French Door Installation Costs UK — What to Charge to Fit French Doors in 2026

Supply and Fit Prices by Material

The single biggest driver of a French door quote is the door itself. Material sets the frame style, the U-value, the security rating and the price. Below are current UK supply-and-fit ranges for a standard-size, like-for-like replacement into an existing opening — door, frame, fitting, removal of the old unit and making good.

UPVC French Doors

UPVC is the volume product and the price most customers compare against. It's a sound, energy-efficient choice for a standard opening, comes in white as standard with woodgrain and grey foils as upgrades, and needs almost no maintenance. For a straightforward like-for-like swap into an existing opening, this is your everyday job.

• Supply and fit, standard size, like-for-like: £1,200–£2,000 all in

Price toward the top of the range for coloured foils, larger-than-standard openings, upgraded glazing or harder access. Coloured and dual-colour UPVC carries a real cost premium over white — quote it as such rather than absorbing it.

Aluminium French Doors

Aluminium is the premium choice. The frames are slimmer and stronger than UPVC, which means more glass and a more contemporary look, and it suits high-end renovations and new builds. It costs more — both in the product and in the slightly more exacting fit — so it sits well above UPVC on price.

• Supply and fit, standard size: £1,800–£3,500+

Powder-coat colour (anthracite grey is the most-requested finish), thermal-break frames and larger spans push toward the upper end and beyond. Aluminium has no real upper ceiling on a bespoke job — measure, get a supplier quote, and price off that rather than a rule of thumb.

Timber French Doors

Timber is the choice for period properties, conservation areas and customers who want the look and feel of real wood. Engineered softwood sits at the lower end; a good hardwood such as oak, or a high-spec factory-finished unit, sits well above. Timber also carries a maintenance conversation — the customer needs to know it will want re-finishing over its life.

• Supply and fit, standard size: £2,000–£4,000+ depending on hardwood and spec

Bespoke joinery, made-to-measure non-standard sizes and conservation-grade glazing bars all add cost. If the doors are being made by a joinery shop to your measurements, build lead time and the supplier's margin into your quote.

Fit-Only Labour (Customer-Supplied Doors)

Plenty of customers buy the doors themselves — online, from a local supplier, or as part of a wider project — and want you to fit only. For a straightforward like-for-like swap, where the old unit comes out and the new one drops into a sound, square existing opening, this is a half-day to a day for a two-person team.

• Fit-only, straightforward like-for-like swap: £300–£600

Be clear in writing about what fit-only excludes. You are not responsible for the doors being the wrong size, badly made or arriving damaged, and you should not be expected to make good plaster, brickwork or flooring beyond the immediate reveal unless that's priced in. Also flag the compliance point up front: a fit-only job still has to comply with Building Regulations, so the customer either needs you to be a registered installer who can self-certify, or they need to notify building control themselves. More on that below.

Creating a New Opening

Knocking a new opening through an external wall is a different job entirely — it's structural work, not a glazing swap, and it should be priced and risk-assessed as such. You're removing brickwork or blockwork, fitting a lintel sized to the span and the load above, propping safely while you work, then making good internally and externally.

• New opening (structural work, on top of supply and fit): £1,000–£2,500+

This almost always needs a structural engineer to specify the lintel and confirm the load path, and it is notifiable structural work that must go through building control. Budget for the engineer's fee, the building control application and the time to make good plaster, render, skirting and flooring. On a cavity wall, double the lintel and damp-proofing detail matter — get them wrong and you create a cold bridge or a damp problem. Never quote a new opening as if it were a like-for-like swap with a bit extra; it is a separate scope of work.

Extras and Upgrades

Most French door quotes grow beyond the base door once the customer sees the options. Price each of these as a separate line so the value is clear and you don't end up absorbing the cost.

• Side panels / sidelights: fixed glazed panels either side of the doors widen the opening visually and let in more light. They add to both product and frame cost.
• Integral or fitted blinds: blinds sealed inside the glazed unit are a popular, maintenance-free upgrade — and a meaningful price uplift per leaf.
• Trickle vents: background ventilation is now effectively standard under Part F on most replacement glazing. Build it in rather than treating it as an afterthought.
• Upgraded glazing: triple glazing, acoustic glass, toughened or laminated panes and self-cleaning coatings all add cost and improve performance.
• Made-to-measure / non-standard sizes: anything outside the supplier's standard sizes is a bespoke order with a longer lead time and a higher price. Confirm the size before quoting.

French Doors vs Bifold vs Sliding Patio Doors

Customers often use these terms interchangeably, so part of your job at the quote stage is clarifying what they actually want. The difference changes the price significantly.

• French doors: two hinged doors that open from a central join, inward or outward. Simple, traditional, the most affordable of the three, and ideal for openings up to around 1.8m wide.
• Bifold doors: a run of panels that concertina and fold back against the wall, opening up the whole span. Far more expensive — typically several thousand pounds — and best for wide openings where the customer wants the wall to disappear.
• Sliding patio doors: large panes that slide past each other on a track. They give big glass with slim sightlines and suit wide openings, sitting between French and bifold on price for a like-for-like span.

If a customer asks for "patio doors" or "French doors" loosely, pin down the configuration and opening width before you price. Quoting French doors and then discovering they expected a bifold is a common cause of awkward conversations and lost margin.

Security and Specification

Security sells, and it's also increasingly a requirement rather than an upgrade. Make sure your customer understands what they're getting.

• PAS 24: the enhanced security standard for doors and windows. On new dwellings, external glazed doors must meet PAS 24 under Part Q of the Building Regulations. Specify PAS 24-rated doors as standard on new builds and offer them as a sensible upgrade on replacements.
• Multipoint locking: a good French door has a multipoint lock on the master leaf and shoot bolts top and bottom on the slave leaf. This is the baseline customers should expect.
• Laminated glass: laminated panes resist being smashed through and are a worthwhile security and safety upgrade, particularly on ground-floor garden doors.

Energy Efficiency and U-Values

External glazed doors lose heat, and the Building Regulations set minimum standards. Replacement doors must meet the energy performance requirements of Part L, which in practice means a maximum U-value for the door and frame, or an equivalent Window Energy Rating (WER) band. Lower U-values and higher WER bands mean less heat loss.

Use this at the quote stage. A customer choosing between a basic double-glazed unit and a triple-glazed or high-WER option is buying lower bills and a warmer room, not just glass. Quote the performance figures alongside the price so the upgrade makes sense to them — it's an easy, honest upsell that also keeps you comfortably the right side of Part L.

Building Regulations and FENSA — Don't Skip This

This is the part installers most often get wrong, and it matters. Replacing or installing external glazed doors is notifiable work. It must comply with the Building Regulations, and that compliance has to be certified. There are two routes:

• Use a FENSA or CERTASS registered installer who can self-certify the work. The customer receives a certificate confirming the installation complies with Part L (energy efficiency) and, on new dwellings, Part Q (security). This is the route most replacement jobs take, and being registered is a genuine selling point.
• Notify building control and have the work inspected and signed off directly by the local authority. This is the route for installers who aren't registered, and for jobs that involve structural work such as a new opening, which has to go through building control regardless.

Either way, the job is not finished until it's certified. An uncertified glazed door installation can hold up a house sale, because the buyer's solicitor will ask for the FENSA certificate or building control sign-off. If you're registered, say so in your quote — it reassures the customer and justifies your price over a cheaper, unregistered fitter who'll leave them with a compliance problem.

What Affects the Price

When you sit down to price a French door job, these are the factors that move the number. Walk through them on the survey so nothing surprises you later.

• Material: UPVC, aluminium or timber — the biggest single driver of the door cost.
• Size: standard versus non-standard or made-to-measure, and whether sidelights widen the opening.
• Glazing spec: double versus triple, toughened, laminated, acoustic or self-cleaning glass, and integral blinds.
• Like-for-like swap vs new opening: a straight replacement is a half-day fit; a new opening is structural work with an engineer and building control on top.
• Scaffolding and access: upper-floor Juliet doors, awkward side access or tight working space all add cost.
• Removal and disposal: taking out the old unit and disposing of it responsibly is labour and tip fees — line it in, don't absorb it.

Quick Reference: French Door Prices UK 2026

These are guide ranges for 2026 — always measure, get a supplier quote and price the specific job rather than working from a rule of thumb. Material, glazing spec and whether it's a like-for-like swap or a new opening will swing the final figure more than anything else.