Bifold doors in Cardiff cost roughly £2,000 to £4,500 in uPVC and £3,000 to £7,500 in aluminium, supplied and fitted, according to Checkatrade’s July 2026 cost guide. Daimant, the family-run installer based in Caerphilly, gives you a fixed written price for your own opening after a free survey.
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Fitted by our own Caerphilly team
How much do bifold doors cost in Cardiff?
Bifold doors cost about £2,000 to £4,500 in uPVC, £3,000 to £7,500 in aluminium and £3,500 to £8,000 or more in timber, supplied and installed, based on Checkatrade’s cost guide updated in July 2026. Those figures cover a set of three to five panels.
The spread is wide because the price depends on the size of the opening, the frame material, the glass and what has to happen to the wall. A three-panel uPVC set in an existing patio door opening sits at the bottom of the range. A five-panel aluminium run into a newly widened opening sits at the top, before the building work is counted.
| Frame material | Guide price, supplied and fitted | Checkatrade average |
|---|---|---|
| uPVC, 3 to 5 panels | £2,000 to £4,500 | about £3,000 |
| Aluminium | £3,000 to £7,500 | about £5,000 |
| Timber, 3 to 5 panels | £3,500 to £8,000 or more | about £5,750 |
Checkatrade puts the installation part of that price at about £600 to £1,200. We price every job individually, because two openings of the same width can need very different work. What we do is measure yours, look at the wall and the floor either side, and put a fixed figure in writing so you can compare it fairly.
- Guide prices run from about £2,000 for a small uPVC set to £7,500 or more for a wide aluminium run (Checkatrade, July 2026).
- The width of the opening moves the price more than anything else.
- Aluminium costs more than uPVC and suits wide spans and slim frames; uPVC suits smaller openings and tighter budgets.
- A new or wider opening adds a lintel and making good, which Checkatrade prices at £650 to £1,000 for the lintel alone.
- Daimant gives you a fixed written price after a free survey, with our own team doing the fitting.
The material sets the starting point, but the width of your opening decides where in that range your quote lands, so that is the next thing to look at.
How does the width of the opening change the price?
The width of the opening changes the price more than any other factor, because a wider opening needs more panels, more glass and heavier hardware. Checkatrade prices aluminium bifolds from about £3,000 for a three-panel set up to 3 metres wide, rising past £6,000 above 5 metres.
| Opening width (aluminium) | Typical panels | Guide price, supplied and fitted |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 3 m | 3 | £3,000 to £4,500 |
| 3 m to 4 m | 3 to 4 | £4,500 to £5,500 |
| 4 m to 5 m | 4 to 5 | £5,500 to £6,500 |
| Over 5 m | 5 or more | £6,000 to £7,500 or more |
Source: Checkatrade bifold door cost guide, updated July 2026. Use it to sense-check a quote; your own price comes from the survey.
Measure the structural opening
Homeowners often quote the width of the door they have now, and that can mislead. A pair of 1990s French doors with side panels may sit in a 2.4 metre structural opening, which is enough for a three-panel bifold without touching the wall. A single back door in a 900 millimetre opening is a different job, because getting a bifold in means cutting the wall and fitting a lintel. The surveyor measures the structural opening brick to brick, and that figure drives the quote.
Are aluminium or uPVC bifold doors better value?
Aluminium bifold doors are better value for wide openings and slim sightlines, while uPVC bifolds are better value on smaller openings where budget matters most. Aluminium costs more to buy, but its strength lets each panel be larger with thinner frames, so you see more garden and less frame.
Warmth is the usual worry with aluminium. Aluminium conducts heat, and older aluminium doors earned a reputation for being cold. The bifolds we fit use thermally broken aluminium, with a polyamide break through the frame and warm-edge glazing, and hold a whole-door U-value of around 1.4 W/m²K. That sits comfortably inside the energy rules for a replacement door. Our guide on whether bifold doors are cold in winter goes through the figures.
Where uPVC makes sense
A uPVC bifold makes sense on an opening of around three metres or less, in a room where you want the doors to fold back in summer but the view is not the point. uPVC frames are thicker, so a wide uPVC run shows more frame than an aluminium one of the same width. On a narrow opening the difference is small and the saving is real.
Where aluminium earns its price
Aluminium earns its price on four or five panels across the back of an extension, where slim frames make the glass read as one wall. It holds its shape across a wide span and takes a powder-coated colour, so a grey or black frame can match your windows. If you are still deciding between formats, bifolds are one of three ways to open up the back of a house.
What else adds to the cost of fitting bifold doors?
The building work around the doors adds most to the cost beyond the doors themselves, especially a new lintel, removing the old doors and making good the plaster and floor. Checkatrade puts a new lintel at £650 to £1,000, and glass tinting at £60 to £170 per square metre.
These extras are where cheap quotes and real quotes part company. A price for the doors alone can look attractive until you find the wall still needs opening up and the plaster needs finishing. Ask every installer what their figure includes, line by line.
The costs to look for on a quote
- Taking out the old doors or window and disposing of them.
- A new or longer lintel if the opening is widened.
- Making good the plaster, reveals and outside render or brick.
- The threshold: a low or level threshold can mean work to the floor on both sides.
- Glass upgrades such as solar control, tinting or laminated glass.
- Colour: a dual colour frame, grey outside and white inside, can cost more than one colour.
Thresholds and floor levels
A level threshold gives you a flush step from kitchen to patio, and it is one of the most asked-for details. It only works if the outside surface sits at the right height and drains away from the door. On many Cardiff and Caerphilly homes the patio sits a step below the kitchen floor, so a low threshold with a small upstand is the better choice. We look at the levels on the survey and tell you which one suits your house. We survey and fit bifold doors across Cardiff and Caerphilly, and in Penarth, Barry, Newport and Pontypridd.
Some of those extras also affect the paperwork. Widening an opening changes the structure of the house, and replacing any glazed door is covered by building regulations, so the next question is what paperwork your job needs.
Do bifold doors need building regulations approval?
Replacement bifold doors must meet building regulations in Wales, and a registered installer can self-certify the work through a competent person scheme such as FENSA. The Welsh Government states that building regulations have applied to all replacement glazing since 1 April 2002.
When a FENSA registered installer fits your doors, you receive a certificate showing the work complies, and the local authority is notified. You need that certificate when you sell the house. Daimant is FENSA registered, so the certificate comes as part of the job. Our guide to deposit protection, FENSA and guarantees explains what each certificate covers.
Widening an opening is a separate matter. Cutting a larger hole in an outside wall and putting in a new lintel is structural work, and your surveyor will tell you on the visit whether your job needs building control sign-off as well. Glass in doors also has to meet the safety glazing rules for critical areas, which applies to every bifold panel.
How many bifold door panels do you need?
Most homes need three, four or five bifold panels, which covers openings from about 2.4 to 5 metres. The doors we fit come in runs of 2 to 7 panes, and an odd number of panels lets one panel work as an everyday traffic door without folding the whole set back.
The traffic door is the panel you use most. In January you want to step out to the bins without opening a wall of glass, so a single hinged leaf on the end of the run gets used every day. The rest fold back in summer.
| Opening width | Usual panel count | Everyday door? |
|---|---|---|
| About 2 m to 3 m | 3 | Yes, one end panel |
| About 3 m to 4 m | 3 or 4 | Yes with 3; with 4, a pair can open as French doors |
| About 4 m to 5 m | 5 | Yes, one end panel |
Which way should they fold and stack?
Bifolds can fold inwards or outwards and stack left, right or split both ways. Outward folding keeps the stacked panels off your kitchen floor, which suits smaller rooms. Inward folding keeps them off the patio. Think about where the table goes and where the sun comes from, then decide on the survey with the drawing in front of you. If a slider or French doors might suit the room better, our guide to bifold, sliding and French doors weighs up light, space and cost.
Why is one bifold door quote cheaper than another?
One bifold quote is usually cheaper than another because it includes a lower specification or leaves out work, rather than because the installer is more efficient. The gap tends to sit in the frame, the glass, the locks and the making good.
A fair comparison needs the same door on each quote. Check these points side by side:
- Thermal break. Is the aluminium thermally broken, and what whole-door U-value is quoted?
- Security. Is the doorset tested to PAS 24, with anti-lift blocks and multi-point locking on every panel?
- Glass. Is it toughened or laminated safety glass, with a warm-edge spacer?
- Threshold. Which threshold is included, and who does the floor work?
- Fitting. Who fits the doors, and who comes back if something needs adjusting?
Our position is simple: we quote the tested doorset and we fit it with our own team. A strong door hung by a subcontractor who is gone the next day is where problems start, and we would rather price the job properly once. You can see how that looks on real homes in our gallery of fitted work.
How do you get an accurate bifold door price for your home?
An accurate bifold door price comes from a survey of your opening, because the width, the lintel, the floor levels and the wall construction all change the figure. Follow these steps and you will have a price you can compare with confidence.
Measure the opening roughly
Measure the width of your current doors or window, frame to frame, and note whether you want to widen it. This gives you a sense of which price band you sit in.
Decide on the material and the everyday door
Choose between aluminium and uPVC, and decide whether you want a traffic door. Both change the drawing and the price.
Book a free survey
We measure brick to brick, check the lintel, look at the floor levels inside and out, and talk you through thresholds and glass.
Compare fixed written quotes
Put each quote side by side using the checklist above. Make sure every one includes the same building work and the same specification.
Agree the timetable in writing
Your surveyor gives you the fitting timetable in writing, so you can plan around the kitchen being open to the garden.
Everything above comes down to one opening and one wall, and ours are the people who will be standing in your kitchen measuring it. To see the full specification, the colours and the folding options, go to our bifold doors in Cardiff and Caerphilly page, then book the survey.
Frequently asked questions
Not always. A small uPVC bifold can cost less than a large aluminium slider, but on the same width and material a slider is often similar or lower, because it has fewer moving panels and less hardware.
Usually, yes. Many patio door openings are wide enough for a three-panel bifold without touching the wall. The surveyor measures the opening brick to brick and tells you.
No one can promise a figure. Bifold doors make a kitchen or extension feel larger and brighter, and buyers notice that, but the value added depends on the house and the market.
Yes. The survey is free, and the quote that follows is fixed, in writing and with no obligation to go ahead.
Our doors come with a 10-year guarantee, fitted by our own FENSA registered team, and the guarantee is insurance-backed.
