How to quickly and easily calculate the price of windows and choose the best window solution?

Where will the windows go?

The aim of this blog post is to help the client choose the best window solution for him already at the beginning. 

At debesto, the first question we usually ask our new B2B clients or old B2B clients who start new projects is: “Where will the windows go?”.

• For example, will they go to a very passive, highly insulated single-family house, where the client and his descendants will live for a hundred years?
• Will they go to a public building which will be frequently visited by the public?
• Will they go to an old tenement house for which the conservation officer demands wooden windows?
• Or maybe they will go to flats for rent with an owner who is not interested in making big investments and only needing double pane PVC windows?

Have a look at some of the projects we have completed

PVC, aluminium or wooden windows?

The client should now decide what he wants and see what he can afford. 

As far as the window frame material is concerned, there are three main options to choose from – PVC, aluminium and wood. 

First, we have the cheapest white PVC windows. Before going into details and analyzing concrete examples, if we assume that they cost x EUR on average, then we can roughly estimate that the price of the wooden windows made of pine will be 2,5x EUR on average and the aluminium windows will cost 3x EUR on average.  

This very simple calculation will show the client more or less whether he has to invest, for example, 10,000 EUR in white PVC, 25,000 EUR in pine or 30,000 EUR in aluminium windows.

debesto’s windows price lists

For more detailed information, you can check our price lists for business clients. There we present and compare the prices of our most popular PVC, aluminium and wooden windows in the most popular sizes:

• Price list for PVC windows
• Price list for aluminium windows
• Price list for wooden windows

If you have questions, please, do not hesitate to contact us!

Specificity of the wooden windows

Let me show you the case with the wooden windows. If the cheaper pine windows cost x EUR, then the better meranti windows will cost approximately x EUR + 30% and the price of the expensive oak windows will be around x EUR + 70%.

Knowing this, the client can decide whether he wants, for example, softwood windows made of pine for 10,000 EUR, hardwood windows made of meranti for 13,000 EUR or premium hardwood windows made of oak for 17,000 EUR.

Usually, the price of the triple glazed pine windows is around 225 EUR per square metre, while the triple glazed meranti and oak windows cost around 290 EUR and 380 EUR per square metre, respectively.

Check the wooden windows in our offer

Alu-clad windows

Furthermore, we have the popular solution of adding aluminium cladding exterior mainly to pine windows to form the so-called alu-clad or composite windows.

This increases the price of the pine windows by approximately 50% or 100 EUR to around 290 EUR per square metre.

Aluminium cladding exterior, which increases the durability and minimises the maintenance of the wooden windows, can also be added to meranti and oak windows.

More info about our alu-clad windows

Double glazed and triple glazed windows

One of the main factors which impacts the price of the windows and the purchase decision of the client is the glazing unit or the choice between a double and triple pane option.

There is a situation which occurs very often: a client calls me and says that he needs double glazed windows. Then he also asks me for a price estimation of triple glazed windows just in case, so he can present both variants to his investor who will make the final decision.

In this instance, I tell the client that I will prepare for him a price estimation for the double glazed windows. The triple glazed windows should be more expensive than the double glazed windows by approximately 25%.

PVC vs. aluminium windows

Speaking more concretely and comparing the price per square metre of the PVC and aluminum windows, we can say that:

• the double glazed white PVC windows will cost around 70 EUR/m²
• the double glazed PVC windows with a coloured veneer on both sides will cost around 100 EUR/m²
• the triple glazed white PVC windows will cost approximately 90 EUR/m²
• the triple glazed PVC windows with a coloured veneer on both sides will cost approximately 130 EUR/m²
• the double glazed aluminium windows will cost around 260 EUR/m²
• the triple glazed aluminium windows will cost around 280 EUR/m².

Check the PVC windows in our offer

Check the aluminium windows in our offer

Fixed or floating mullion in a double leaf window?

I can show you one more popular case. A client would like to receive a price estimation for a double leaf window. 

Therefore, I am asking him if he prefers a fixed or a floating mullion, and he asks me which of them is cheaper. 

I answer that the floating mullion is slightly cheaper, and the client requests a price estimation for a double leaf window with a floating mullion. 

But he also asks me how much more expensive is the variant with a fixed mullion. I reply quickly that:

Adding muntin bars to the windows

Another example that comes to my mind is the one with the muntin bars, which are used to make the windows look more attractive.

After receiving a price estimation for the requested windows, clients often ask what will be the cost of adding muntin bars to the windows.

If the client needs only the approximate price, it is not necessary to make very time-consuming precise calculations. 

I answer that, in a window of 1 m², depending on the type of the muntin bars, one divided lite should additionally cost between 10 and 20 EUR. 

Colour of PVC windows

It may not be so obvious, but the colour can have a serious impact on the price of the windows, particularly on the PVC windows.

The price of the PVC window depends on whether the colour is standard or non-standard (slightly more expensive) and whether it is applied on one or both sides of the window frame. Usually, we can say that:

• A PVC window with a frame covered with a coloured veneer on the outside will be more expensive than the white PVC window by approximately 20% (standard colour) or 25% (non-standard colour). 
• A PVC window with a frame covered with a coloured veneer on the inside will be more expensive than the standard white PVC window by approximately 25% (standard colour) or 30% (non-standard colour).
• If the PVC window frame is covered with coloured veneers on both sides, its price will be around 40% (standard colour) or 45% (non-standard colour) higher than the price of the standard white PVC window.

Specific cases

In order to perfectly meet their preferences, clients can also order bespoke sophisticated colours. PVC windows with veneers in bespoke sophisticated colours on both sides can often be more expensive than the white PVC windows by 50% or even 60%.

Furthermore, there is an option for the colour to be added to the PVC window frame during the production process. This will make the window much more abrasion resistant than the windows with a coloured veneer, but will also raise its price even by 80% in comparison with the standard white PVC window.

Colour of wooden and aluminium windows

Colour does not increase the price of the wooden and aluminium windows as much as in the case of the PVC windows:

• Placing the same colour on both sides of a wooden window usually increases its price by 7% to 15%.
• Aluminium windows are available in most of the RAL colours, and the price of the colour is usually included in the price of the window.

Safety and security windows

Another factor that impacts the price of the windows is the strength of the glass. Using laminated or tempered glass for safety and security reasons can make the windows significantly more expensive. For example:

• strengthening the window with a glass of protection class P2 will increase its price by approximately 50 EUR per square metre.
• strengthening the window with a glass of protection class P4 will increase its price by approximately 60 EUR per square metre.

For the best protection, the safety and security windows should also have quality fittings:

• adding fittings of resistance class RC1 to the window leaf will make it more expensive by around 20 EUR.
• adding fittings of resistance class RC2 to the window leaf will make it more expensive by around 35 EUR.

Comparing the PVC sliding doors

The cheapest solution among the PVC sliding doors are the PSK doors, which are not very user-friendly, have a high threshold and a higher risk of damage. 

The better options are the Smart Slide doors and the HST doors, which are more expensive than the PSK doors by approximately 70% and 150%, respectively. They are both very easy to use and the risk of damage is practically non-existing. Furthermore, the HST doors have a very low threshold.

Prices of doors with two sashes with dimensions of 2500 x 2200:

• PSK costs around 590 EUR
• Smart Slide costs around 990 EUR
• HST costs around 1,470 EUR

Detailed comparison of the PVC sliding doors

Frameless aluminium sliding windows and doors

These are premium products which may cost from several thousand to tens of thousands euros.

Depending on the manufacturer, significant price differences may occur even in the case of aluminium sliding doors and windows of very similar or almost identical parameters. 

The driving force is another key factor which has a huge impact on the price. Automatic aluminium sliding doors and windows are usually twice as expensive as the manual ones.

Our ranking of frameless aluminium sliding systems