What determines the price of a made-to-measure window?

Window pricing has a reputation for mystery: three quotes for the same house can differ by thousands, and nobody will tell you why until a salesman is sitting at your kitchen table. Our whole model is the opposite — the configurator shows you a live price as you build — so in that spirit, here's what actually moves the number.

Size first. The biggest driver is simply area: a taller, wider window uses more timber, more glass and more labour, so price scales with the size of the opening. One honest wrinkle: very small windows don't get proportionally cheap, because a tiny sash still needs the same joints, mechanism and finishing as a big one — which is why you'll notice a minimum price level in any honest maker's range, ours included.

Timber. Meranti hardwood or pine — pine runs about 15% less, for the trade-offs covered in our timber guide. Pine vs meranti

The design details. Georgian bars are handwork, so a six-over-six costs more than the same window plain-glazed. A two-colour finish (different RAL inside and out) costs a little more than one colour. Restrictors, and choices of ironmongery, move the price in small, visible steps as you configure.

What doesn't move it. Colour choice (any single RAL is the same price), and double glazing — our standard sealed unit is in the base price, not an upsell.

Why quotes vary so much between companies. Mostly because you're not comparing the same thing. A traditional quote bundles the survey, the fitting crew, the scaffolding assumption and the salesman's commission into one number. We sell supply-only: the windows, made to your approved drawings, delivered — you arrange your own fitter and see every line separately (windows, delivery, the optional £149 measuring visit). Comparing a bundled quote against a supply-only price is apples against orchards; unbundle them and the picture gets clearer — and usually cheaper.

See it yourself. The fastest way to understand the pricing is to configure a window and watch what each choice does — the price updates with every step, itemised. Open the product builder