The bigger the Conservatory the better

When planning a new conservatory, it's always tempting to be led purely by cost and plan the size of your conservatory accordingly.

However, our experience shows there's nothing worse than paying thousands for the benefit of the extra room a conservatory can add to your home, only to find you can't fit anything larger than a couple of wicker chairs into the finished project.

Different styles can make the 'usable floor space' in a conservatory seem more or less - a Victorian design with it's hexagonal end leaves you with lots of corners that nothing will fit into, whilst a square ended Edwardian conservatory design will fill out those 'wasted' corners.

However, traditionally, the problem with considering different designs and overall sizes meant being laid siege to by an army of different conservatory salesmen.

Luckily, homeowners who want to explore all their size and design options can now do all the leg-work of getting a rough idea of cost, simply and easily, online using our newly re-vamped Window Quoter website.

A free online resource, populated with real prices from the conservatory industry themselves; by using Window Quoter, you can enter different dimensions and select different options as many times as you like.

Once you've narrowed your choices down, the next step is to get 2 or 3 conservatory companies round to discuss your ideas in more details and give you their best price, including any promotions that they may be running.

Again, Window Quoter comes to your rescue. To save you inviting the 'wrong' companies round, we can recommend up to 3 local companies to you and provide you with direct access to feedback on them left by previous homeowners, so you can choose a company with added confidence.

Many companies offer free design services and can produce finished drawings of how your choices will look on your property, before you part with your deposit. It's a great touch as it can really provide you with an insight into how the finished conservatory would look.

What's more, our companies may be able to offer their own suggestions on suitable styles and preferable sizes, based on the building style of your home and what you intend to use your conservatory for. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to provide a couple of ideas that you hadn't though of?

And the difference in price may not be as great as you'd thought, and it certainly won't cost you anything to find out before you part with your hard-earned money.

This article first appeared in our weekly homeowner newsletter dated 31st May 2011. Click here to read the full newsletter now.