It’s easy to understand why bifold doors are one of the most popular home upgrades in the UK right now. Bifold doors are considered a genuine luxury-level addition to a home by interior and exterior designers, and they are becoming a more accessible remodeling choice.
You can create a wonderful indoor/outdoor gathering room that is ideal for summer nights and mornings spent with friends and family as well as for those quieter moments by opening up the back of your home so that your inside living space and outdoor garden become one lovely, continuous place.
In this post, we’ll examine how much installing bifold doors costs, factors that influence their price, ways to reduce their cost, what goes into installing a bifold door, how to identify and choose an installer, and how to make sure the person is a good fit for you.
Continue reading to learn the most economical ways to remodel your outside area in preparation for the warmer months if that is what you are aiming for.
Lets Dive In!!!
What is the Price of a Bifold Door?
Let’s start with typical prices.
The price varies based on the material and the quantity of doors you select, with the typical cost of installing bifold doors being between £1950 and £7200.
As an example…
Timber bifold doors typically range in price from £2000 for a three-door system to up to £4200 for five doors, while uPVC bifold doors cost between £1950 and £3240 for three and five doors, respectively.
What about the price of bifold aluminum doors?
Aluminium bifold doors typically cost £3150 for 3 doors and up to £7200 for a 5-door system. They are significantly more expensive.
What about the price of Timber Bifold
A three-door timber bifold should cost between £2,000 and £2,800, and a four-door version should cost between £3,000 and £3,400. The anticipated cost ranges from £3,700 to £4,200 if you need something bigger with five doors.
What about the price of uPVC Bifold
The three-door will cost between £1,900 and £2,800 in uPVC, while the four-door will cost between £2,800 and £3,500. The cost of the uPVC five-door design will range from £3,500 to £4,300, as opposed to our earlier aluminum example.
What factors might impact the overall price of bifold doors?
The size of the doors is one of several variables that determine price; the wider and taller they are, the more expensive they are.
The final price may also depend on where the home is located because tradespeople in London and the South of England may charge more than those in northern regions.
Other factors may include
Cost of window cleaning
It could be a good idea to think about hiring a window cleaner to frequently wash your outside windows if you want to make sure your bifold doors and windows are tidy and aesthetically beautiful.
How much does the window increase the price?
Depending on your home’s size and the amount of windows, hiring a window cleaner can run you anywhere from £40 to £50.
Cost of new windows
Why not add new windows to complement your newly installed bifold doors and improve the exterior appearance of your home?
What will the price of new windows be?
A four-bedroom detached home with up to 15 windows typically costs £5400, while a terraced home with four new casement windows costs £2175 on average.
Cost of Renovating a House
You might want to consider re-rendering in order to preserve the external walls of your property and produce a flawless surface. Brick walls receive a layer of protection from this kind of external plastering, which also improves their appearance.
How much rendering costs?
A small home typically has a rendering cost between £2500 and £3500, whereas a detached house with four bedrooms might have a rendering cost as high as £8300.
Cost to paint a house’s exterior
Painting the external walls of your property with new paint is a fantastic additional approach to increase kerb appeal. To help make your property stand out, you could just need to reapply the same paint and do touch-ups, or you might choose a whole different color.
How much will it cost to paint the outside of your home?
For a terraced home, exterior painting will cost between £550 and £750; for a semi-detached home, between £700 and £1000; and for a detached home, between £900 and £1500.
New Patio Price
You might want to think about installing a patio to further improve the appearance of your outside so you can exit your bifold doors into a front or back pathway that complements the aesthetics of your house.
What specific factors affect a patio’s price?
The cost of installing a new patio will vary depending on the material and route size you select. For instance, installing a stone patio can cost anywhere from £800 for a modest size to £4600 for a large patio, while larger brick installations are typically priced at £1800. Small brick patios cost around £550.
Other possibilities include concrete patios, which range in price from $550 for a small patio to £3600 for a larger patio. Slate patios start at £900 for a small pathway and go up to £3800 for a large patio.
Timelines and Labor Costs
What is the typical price of labor?
An installation of three bifold door panels typically costs £600 in labor, while an installation of five doors may take two days and cost, on average, around £1000.
What is covered by this price?
In order to expedite the installation, two professionals are typically hired as part of the fee.
A structural engineer should be consulted to determine whether the wall where the doors will be installed is sturdy enough to support them. Typically, they bill between £50 and £90 per hour.
What factors affect labor costs and installation time?
Depending on the size of the task, labor costs and completion times will change overall. For instance, if a new opening is required, this may add another day and raise the cost. The cost will also rely on the accessibility, as tradespeople may charge extra for a challenging job.
How to Install Bifold Doors
How Can I Get Bifold Doors Cheaper?
Let’s look at some ingenious hacks to reduce the cost of bifold doors now that we know how they might increase in price. When it comes to bifolds, we don’t encourage DIY because this job requires prior experience to install effectively and safely, even though we do offer it as an alternative for some projects.
The number of doors or panels and a higher cost are clearly correlated, as seen in the price comparison chart from earlier in the article. If you’re looking for a cost-effective installation, picking fewer doors and panels can result in lower costs.
However, this comes at the expense of how much light you’ll be able to let into your room because you’ve chosen fewer panels.
If a homeowner is considering a complete kitchen remodel, it could be worthwhile to look into alternatives for additional normal windows in addition to the bifold door to get a better understanding of the cost difference between a whole wall of bifold doors and dividing the room with regular windows.
We can also see that bifold doors are more expensive when made of aluminum, while cheaper alternatives like wood and uPVC are also offered. Despite requiring much more maintenance than aluminum, wood is typically more affordable; uPVC is long-lasting but can age noticeably by turning discolored.
In cases where you know you want to choose the more expensive material, try to offset the additional expenses by using it in a smaller space to keep prices down.
French or sliding doors are other options that you can take into account.
When it comes to price, bifold doors just might be out of the question, but that doesn’t mean that very same look and feel can’t be replicated in other ways. Trying to install a patio or sliding door, which costs much less, will still give you the floor to ceiling window design.
Two-door patio doors made of uPVC can be purchased for about £700, while a two-door French door set with two demi-side panels that is 8 feet tall can cost about £900. Sliding doors can be installed for about £3,000, with only an average cost per square meter of £720. They are more expensive than French types but less expensive than bifolds.
What Goes Into the Installation of a Bifold Door?
These are the typical procedures you may anticipate when having your bifold door built, though we don’t advise doing it yourself unless you’re a qualified professional with prior experience.
Three distinct locations will be used to measure the aperture’s height, width, and two diagonal points will be used to measure the aperture’s height from three different locations, and so on, to ensure consistency. To ensure that the panels aren’t too large to open, any finishes, such as flooring, will be taken into account.
After that, the cill will be attached, guaranteeing a level finish along its whole length.
After drilling holes for the screws needed to secure the bifold unit to the wall, it will be installed. Throughout this stage, the door clearance will be continuously tested to ensure smooth opening and shutting, and screws won’t be over-tightened as this might cause the frame to distort.
Following the installation of hinges and final fasteners, the smoothness of the doors will be examined once again.
The windows will then be fitted and set into position, and everything will be given a final inspection to make sure it is working as it should, including the windows opening and closing as needed and locking securely.
Building Codes and Planning Approval for Bifold Doors
Generally, you do not need to seek for building regulations clearance or planning permission if you are putting bifold doors in an open space.
However, depending on the rules of your local government, you might need to apply for planning permission if you require a completely new opening or want to extend the existing one to fit your bifold doors.
If you reside in a listed building or conservation area, you will also need to submit an application, which should cost about £200.
You must make sure that the structure where the bifold doors are being installed is secure if you are making a new opening for them. Additionally, make sure the lintel is at least 150mm wide at each end and has a 300mm minimum opening width.
Bifold Door Removal Cost
You must have your current bifold doors removed if you want to install a brand-new set in lieu of your outdated ones. You should budget between £160 and £220 per day to hire a professional to remove your bifold doors.
You must factor in the expense of waste removal, which normally varies from £70 to £120, if you decide to remove them yourself.
Why are bifold doors becoming less common?
The number of frames in a standard bifold door increases the possibility of thermal bridging, which causes energy loss, raising worries about eco-efficiency and heating costs. Bifold doors take up a lot of room both inside and outside when they are unfurled, which raises privacy concerns as well as general practicality challenges.
Are bifold doors worth more?
Bifolds significantly boost a home’s saleability and the amount of money that will ultimately land in your bank account. According to some experts, installing bifolds can boost your home’s resale value by up to 10%.
Do bifold doors require a structural engineer?
If the patio doors or tiny bi-folding door sets being installed are narrower than the window or door they are replacing, a structural engineer is typically not necessary. This is so that the aperture can be supported by the window’s existing lintel.
