Prices and costs
What's the cheapest type of garage door?
The cheapest garage door type in the UK is a manual steel up-and-over on canopy gear, with a headline installed price of £995 and a range of £850–£1,900 inc. VAT. It sits well below electric roller (£1,895) and sectional (£1,895–£2,495) doors, but its canopy gear caps width at roughly 2438mm and is hard to automate later.
The trade-off with the cheapest option
A manual canopy-gear up-and-over is the lowest-cost option but has real limitations: it is not insulated to the standard of a sectional door, its canopy gear is a poor automation candidate, and its maximum width of roughly 2438mm rules it out for double garages, which must use retractable gear instead.
| Door type | Headline | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Up-and-over, steel, manual | £995 | £850–£1,900 |
| Up-and-over, electric | £1,500 | £1,500–£2,500 |
| Sectional, insulated, manual | £1,895 | £1,650–£2,600 |
Inc. VAT and installation, reference opening 2290mm x 2250mm.
Questions people ask
- Is a manual door cheaper to maintain long-term than electric?
- A manual up-and-over has no operator to service or repair, so it avoids the £180–£500 typical operator repair cost, but it still needs the same spring and cable maintenance as any UK up-and-over door.
- Can I upgrade a cheap manual door to electric later?
- Only reliably if it is on retractable gear; a canopy-gear manual door, the cheapest £995 option, is generally a poor candidate for a later £400–£650 automation retrofit due to its spring layout.
- Does the cheapest door meet UK safety standards?
- Yes, a manual up-and-over door sold in the UK must still meet the product standard BS EN 13241, though as a non-powered door it is not subject to the power-operated safety requirements of BS EN 12453.
UK standards and regulations referenced
- BS EN 13241
Related
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