What Each Conservatory Frame Material Costs
Few published comparisons hold the conservatory still while the frame changes. Most quote each material at whatever size their source happened to use, or give a percentage with no size at all. This page prices the same lean-to in three materials at three sizes, sets every publisher's premium side by side, and prices oak the way oak makers do. Style prices sit in conservatory styles and what each one costs, and the rate behind every size in conservatory cost per square metre.
Frame premium over uPVC · same conservatory · on the installed total, inc VAT
+25% aluminium · +50% timber typical premium
Thin evidence9 and 8 publishers · ranges +15% to +40% and +25% to +70% · one unsized outlier above each range widens the spread past 3× · dated March 2024 to September 2026, one undated · checked 14 September 2026
uPVC conservatory prices, and what aluminium and timber add
A uPVC lean-to at 3m by 3m costs £8,000 to £13,000 installed and including VAT, typically £10,000, graded Reasonably evidenced from two publishers and last checked 20 August 2026. The one UK publisher we found pricing all three frame materials at matched sizes puts the same room at £8,500 to £12,500 in uPVC, £10,465 to £15,000 in aluminium (Reasonably evidenced from two publishers) and £12,000 to £17,000 in hardwood. Its uPVC and hardwood figures rest on that one publisher, so we grade them Thin. Checked 14 September 2026.
Those totals are for one size. The percentages travel better. Across every UK publisher that states a premium over uPVC, aluminium typically adds 25% to the installed total, within +15% to +40% from nine publishers, and standard timber typically adds 50%, within +25% to +70% from eight. Four of the nine put aluminium at exactly +25%, and three of the eight put timber at exactly +50%. Both are still graded Thin, because one publisher's unsized figures sit well above each range and stretch the spread past three times.
Oak is not on that scale. Oak frame makers price the structure by the square metre and add the building work on top, which is why it has its own section below. You can also work out what your conservatory will cost with the frame, size and roof you actually want, rather than reading across from ours.
The same lean-to in three frame materials
One publisher prices a lean-to in uPVC, aluminium and hardwood at three sizes on the same page. A second adds a 4m by 3m band for each material without stating the style. Every row is a whole conservatory, installed, including VAT.
| Size and frame | Low | High | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lean-to, 3m × 3m (9 m²), uPVC | £8,500 | £12,500 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 3m × 3m (9 m²), aluminium | £10,465 | £15,000 | Reasonably | Publisher A Aug 2026, Publisher C Dec 2024 |
| Lean-to, 3m × 3m (9 m²), hardwood | £12,000 | £17,000 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 4m × 3m (12 m²), uPVC | £12,500 | £18,500 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 4m × 3m (12 m²), aluminium | £15,000 | £21,000 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 4m × 3m (12 m²), hardwood | £17,000 | £24,000 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| 4m × 3m (12 m²), style not stated, uPVC | £5,000 | £20,000 | Thin | Publisher B Apr 2026 |
| 4m × 3m (12 m²), style not stated, aluminium | £10,000 | £30,000 | Thin | Publisher B Apr 2026 |
| 4m × 3m (12 m²), style not stated, hardwood | £15,000 | £40,000+ | Thin | Publisher B Apr 2026 |
| Lean-to, 5m × 4m (20 m²), uPVC | £17,000 | £24,000 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 5m × 4m (20 m²), aluminium | £20,000 | £28,000 | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
| Lean-to, 5m × 4m (20 m²), hardwood | £23,000 | £32,000+ | Thin | Publisher A Aug 2026 |
Sources by row: Publisher A's lean-to cost guide, updated 27 August 2026, for every lean-to row; Publisher C, 12 December 2024, whose aluminium lean-to at 3m by 3m with a polycarbonate roof, £10,465 to £10,900, sits at the floor of Publisher A's band; Publisher B, prices updated April 2026, for the three rows with no style stated. Rows graded Thin have one publisher behind them, and none of these publishers gives a typical figure. Publishers are lettered rather than named on this page, and the same letter is the same publisher throughout. Checked 14 September 2026.
Three things the matched rows show. The order never changes: in every row from both publishers, uPVC is cheapest, aluminium sits in the middle and hardwood costs most. The gap grows in pounds with the size: hardwood adds £3,500 to £4,500 to Publisher A's uPVC figures at 3m by 3m and £6,000 to £8,000 at 5m by 4m. And Publisher B's bands are two and a half to three and a half times as wide as Publisher A's, because a row with no style fixed holds a lean-to and a Victorian together. The uPVC figure itself, across every publisher that prices a small lean-to, is set out at what a small conservatory costs.
Aluminium conservatory cost against uPVC
Aluminium premium over uPVC · same conservatory · on the installed total
+15% to +40% typically +25%
Thin evidence9 publishers · four state exactly +25% · one unsized figure at +50% sits above the range · dated March 2024 to September 2026, one undated · checked 14 September 2026
On a 4m by 3m lean-to that is the difference between £12,500 to £18,500 in uPVC and £15,000 to £21,000 in aluminium, both from Publisher A. The typical +25% is the most common figure among the publishers we hold: four state it exactly and two more publish ranges that contain it. The top of the range is wide because one quote comparison site gives up to +40%, and a trades marketplace gives +50% with no size, style or roof attached, which is what holds the grade at Thin. It is also, on the default figures below, the frame that loses more heat.
What timber adds, and why published timber prices disagree
Timber premium over uPVC · engineered softwood and standard hardwood · on the installed total
+25% to +70% typically +50%
Thin evidence8 publishers · typical is the median of their midpoints, and stays +50% with or without the highest · one unsized figure at +100% sits above the range · dated July 2025 to September 2026, one undated · checked 14 September 2026
The word timber covers two different products, and most of the disagreement comes from mixing them. Engineered softwood and standard hardwood frames are sold on the same styles and sizes as uPVC and priced as a premium on the same build. Bespoke hardwood and oak are made by specialists and priced by the square metre. Every figure in the range above is the first kind.
Even inside the first kind, published premiums run from +25% to +100%. The lowest come from publishers that fix the size: Publisher A states +25% to +35%, and Publisher D's prices at 3.5m by 3.5m work out at +31% to +40% across three styles. The highest, +100%, comes from a trades marketplace giving one figure per material with no size, style or roof. The range stops at +70%, the top of the highest stated range, and the +100% stays in the table below.
Publisher J, a national self-build magazine, puts a hardwood 3m by 3m lean-to at upwards of £30,000 against around £12,000 in uPVC, about +150%. That is a bespoke hardwood build, so it stays out of the range.
| Publisher | Dated | Aluminium | Timber | How it is published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A, cost guide and quote site | 27 Aug 2026 | +15% to +25% | +25% to +35% | Stated |
| B, quote comparison site | Apr 2026 | +20% to +40% | +40% to +70% | Stated, for hardwood |
| D, national trades directory | Jun 2026 | none published | +31% to +40% | Worked out from its 3.5m × 3.5m prices |
| E, national trade retailer | 2026 | +20% | +40% | Stated in its calculator |
| F, cost guide site | 29 Jul 2025 | +25% | +50% | Worked out from its price bands |
| G, national installer | 11 Sep 2026 | +25% | +50% | Stated |
| H, installer | Undated | +27% | +50% | Worked out from its per m² rates |
| I, trades marketplace | 21 Aug 2026 | +50% | +100% | Worked out from single figures with no size |
| J, self-build magazine | 4 Mar 2024 | +25% | not counted, bespoke hardwood | Stated for aluminium |
| K, quote matching site | Jul 2026 | +25% | not counted | As published |
Stated means the publisher prints the percentage. Worked out means we divided its own published prices for each material by its uPVC price on the same page. Publisher E's unsized price table implies higher premiums than its own calculator, so the calculator's stated figures are used. Two more are left out of both ranges: a premium-tier national installer publishing +40% for aluminium and +200% for timber, whose prices describe a different market, and Publisher C, whose tables and prose give different ceilings for the same wooden lean-to. Checked 14 September 2026.
Oak is priced by the square metre, not as an upgrade
Oak frame makers do not quote oak as a percentage on a uPVC conservatory. They price the structure by the square metre, then add the building work, and the figures below follow that shape.
| What is priced | Low | Typical | High | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak structure, per m², before building work | £2,200 | not published | £3,500 | Well | Publisher J Mar 2024, oak makers L Jan 2019, M Mar 2026, N Aug 2026 |
| Building work on top, per m² | £800 | not published | £1,100 | Thin | Oak maker L Jan 2019 |
| Oak room, about 9 m² | £15,000 | not published | £25,000 | Reasonably | Oak makers M Mar 2026, N Aug 2026 |
| Oak room, 16 to 20 m² | single points | about £50,000 | single points | Reasonably | Publisher J Mar 2024, oak makers N Aug 2026, L Jan 2019 |
Publisher J is the self-build magazine above; L, M and N are oak frame makers. The per m² row rests on four sources whose floors and ceilings agree within 1.17 times, but two price the frame alone and top out at £3,000, while two include the glazing and top out at £3,500. Neither 9 m² source prices a conservatory: one prices an oak orangery, the other an oak garden building. The single points at 16 to 20 m² are a 20 m² oak conservatory, a 16 m² garden building and a page that gives no size. Checked 14 September 2026.
The £50,000 you will see quoted for oak is a size figure, not a starting price. It describes a room of 16 to 20 m². At about 9 m², two oak makers writing in 2026 put an oak orangery or garden building at £15,000 to £25,000. At 20 m² the same magazine that gives £50,000 also quotes an oak frame maker at from £3,500 per m², which is at least £70,000 at that size, and it prints the two figures side by side without reconciling them.
How much of the job the price covers matters as much as the rate. Oak maker N publishes three stages for oak garden buildings: £2,200 to £3,000 per m² for the frame alone, £2,800 to £3,600 for a weathertight shell and £3,200 to £4,500 turnkey. Installer H quotes oak or painted hardwood at £4,500 per m² including the building work and VAT. For oak itself, talk to oak frame makers, who sell direct. Use these figures to set a budget before that conversation, not to hold against a uPVC quote.
Aluminium costs more and, on the default figures, keeps less heat in
SAP 10.2, the government's standard method for rating a home's energy use, publishes default U-values for windows, where lower means less heat lost. They cover the whole window, frame and glass together, and they apply only when neither the detailed specification nor the maker's certified U-value is available. For double glazing with argon fill, a low-emissivity soft coat and a gap of 16mm or more:
- Wood or PVC-U frame: 1.7 W/m²K
- Aluminium or other metal frame with a 4mm thermal break: 2.1 W/m²K
- Metal frame with no thermal break: 2.4 W/m²K, the 2.1 figure plus the table's own 0.3 adjustment
- Metal frame with a 32mm thermal break: 1.7 W/m²K, the 2.1 figure less the table's 0.4 adjustment, level with PVC-U and wood
So the 2.1 for aluminium already assumes a thermal break. Without one it is worse again, and only a 32mm break brings it level with uPVC and timber. The table also assumes a metal frame covers 20% of the window at a frame U-value of 4.7, against 30% at 2.1 for wood or PVC-U: the metal frame is slimmer, but it lets heat through more than twice as easily.
Price and default heat loss therefore move in opposite directions. Aluminium typically adds 25% to the price and, on these figures, loses more heat unless it carries a deep thermal break, while timber costs most and matches uPVC. A default is a fallback, not a verdict on a product: the maker's certified whole-window U-value for the frame you are actually quoted beats the table, so ask for it in writing. What a replacement roof has to achieve is a separate standard, covered under conservatory roof U-values and Part L.
Source: SAP 10.2, Table 6e and its notes, BRE, 17 December 2021, pages 172 to 174. The 2.4 and the 32mm 1.7 apply the table's own metal-frame adjustments to its 2.1 value. Checked 14 September 2026.
What a frame price leaves out
Every total on this page is a whole conservatory, installed and including VAT, and a frame premium applies to that total. Three things sit underneath it and are priced separately.
The frame material on its own
Bought as material only, Publisher I puts uPVC at £200 to £300 per square metre, aluminium at £300 to £400 and timber at £400 to £600, updated 21 August 2026, one publisher, graded Thin. Those floors are 50% and 100% above uPVC, twice the typical installed premiums, which fits the frame being only part of what a finished conservatory costs.
The base, the dwarf wall and brick
Brick is the wall, not the frame. A brick conservatory is one built on dwarf walls, with a uPVC, aluminium or timber frame above them, so the brickwork is priced with the base and groundwork rather than as an alternative to the frame. That line is covered as conservatory base cost, and it applies whichever frame you choose.
Whether fitting is in the price
A manufacturer's self-build price list, March 2026, quotes a 3m by 3m lean-to at £9,725 including VAT and delivery, and excludes the base, the floor, the walls and the fitting. Beside the installed figures above it looks like a cheaper frame. It is a different purchase, and the line-by-line difference is what installation adds to the price.
Price your size, roof and frame together
Six questions, about sixty seconds, and an estimate with the grade and the source shown beside each figure.
A premium only means something on the right base, so the size decides the pounds. The quickest way to put the frame on your own size, style and roof is to use the Conservatory Cost Calculator, which returns a range rather than one number. For the whole-build figures behind it, start with what a conservatory costs. If you already own a conservatory and it is the roof you want to replace rather than the frame, that is a different job with its own prices, and you can compare conservatory roof quotes from local installers.
Questions about frame material prices
How much does a uPVC conservatory cost in the UK?
How much does a wooden conservatory cost?
Is aluminium more expensive than uPVC?
Is an aluminium conservatory warmer than uPVC?
Is a timber conservatory worth the extra?
How much does an oak conservatory cost?
Sources on this page: Publishers A to K for frame premiums and totals, dated March 2024 to September 2026 with one undated; oak makers L, M and N, dated January 2019, March 2026 and August 2026; and SAP 10.2 from BRE, December 2021, for default U-values. Letters are local to this page. Rows graded Thin rest on one publisher, or on publishers more than three times apart. Every figure checked 14 September 2026.
Find out what yours costs
Six questions, about sixty seconds, and an estimate built from published UK figures with every source shown. Then up to four local installers can quote you, if you want them to.