazed and heated wooden conservatory with natural slate flooring. Even if I valued my labour at close on 3000 quid, I'd still end up with a nicer conservatory, as I bet the local paper had the price for a disgusting uPVC monstrosity with polycarbonate roof and a chipboard floor that will have rotted away not long after installation.

I reckon it will take me about a week's work. Much of this will be preparing the slate, painting the wood and digging the foundation holes (5 x 44cm cubes) with a shovel. At 3000 pounds, I will be paying myself 600 pounds a day.

Christian.

[Mike Mitchell]

Sounds like an excellent plan! And good value for money, unlike those very plastic-looking ones advertised.

MM