Quick answer
For the researched house examples below, Plan & Save shutters come to about £2,440 for a 2-bed cottage, £4,440 for a 3-bed terrace and £7,190 for an extended 4-bed semi. These are area-based budgets for the listed windows and glazed doors, including VAT, survey, supply and fitting. Roof glazing is excluded and the final door layout needs a survey.
Key takeaways
- Use the property layout, not just the bedroom count: stacked bays and an extended garden opening can change the budget substantially.
- A bay is one opening but several measured faces. Glass panes and shutter panels are not interchangeable window counts.
- Choose waterproof Polycomposite for wet rooms. With Plan & Save, either material has the same square-metre rate.
Two houses with the same number of bedrooms can have very different shutter bills. A cottage with one front bay has less glazing than a house with stacked bays and wide rear doors. The examples below follow three property layouts from our South West London and Surrey housing research, with the dimensions and included openings shown.
How are these whole-house shutter costs calculated?
Each budget adds the area of the listed vertical windows and glazed doors, then applies our full-height shutter rates. Plan & Save costs £260 per square metre for either material. Express costs £315 for Polycomposite or £380 for Hardwood. All three rates include VAT, the home survey, supply and fitting.
These are representative property examples, not standard layouts, completed customer jobs or a measured market-average bill. Use the opening list rather than assuming that every 3-bed terrace or 4-bed semi has the same glazing. We count each bay as one opening, while calculating all of its faces separately.
The Express mixed-material column uses Hardwood on the dry-room windows and waterproof Polycomposite in kitchens, bathrooms, the en suite and across the rear glazed doors. Plan & Save has the same rate for either material. Its total therefore stays the same whether you choose Polycomposite throughout or mix suitable materials by room.
Areas are displayed to one decimal place and budgets to the nearest £10. We calculate from the unrounded dimensions before rounding the final price. Door figures are area-based allowances: a wide folding or tracked layout still needs its own surveyed specification. Roof glazing is listed for completeness but excluded from the shutter totals.
For the current rates and inclusions, see our plantation shutter pricing guide. For the calculation behind a single opening, use the shutter cost and quotation guide. Prices below are planning estimates before the final measured specification.
Windows and glazed doors
Whole-house planning budgets, including VAT
| Property example | Plan & Save | Express Polycomposite | Express mixed materials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-bed Victorian cottage: 9.4 sqm | £2,440 | £2,950 | £3,270 |
| 3-bed stacked-bay terrace: 17.1 sqm | £4,440 | £5,380 | £6,080 |
| 4-bed extended semi: 27.6 sqm | £7,190 | £8,710 | £9,810 |
VAT, survey, supply and fitting included. Full-height area allowances for the listed vertical openings only, with the door specification to be confirmed. Plan & Save uses either material. Express mixed uses Hardwood on dry-room windows and Polycomposite in wet rooms and on rear doors. Totals are rounded to the nearest £10 after calculation from unrounded dimensions.
How much do shutters cost for a 2-bed house?
For the 2-bed Victorian cottage below, budget about £2,440 with Plan & Save, £2,950 with Express Polycomposite or £3,270 with the Express mixed-material layout. These estimates include VAT, survey, supply and fitting for five windows and the listed garden-door opening, subject to its final design.
This is a cottage with a ground-floor canted bay, one wider flat sash above it, a rear bedroom window, a kitchen casement and a small bathroom window. The bay has a 900mm centre face and two 450mm sides. Its total area is about 2.5 square metres, rather than three times the centre-window area.
The five windows total approximately 6.2 square metres. The 1500mm by 2100mm French or sliding-door opening adds approximately 3.2, bringing the combined area to 9.4. If you want shutters on the windows only, the Plan & Save budget is about £1,620 including VAT, survey, supply and fitting.
2-bed cottage
Five windows and one garden-door opening
| Opening | Width x height in mm | Area (sqm) | Plan & Save incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground-floor front bay | Centre 900 x 1400; two sides 450 x 1400 | 2.5 | £660 |
| Front bedroom flat sash | 1000 x 1300 | 1.3 | £340 |
| Kitchen casement | 915 x 1050 | 1.0 | £250 |
| Rear bedroom sash | 900 x 1200 | 1.1 | £280 |
| Bathroom casement | 600 x 600 | 0.4 | £90 |
| French or sliding garden doors | 1500 x 2100 overall | 3.2 | £820 |
| All listed vertical openings | Five windows plus one door opening | 9.4 | £2,440 |
Based on the researched cottage layout, not a standard size schedule. Plan & Save allowances include VAT, survey, supply and fitting. Areas show one decimal and prices the nearest £10. Totals use unrounded dimensions, so rounded row values may not add exactly. The garden-door shutter layout needs survey confirmation.
How much do shutters cost for a 3-bed house?
For the 3-bed Victorian or Edwardian terrace below, budget about £4,440 with Plan & Save, £5,380 with Express Polycomposite or £6,080 with the Express mixed-material layout. VAT, survey, supply and fitting are included for six window openings and the rear bifold-door opening. The roof lantern is excluded.
The front has stacked three-face sash bays and a narrow study window. At the rear are two bedroom windows, a bathroom casement and a 2700mm-wide kitchen-diner door opening. The two bays alone provide about 7.3 square metres of shutter area. Their 1650mm height also makes them larger than the cottage bay.
The vertical windows total about 11.4 square metres, giving a window-only Plan & Save budget of roughly £2,960 including VAT, survey, supply and fitting. The rear doors add 5.7 square metres. That extension opening, together with the larger bays, explains the cost increase better than the extra bedroom alone.
3-bed terrace
Stacked bays and a rear kitchen-diner extension
| Opening | Width x height in mm | Area (sqm) | Plan & Save incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two front bays | Each: centre 1100 x 1650; two sides 550 x 1650 | 7.3 | £1,890 |
| Front study sash | 650 x 1100 | 0.7 | £190 |
| Two rear bedroom windows | Each 1200 x 1200 | 2.9 | £750 |
| Bathroom casement | 600 x 900 | 0.5 | £140 |
| Kitchen-diner bifold doors | 2700 x 2100 overall | 5.7 | £1,470 |
| All listed vertical openings | Six windows plus one door opening | 17.1 | £4,440 |
| Roof lantern, excluded | 1000 x 2000 | 2.0 | Not in shutter budget |
VAT, survey, supply and fitting included in the Plan & Save allowances. The front box-room window is treated as a study in this 3-bedroom layout. Areas show one decimal and prices the nearest £10, calculated before rounding. The rear-door shutter specification needs confirmation. The roof lantern is not priced as a plantation shutter.
How much do shutters cost for a 4-bed house?
For the extended 4-bed 1930s semi below, allow about £7,190 with Plan & Save, £8,710 with Express Polycomposite or £9,810 with the Express mixed-material layout. These VAT-inclusive budgets cover the eight listed vertical windows and the large rear sliding-door opening, with survey, supply and fitting included. The two rooflights are excluded.
This example has two five-section bow windows, a landing window, three rear first-floor windows, a wide dormer casement and an en suite. We use the casement-window version of the dormer, not the alternative Juliet-balcony doors. The rooflights belong to the loft conversion but are not ordinary vertical shutter openings.
The vertical windows total about 17.6 square metres, or roughly £4,570 with Plan & Save including VAT, survey, supply and fitting. The 4200mm by 2400mm rear door adds another 10.1 square metres. If your house has smaller garden doors or no loft conversion, remove or replace those entries before using the combined total.
4-bed extended semi
Bow windows, a dormer and wide rear glazing
| Opening | Width x height in mm | Area (sqm) | Plan & Save incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two five-section front bows | Each bow: five sections 500 x 1500 | 7.5 | £1,950 |
| Landing sash | 750 x 1300 | 1.0 | £250 |
| Three rear first-floor windows | Each 1200 x 1350 | 4.9 | £1,260 |
| Dormer casement | 1800 x 2000 overall | 3.6 | £940 |
| En suite casement | 600 x 1050 | 0.6 | £160 |
| Rear sliding doors | 4200 x 2400 overall | 10.1 | £2,620 |
| All listed vertical openings | Eight windows plus one door opening | 27.6 | £7,190 |
| Two rooflights, excluded | Each 780 x 1180 | 1.8 | Not in shutter budget |
VAT, survey, supply and fitting included in the Plan & Save allowances. This schedule uses the dormer-window option, not Juliet-balcony doors. Areas show one decimal and prices the nearest £10. The total uses unrounded dimensions, so rounded row prices differ from it by £10. Rear-door design remains subject to survey. Add any other windows separately.
How do bays, tall windows and extensions change the budget?
The size and arrangement of the glazing can matter more than the bedroom count. In the 4-bed example, the rear door accounts for over a third of the total vertical area. Leaving that opening out changes the Plan & Save budget from about £7,190 to £4,570, including VAT, survey, supply and fitting.
Count bay faces, not just the width across the front
Each bay in the 3-bed example uses a 1100mm centre face and two 550mm side faces, all 1650mm high. Add the face widths, then multiply by the height in metres: (1.1 + 0.55 + 0.55) x 1.65 gives approximately 3.6 square metres. Measuring a straight line across the front misses the return faces. The bay-window shutter guide explains how angles, handles and the panel layout affect the final survey.
Keep width and height separate
The 650mm by 1100mm study window and the 1800mm by 2000mm dormer both count as one opening. The dormer nevertheless has roughly five times the area. Record the complete opening you want to cover, not one moving sash, one pane of glass or one shutter panel. Rough dimensions are for budgeting only, not manufacture.
Add wide doors as a separate item
The glazed doors and the shutters are separate systems. An external bifold door does not automatically need a shutter that moves in exactly the same way. We check the available depth, access and space for folding or stacked panels before specifying the shutters. Our area allowance is useful for budgeting, but it does not confirm that a particular tracked arrangement will fit.
Can you reduce the cost without choosing the wrong shutters?
The clearest choices are the manufacturing route, which windows you cover and where you genuinely need separate opening tiers. Choose the material for the room first. Switching a kitchen or bathroom to Hardwood is not a suitable way to reduce the budget.
Choose the lead time before changing the specification
Plan & Save is made overseas to the same specification and options, with an 8-9 week lead time. British-made Express usually takes 2-3 weeks. Both start once the 50% deposit is paid and the order is placed. Compare the two shutter ranges if timing is flexible. In the 3-bed example, Plan & Save is about £940 less than Express Polycomposite for the same listed area, including VAT.
Use separate tiers only where they help
Tier-on-tier shutters have independently opening upper and lower panels and cost 10% more than equivalent full height. A full-height panel can have separately tilting upper and lower louvres without becoming tier-on-tier. Decide whether you need to open the upper panels, or only adjust the light through them.
Apply the 10% only to the windows using tier-on-tier. The two bays in the 3-bed example total approximately 7.3 square metres. Their Plan & Save full-height subtotal is about £1,890 including VAT, so the tier-on-tier change adds approximately £190. It does not add 10% to the whole house.
Prioritise rooms if you are fitting in stages
Start with the rooms where privacy, glare or daily use makes the biggest difference. In the 2-bed example, the ground-floor bay and front bedroom window together come to about £990 with Plan & Save, including VAT, survey, supply and fitting. That is a defined front-of-house stage. Ask for the remaining openings as separate quoted stages rather than assuming future prices or a bulk discount.
What happens between a house estimate and a fixed quote?
A useful quote starts with a complete window list. The survey then replaces approximate dimensions with measured sizes and confirms the frames, opening panels and room-specific choices. Two totals are only comparable if they cover the same windows and the same work.
List each room and every opening to be covered. Note any windows you intend to leave for a later stage.
Give approximate width and height in millimetres. Keep bay faces separate and identify doors or shaped openings.
Choose the material and manufacturing route for each room, then identify any tier-on-tier layouts or optional blackout blinds.
Check that the written quote lists survey, supply, fitting and VAT, plus the agreed exclusions and payment stages.
Use the shutter price calculator to try your own dimensions. Then book a free home survey for the final specification and fixed written quotation. These examples show how to build the budget, not what every house of that size must cost.
