Understanding Your New Windows Quote

The Beginning

The usual order that we display our breakdown is:

• Our supplier’s manufacturing costs, and their delivery costs to get the wrapped-up pallet from the factory to your doorstep
• Any Non-standard Extras:
  • Special non-factory-fitted handles
  • Internal hardwood timber cills (internal cills are not technically part of a window; external cills are)
  • Arched timber heads (these are often used to save a huge amount of money when replacing arched windows)
  • Non-standard colours if not included in the supplier price
• Fitting costs:
  • Scaffolding, or the less expensive Scaffold Tower if we think these will be needed to keep our installers safe
  • Survey (which will be there, unless you’re ordering off plan and having the window apertures built to size)
  • Waste recycling, we recycle every part of the previous windows
  • The fitting cost itself – this incorporates the time, the tools and the materials
• Customs clearance charges: these have been required for our European products every since the UK left the EU
• Finally, under the line, we have the sub total and a total including VAT

• Starting at the top of the page: the quote date, that’s the last time it was updated – please bear in mind that all our quotes are valid for a maximum of 30 days
• Next, the item weight: much more important that you might think as fitting heavy items can require both scaffolding and lifting equipment
• The calculated U-value. This is not merely the generic u-value calculated for building regs, but the exact u-value based on the specific window you’ve configured, accounting for size, opening casements, and glass

• “Quotation:” this is your factory reference number; usually stays the same regardless of the number of alterations
• “Pos:” this is the identification for a specific window. If you’d like to change an item, this is the best way to explain to us which window or door needs adjusting
• On the second line, we’ve got “Tinium 2020” the product, and at the far right we’ve got “1 pcs” our quantity, we try to keep things to a quantity of 1, as most often none of the windows will be exact copies, but occasionally you will see higher numbers
• The third line is the more human-friendly name, in this case, a Bedroom – this helps when you’re checking through what you’d like to order, and for the installation.
• Finally, our frame size

The Diagram

All of our suppliers send to-scale or near-to-scale drawings when we ask for a quote. This ensures everyone can see the proportions, the layout and how they’ll open.

• Triangles, or arrows: these will point at the handle, with some nuances:
  • If there are just two lines creating an arrow, it will be a traditional, visibly-hinged casement
  • If the lines show a full triangle, it will be a guided casement with invisible hinges
  • Arrows facing in opposite directions means it will be a fully reversible casement (one where the outside can become the inside for cleaning purposes)
  • Tilt and Turn: the handle will always be on the side of the window, the extra upward facing arrow merely denotes that the window can open in two different ways
• Numbers and items very close to the diagram:
  • To the right and the bottom, you can see there are measurements showing overall width and height of the item
  • On the left, you can also see a measurement showing the vertical height of the horizontal bar
  • Also on the left, you can see a set of dashed lines: this shows where the trickle vent will be positioned
  • In the bottom left of each section of each window, there’s a number (1 for the lower frame and 2 for the top guided upper frame). These are used below to reference parts of the window if a particular section needs an adjustment.

The Details

This is where there is the largest potential to become a little lost… Building a top quality window is a complex job, and there’s a lot of information we need to know as the supplier (worth noting that this is the factory’s paperwork designed for both us and for our customers). Often, this level of information isn’t too relevant for the home owner. We summarise all important parts of this in our Final Customer Checks document (created at order stage)

• Profile system name: (note that w/o stands for without)
  • “Moulding” describes the shaped edge profile on the interior of the window, a moulded profile is slightly more traditional compared to the standard square edges
  • The “Groove” is a channel cut into the internal face of the frame of the window; we very rarely use this: it fixes the position of an internal cill without any adjustment…
• “Frame Treatment”
  • This is the internal colour of the window frame (not the sash, that’s below)
• “Frame Aluminium”
  • If you have an aluminium-timber hybrid quotes, this is the external colour of the window frame (also not the sash)
• Frame Area2 Hinge OP
  • The frame area number denotes which frame we’re talking about (2, the top guided section)
  • Further, this contains information about the opening mechanism: top guided means we’re guiding the top as it opens, thus the bottom is pushed outwards to open
  • Espagnolette means we’re using a multipoint locking system
  • (T/G = “Top Guided“)
• Sash Treatment: a “sash” is a part of a window that can open
  • This is the internal colour of the window sash itself (frame 2 in this particular window)
• Sash Aluminium
  • This is the external colour of the window sash itself (frame 2 in this particular window)
• Sash : 1-2, lets you know that the next item applies to both sash 1 and 2
• Sash Contents: glass time! This shows the glass you’re getting.
  • 4-18-4-18-4: triple glazing, 3 layers of 4mm glass; argon fills the 18mm spaces inbetween
  • Low E: softcoat low emissivity layer, reduces the heat lost through the glass by blocking certain parts of infrared spectrum, and cuts out almost all UV light
  • Black warm edge spacer: the bar that goes around the edge of the inside of the glass unit is black by default
• Accessories
  • A trickle vent, position noted above, and in white
• Mullion19 YK
  • 19 YK denotes the type of mullion, this is the standard window mullion
  • 300 is the distance from the bottom of the frame to the middle of the bar
• Profile System Name
  • This is just a note to say it’s aluminium clad, which we knew as it said Tinium at the top. But it helps to be absolute about these things
• The Glass Items
  • The final area is the technical glazing information. In the event of a glass pane getting damaged and needing replacing, this contains the relevant sizing information

What About Doors?

We went a little far into the weeds on the last one… so we’ll get straight into the differences when looking at this entrance door.

Door Accessories

• Steel doub.cyl: double cyl means it has two separate cylinders one internal and one external. cyl+thumb would mean there’s a key lock outside, with a thumbturn inside
• Rosette: two separate circular ‘roses’ which the handle and keylock are placed on, the other option here would be to have them on a large rectangular backplate
• Ruko Cylinders: this is the specific cylinder(key locking part) of the door. Ruko is a line of security products from Assa Abloy

• 3-point Fix lock: this describes the locking points used in the multi-point lock. There will be at one at the top, middle and bottom