Timber Conservatory Cost Comparison

Like many of our clients, you may wonder why a timber conservatory can cost more than a conventional single storey extension. So it helps to consider a timber conservatory cost comparison

Quite simply, a normal brick built, single storey, tiled roof extension and a conservatory should have identical footings, etc. up to floor level. However, above floor a traditional extension has bricks, blocks, mortar, insulation, treated sawn softwood, plasterboard, tiles, battens and off-the-shelf windows.

Whereas, a bespoke timber conservatory has the same brickwork, blocks, mortar and insulation, etc, albeit usually in smaller amounts, but the rest is in bespoke joinery, to a high standard, having high specification glazing and patented special roofing. This also requires the use of highly skilled labour. Anyone who has had a made-to-measure timber window, or door, will know the cost of such work is several times greater.

Then you have to consider the type of timber being used… from cheap, standard size, modular, engineered softwood, through to custom designed and manufactured conservatories or orangeries in seasoned oak. I’m sure you will appreciate the cost difference.

PVC conservatories are designed and manufactured to provide a cost effective solution where budgets are restricted. However it should be understood, PVC conservatories are also manufactured to considerably different standards as well. Some businesses manufacture their products to meet a quality standard, others to meet a low price. To do both, can’t be done. It should also be considered that the building work, if done properly, will be the same specification and therefore, the same cost, whichever material used for the conservatory. You may also consider that to be able to use the conservatory all year around, the conservatory should have a similar glass specification, no matter the frame material.

Just like any other product you can buy, whether it be food, clothing, furnishing, electrical good and cars, the cheapest quality products are many times lower in cost than those of the best quality. So is it surprising really , that the lowest cost conservatory, can be half the cost of the best.

There is one snag however. Whilst, you have a lifetime’s experience of buying the aforementioned items, this is probably the first time you are buying a conservatory. The person selling the cheapest, relying on your lack of knowledge, will be claiming it’s as good as the best, but for very plausible reasons, it is lower in cost. It’s understandable that we want to believe him or her, rather than the person who says “You get what you pay for in life”. When buying from the cheapest you have to remember to make provisions for unforeseen additional costs, poor quality work or at worse a complete disaster… are you feeling lucky?

It is well to consider John Ruskin’s famous quote, known as the Common Law of Business Balance…

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey.

It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”