Which are the best cheap front doors & what to look for?
Ten thousand people in the UK search the internet for the term “cheap front doors” every month, and today, you’re one of them. So, you’re at the right place if you want to know what is the best front door for you and your pocket!
In this article, you’re going to learn about the cheapest front doors, their pros and cons, what you should take into consideration before buying one and which are the most common external doors in the United Kingdom.
What is a cheap front door?
We think there are 2 types of cheap, one of which is a good thing, one of which is bad. The good meaning of cheap, as far as we are concerned, means inexpensive – however, bear in mind that inexpensive can be a relative term and what seems cheap to one person may not seem cheap to another.
The bad meaning of cheap, as far as residential front doors are concerned, is poor quality. Buying a front door product that is this type of “cheap” could actually cost you a lot more in the long run.
- So our aim is to identify front doors that are relatively inexpensive to buy and also cost very little in terms of time, effort and expense to maintain.
Which front door type is the cheapest?
Here we look at the 4 most common materials used to manufacture external front doors in the UK.
1Timber / Wooden Front Doors
4 Panel Oak Front Door
Timber front doors are still popular with many householders and some can be really low priced, especially if you buy them “off-the-shelf”.
B&Q, for example, offer external quality hardwood veneer (softwood core with thin hardwood veneer) for £80.00 – but you need to buy door furniture and get the door hung.
You can find supply only hardwood front doors from around £145:00 at Travis Perkins, but again you need to buy all the furniture and get it hung – the cost of getting a carpenter to fit a replacement front door would be around £150, so this way of buying a new front door would cost around £290 to £300.
Having said that, at the top of the range, a high quality Oak (or other) hardwood door can run to over £1,000 to have it supplied and fitted.
However, timber doors are prone to twisting, warping, shrinking, expanding, insect attack and need to be regularly painted or stained. Thus, the upkeep of a timber door in the longer term is likely to cost more than for uPVC, composite or aluminium.
- OUR SCORE: 8/10 Pricing (mid-range) – 5/10 potential ongoing costs (high). – value for money 7/10
2Aluminium / Aluminium Clad Front Doors
The use of aluminium for front doors is making a comeback after many years of being side-lined due to the rise of the uPVC front door in popularity.
Whilst offering many sleek and good looking designs, aluminium or aluminium clad front doors are not cheap by any measure. Excellent construction methods ensure energy efficiency, strength and longevity, but the cost of an aluminium front door can be relatively high when compared to the alternatives.
You are unlikely to find a good quality aluminium clad front door for under £1,000 fully fitted and some of the more bespoke designs can go well over £2,000.
- OUR SCORE: 6/10 Pricing (highest) – 9/10 potential ongoing costs (low) – value for money 7/10
3Composite Front Doors
One reason why so many people have taken a great liking to composite front doors in the UK is that they look really good. Some of the timber effect finishes need to be seen to be believed.
Super strong, easy to look after and long lived, composite front doors offer a great selection of styling and colours.
The cost of a composite front door will start in the region of £800 fully fitted, but you will find a lot of products in the range of £1,000 to £1,200.
- OUR SCORE: 7/10 Pricing (medium to higher)– 9/10 potential ongoing costs (low) – Value for money 8/10
4UPVC Front Doors
If you’re always searching for a way to save some money, then you should be able to find something in this material.
Similar to composite, having a wide array of styles and colours, uPVC front doors are tough, long lived, energy efficient and secure. They are also low maintenance, so there’s no need to spend your time & money on painting or staining every year.
You could find a supply only product for just over £300 to £350, and to have a decent quality UPVC front door fully fitted would cost in the region of £600 to £700 if you shopped around.
- OUR SCORE: 8 /10 Pricing (mid-range) – 9/10 potential ongoing costs (low) – Value for money 8/10
UPVC Front Doors
Summary table of front doors prices
How much do cheap uPVC Front doors cost?
| Approximate size | Specification | Price Guide |
|---|---|---|
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | 6 panel uPVC White | £650 to £700 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | Solid 6 panel uPVC Black | £850 to £900 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | Solid Cottage Style Irish Oak | £900 to £950 |
How much do cheap uPVC Back doors cost?
| Approximate size | Specification | Price Guide |
|---|---|---|
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | 2 panel top panel glazed in White | £650 to £690 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | 2 panel top panel glazed in Black | £900 to £950 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | Stable Door, mid rail, White | £690 to £750 |
How much do cheap aluminium & composite front doors cost?
| Approximate size | Specification | Price Guide |
|---|---|---|
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | 4 panel White Composite | £860 to £950 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | 2 panel Red Composite | £880 to £1050 |
| 762 mm x 1981 mm | Aluminium Clad | £1000 to £1200 |
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each material?
To further help you make up your mind, here are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of each door material:
Timber:
Pros:
- Timber doors, if preserved correctly, can last over 100 years.
- They are beautiful to look at, its furniture can be easily changed and it has a natural texture.
- Easy to change the colour or shade of stain.
- Lots of suppliers & products.
Cons:
- Timber doors need maintenance and are prone to warping, twisting, and even coming apart in case of cheap quality products.
- If you really fancy having a wooden front door, a good idea is getting a laminated or stabilised engineered wood product, since they give you greater stability.
Aluminium:
Pros:
- Aluminium doors need no painting and offer high stability and security.
- Energy efficient.
- Visual appearance – Huge range of colours (150+ powder coats)
- Long life span
Cons:
- You need to use doors & frames that have thermal breaks. Aluminium is highly conductive, meaning that the outside heat gets easily absorbed by the frames.
- Cost – aluminium doors at the top of the range can be really expensive. You can’t really class aluminium units as cheap front doors.
UPVC
Pros:
- In terms of energy efficiency, upvc does a great job since it has good insulation properties.
- Upvc doors tend to carry long warranties. No headaches down the road.
- Variety of designs. For cheap front doors check out the design options.
- Very large number of manufacturers & installers giving lots of choice.
- Highly competitive market keeping prices down.
Cons:
- UPVC is not as customisable as wood, limited number of colours.
- Unless you choose white, the price can go up for wood grain or coloured doors.
Composite:
Pros:
- They don’t need painting or varnishing since its colour doesn’t fade with time.
- It provides up to 6 x better insulation than wooden doors due to the energy saving solid hard foam in the core.
- Another huge advantage is that unlike timber these doors don’t crack, warp, twist or swell.
- Composite doors are usually strong and durable and they are thicker than upvc doors. Upvc: 28mm Composite: 44mm
Cons:
- They tend to be more expensive than timber or uPVC.
In Summary
Not everything is about the upfront price, if you are having cheap front doors fitted, by careful selection of the contractor, you could save quite a decent amount on the overall cost of the job. It pays dividends to get many prices from different suppliers and compare which is the cheapest.
For sure you can buy a really cheap front door for a few hundred pounds, but you need to be confident that you are buying quality at the same time – having to replace the door within a short space of time because it has failed could cost you more that if you had bought a better quality door in the first instance.
As someone once said: “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”.
To summarise which, in our opinion, are the best cheap front doors, it’s clear that softwood is the cheapest for a supply only front door but you need to buy the furniture and then fit it.
Aluminium front doors are the most expensive, next to high end hardwood doors. UPVC front doors are relatively cheap and also have very low ongoing costs consider, so in our opinion they are the best cheap front doors (more tips here).
