In article , fred wrote:

They quoted 2500 inc vat to renovate all our sash windows - but on
closer in spection they were too fargone to save "sensibly" so we
removed tehm and had sympathetic UPVC replacements (as the sash
replacements were one arm, a leg, a kidney and a re-mortgage).
I'm surprised Dan, I bought a set of 5 wooden replacements (8'x4') for
about 250quid each plus about 400quid to glaze the lot in low-E DG units.
Ok, it was about 5 years ago, but I was amazed how cheap it was. Not
cheaply made units either, all have draught seals fitted in routed channels.

Well I got several places to quote - and the cheapest to my suprise
was John Carr. The units were 1.6M high by 1.2m wide. I faxed them
drawings (sketches) of each window - and they came back with prices.

They were of the order of 900 quid *each* (given that I'd asked for
replacements of 1930's windows to the "closest" possible style) -
excluding glass and the hassle of fitting them.

Needless to say - 12 windows at 900 odd quid each - then glazing -
then fitting - then decorating - it's got pushed aside in favour of
the £5100 on 12 windows - plus a new back door - all made to "look"
like sash style windows.

They are a lot more in keeping with the "look and feel" than the
crappy ones fitted by the council - nuff said.

I'd have loved to gone the real wood route - preferably being able to
repair the windows that were in the house - but they'd suffered from
65 years of council "maintenance" (ie painting over problems), and
then 10 years of being maintained by an architect (ie painting over
problems and making bigger problems).

Cheers
Dan.