Why Two Conservatory Prices Are Never Like for Like
One UK publisher prices a 4m by 4m build at £5,000 to £11,500 in one paragraph and £25,000 in another, on the same page, with nothing to tell you the first is the structure supplied and the second is the structure built. That is a 5x gap made entirely of scope.
Frame and glazing installation · 3 to 5 days · labour element
£1,200 to £2,500 fitting only
Thin evidence1 source · 2.08× · dated April 2026 · checked 20 August 2026
How much does conservatory installation cost?
Installing the frame and glazing of a conservatory costs £1,200 to £2,500 as a labour element, over a three to five day fit. We grade that Thin evidence: one UK publisher, dated April 2026, spread 2.08×, with no second source in our register. Checked 20 August 2026.
That figure is the fitting of the structure and nothing else. It is not the base, it is not the groundwork, and on most jobs it is the smaller half of what people mean when they say installation. The number that matters more is the difference between a price that includes it and a price that does not, because that difference is where nearly every surprise in this market lives.
Two prices for the same conservatory can differ by five times on scope alone, before anyone has specified a better window. Knowing which of the two you are holding takes about four questions, and they are in what a quote must tell you.
The same build at two published prices
These are not quotes we collected. They are figures published by UK sources and recorded in our register, and the point of the section is that the labels do not distinguish them.
| What was published | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| “Small orangery 4m × 4m”, national trades directory | £5,000 to £11,500 | Hardwood structure, supplied only |
| Same 4m × 4m footprint, same page, same publisher | £25,000 | Supplied and built |
| Lean-to headline price, national manufacturer | £9,725 | Excludes the base, the floor, the walls and the fitting |
| Same 3m × 3m orangery, same manufacturer, two of its own pages | £16,724 and £16,041 | Same scope, two prices, £683 apart |
The first two rows are the clearest illustration we have found of why this page exists. One publisher, one page, one footprint, and a 5× spread that is entirely scope and is labelled nowhere. A reader comparing the £5,000 figure against an installer's quote is comparing a delivery against a finished room.
The third row is the one that catches most people, because £9,725 reads like a fitted price and is not. Strip a base, a floor, the walls and the fitting labour out of a conservatory and what is left is a kit. That is a legitimate product with a legitimate price. It is simply not the number to hold against a quote from someone who is going to dig, pour, build and fit.
What a supply-only price leaves out
Four things, in the order they cost money. Any one of them missing from a quote is enough to make a comparison meaningless.
- The base and the groundwork. Excavation, footings, the concrete slab and the drainage work around it. On a supply-only price this is entirely yours to arrange and to pay for.
- The floor. The structural slab is not a finished floor. Screed, insulation, any underfloor heating and the covering itself all sit outside a frame price.
- The dwarf walls. Where the style carries them, somebody has to build them, and a frame supplier is not that somebody.
- The fitting. The £1,200 to £2,500 at the top of this page, plus the making good, the sealing and the trims that turn an assembled structure into a weathertight room.
Our own size-banded figures are installed prices covering all four, which is why a 3m by 3m lean-to sits at £8,000 to £13,000 in our register rather than at a kit price. The style-by-style version of that is in conservatory styles and their prices, and the rate-based view is in our per square metre price table, where the same supply-against-installed gap shows up as a difference between two published rates.
What the labour actually costs
Three published labour figures sit in our register. All three are single-source and graded Thin, and we publish the grade rather than averaging them into something that looks firmer than it is.
| Figure | Published | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Frame and glazing fit, 3 to 5 days, total | £1,200 to £2,500 | Thin1 source |
| General team, day rate | £150 to £200 | Thin1 source |
| Two-person roofing team, day rate | £300 to £500 | Thin1 source |
| Labour as a share of a roof job | 30% to 40% | Thin1 source |
The day rates and the fixed fitting price roughly agree, which is worth noting because they come from different publishers. A three to five day fit at £300 to £500 a day for a two-person team gives £900 to £2,500, against a published fitting price of £1,200 to £2,500. The bands overlap across most of their length. That is not corroboration in the sense our grading uses, since they are pricing slightly different crews, but it is the closest thing to a sanity check the published data allows.
What the supply-only side is worth
The other half of the split. These are material rates for the frame, published as material only, and they are the figures a kit price is built from.
| Frame material | Per m² | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| uPVC | £200 to £300 | Thin1 source |
| Aluminium | £300 to £400 | Thin1 source |
| Timber | £400 to £600 | Thin1 source |
| Oak | £2,500 to £3,500 | Thin1 source |
All four come from one publisher on one date and are labelled material only, not supply-only-complete and not installed. Set beside an installed total they make the scale of the gap obvious: uPVC frame material for a 9 m² footprint is £1,800 to £2,700 of the £8,000 to £13,000 that the same size costs installed. Everything else in that figure is glass, roof, base, labour and margin.
On VAT, our register records these material rates and the labour figures without a stated VAT position, so we do not assert one. It is the first thing to settle in writing, because 20 per cent on a five-figure job is not a rounding question, and if the sum is being spread over time then paying for a conservatory monthly changes what the total is as well.
Finding an installer, and what to ask first
Whoever you approach, the questions below separate a supply price from a fitted one before anyone visits.
- Does this price include the base and the groundwork? If the answer is a rate rather than a yes, it is not included.
- Is VAT in the figure you have given me? Ask for the number both ways in writing.
- Who builds the dwarf walls, and is that in this price?
- What is the fitting element of the total? A supplier who cannot separate it is quoting a kit.
- Who notifies building control, and when? Most conservatories are exempt, but the ones that are not are exactly the ones people get wrong.
We do not publish an installer count or a coverage map, because we have not verified one and the sites that publish those numbers largely cannot either. What we do is put your requirement in front of installers who cover your postcode. How that works, and how we are paid for it, is set out in our costing method and sources.
Price the fitted job, not the kit
Every figure in our calculator is an installed price, so what it returns is comparable with a supply-and-fit quote rather than with a kit. Work out what your conservatory will cost before the first visit, and hold the band you get against whatever arrives.
Check what your conservatory will cost
For a replacement roof on a conservatory you already have, compare local conservatory roof installers instead, and the whole-market picture starts at our conservatory cost guide. That job runs to its own schedule, set out in how a conservatory roof is fitted.
Questions people ask first
How much does it cost to install a conservatory?
What is the difference between supply only and supply and fit?
Can I install a conservatory myself?
How long does a conservatory installation take?
Is labour included in conservatory prices?
What share of the price is labour?
Sources on this page: a UK home improvements publisher, April 2026, for the fitting price and the general day rate; a trades marketplace, 4 December 2025, for the supply-only material rates; a national trades directory, March 2026, for the orangery supply-against-build figures; a national manufacturer's own published prices for the supply-only headline and the two differing orangery figures; and our own register for the installed size bands. Every figure checked 20 August 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.