Doors
Sliding patio doors
Sliding patio doors cost roughly £1,500 to £4,000 fitted. One or more panels slide behind the others on a track, so they never project into the room or the garden. You get larger uninterrupted panes than bi-folds, but you can only ever open part of the aperture.
Sliders have quietly become the choice of people who looked at bi-folds first. The reason is usually the view when the doors are shut, which is how they spend most of the year.
Indicative guide, not a quote
per door, supplied and fitted
£1,500 – £4,000
These figures come from published industry price guides, not official statistics, and several of those sources are installers or comparison sites with a commercial interest. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a quote. Your installer sets the actual price after measuring.
MyJobQuote door installation cost guides · checked 2026-10-09
The case against bi-folds
A bi-fold has a frame line at every panel. A two-panel slider has one. If the doors face a garden you look at daily, that difference is visible every single day, whereas the full-width opening a bi-fold offers is useful on a limited number of afternoons.
Sliders also lose no internal or external space to stacked panels, which matters on a narrow patio or in a room with furniture near the opening.
Lift-and-slide, and why it feels different
A standard slider runs on rollers with the weatherseals in constant contact, which is why cheap ones become stiff. A lift-and-slide mechanism raises the panel clear of its seals when you turn the handle, so a very heavy door moves with one finger and the seals compress fully when it is set down.
It costs more and is the single biggest difference in how the door feels to use over its life.
Slim frames and pocket options
Slim-framed aluminium sliders push the frame down to a narrow sightline for a nearly uninterrupted pane. At the top end, a pocket slider disappears into a cavity in the wall so the open aperture has no visible frame at all, which requires designing into the structure rather than retrofitting.
Sliding patio doors: common questions
- Are sliding doors better than bi-folds?
- For the view when closed and for keeping space clear, usually yes. For opening the whole aperture, bi-folds win. It comes down to how often the doors will actually stand open.
- Why has my patio door become hard to slide?
- Usually worn rollers or a track full of grit. Both are serviceable. A lift-and-slide mechanism largely avoids the problem by taking the weight off the seals before the panel moves.
- Can sliding doors be made secure?
- Yes. Look for multi-point locking, anti-lift blocks that stop the panel being levered off its track, and laminated glass. PAS 24 tested sets are available.
Other doors
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Front doors
£900 – £2,350 fitted
A new front door costs £700 to £2,800 fitted. Composite, uPVC, aluminium and timber compared, and why the lock matters more than the door.
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Composite doors
£900 – £2,350 fitted
Composite doors cost £900 to £2,350 fitted. Solid timber core versus foam, what thickness to ask for, and the security specification worth insisting on.
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uPVC doors
£700 – £1,400 fitted
uPVC doors cost £700 to £1,400 fitted. Where they make sense, why cheap ones drop on their hinges, and the cylinder upgrade worth paying for.
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Aluminium doors
£1,400 – £2,800 fitted
Aluminium doors cost £1,400 to £2,800 fitted. Why the material handles tall, heavily glazed doors, and how to match it across the house.
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Bi-fold doors
£3,000 – £7,500 fitted
Aluminium bi-fold doors cost £3,000 to £7,500 fitted. Panel counts, why you need a traffic door, and how they compare with sliding doors.
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French doors
£1,200 – £2,950 fitted
French doors cost £1,200 to £2,950 fitted. Usually the sensible answer up to two metres, with no track or running gear to wear out.
TrustedGlazing does not make, supply or fit windows and doors, and the prices above are published industry guides rather than our own. We match your enquiry to one vetted local installer, who quotes and contracts with you directly.