First Home Improvements review: best installer for long-lasting quotes
In this First Home Improvements review, we look at one of the most established uPVC window installers in England. With a long-standing reputation, competitive pricing, and a rare two-year quote validity, First Home Improvements stands out as a top choice for homeowners — especially if you're comparing options based on UK window prices and the cost of double glazing.
Why choose First Home Improvements?
Area covered: Most of England, particularly the South and East.
Founded: 2008 (original business roots date back to the 1970s)
Guarantee: 12 years
Best for: Good reviews and long quote validity
First Home Improvements is one of the longest-standing names in the UK's window installation market, with roots in the 1970s and its current form established through a 2008 management buyout.
What sets First apart is its two-year quote validity, which is far longer than that of most competitors. This gives homeowners time to save or consider other options without losing their initial quote. It's one of the reasons why First made it onto our best double glazing companies list.
If you're looking for wooden or aluminium windows, First Home Improvements may not be the right choice — they focus solely on uPVC products. But for homeowners who prefer uPVC and aren't served by installers like Coral Windows or Britelite, First could be the best fit.
There's plenty of choice within the realm of uPVC, however, including casement, sash, tilt and turn and even Tudor windows. First Home Improvements also markets oval, triangle, round and arched windows. The company also offers a wide range of colours and textures, so there's no need to stick with white if you want a more contemporary look.
Its 12-year guarantee is one of the longest in the industry, and combined with competitive pricing, helped First Home Improvement place third in our UK window prices comparison.
In addition to windows, First also installs doors, porches and conservatories, and offers a handy online door designer tool, which is very useful if you can't get to a showroom.
Like many competitors, First Home Improvements often runs 30% off promotions, so it's worth timing your quote to coincide with these offers.
First Home Improvements also offers financing, but details on the website are limited. This often suggests higher-than-average rates, so it may be worth considering independent lenders.
For example, for loans of £7,500 to £20,000:
TSB offers 5.9% APR over 1–5 years
Novuna Personal Finance offers 6%
M&S Bank offers 6% over 1–7 years
Borrowing £10,000 over 7 years at 6% APR will cost around £2,271 in interest, with monthly repayments of £146.
Pros:
12 year-guarantee
Good reviews
Broad choice of uPVC styles and finishes
Cons:
No timber or aluminium products
Limited transparency on financing
What to look for in a quote
According to our research, the average three-bed house should cost about £4,500 to fit with new double-glazed uPVC windows, depending on location and window sizes.
It's important to haggle, perhaps more than many with other purchases. Windows are more of a buyers' market, since unless the panes themselves are broken, it's a purchase you can put off, at least for a little while.
This gives you the upper hand and allows some time to research the best price and options.
Depending on the installer and how tricky your installation is, you may be able to shave up to half off the initial quote you are given.
This may seem unlikely, but it's true. That's because many firms rely on Britons' general discomfort over asking for discounts to make expensive initial offers. They also rely on their competitors doing the same.
Smaller outfits that feel they need to be more competitive may not be able to drop by as much – use your judgement.
As well as this guide, it is also worth getting personal recommendations. If a company has done a good job at a fair price for a friend or colleague, they will probably do the same for you.
How we made this guide
We spoke to customers and fitters across the UK, as well as insiders in the double glazing market to find you the average prices for windows of all styles.
They gave us tips on how to negotiate and save money and they told us never to say yes to the first quote you are offered.
Why trust us?
The Independent has been reporting on green energy and climate matters since it was founded in 1986. Since then, we have written hundreds of reviews and news stories on energy, including the best window fitters, the best window finance and other guides on green power.
FAQs
While double glazing is the usual choice for a home outside of a heavily restricted planning area, triple glazing could be a good option for some buyers, especially those in windy locations or those on busy, noisy roads. Expect to pay 15-30 percent more than for double glazing.
These windows are heavier and available in fewer styles. Finding triple glazed windows in timber and aluminium is difficult.
What is the average cost for double glazing?
The average cost of a new set of eight uPVC windows for an average three-bedroom home in the UK is currently about £4,500, according to research by The Independent.
The price you will pay for a new set of double glazing depends heavily on the style, materials, colours and glazing type of your windows, together with how many you need and where you are in the country.
Most buyers opt for white uPVC, which is a type of plastic. It does not rust or rot, an advantage over wood, and it is cheaper than aluminium, the other popular low-maintenance material. It also doesn't bend like aluminium can.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of double glazing?
Pros:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Rachel Reeves said this flagship policy would raise money - it may end up doing the opposite
What do we do about the non-doms? It's a question more than a handful of people have been asking themselves at the Treasury lately. It had seemed simple enough. In her first budget as chancellor, Rachel Reeves promised a crackdown on the non-dom regime, which for the past 200 years has allowed residents to declare they are permanently domiciled in another country for tax purposes. Under the scheme, non-doms, some of the richest people in the country, were not taxed on their foreign incomes. Then that all changed. Standing at the despatch box in October last year, the chancellor said: "I have always said that if you make Britain your home, you should pay your tax here. So today, I can confirm we will abolish the non-dom tax regime and remove the outdated concept of domicile from the tax system from April 2025." The hope was that the move would raise £3.8bn for the public purse. However, there are signs that the non-doms are leaving in such great numbers that the policy could end up costing the UK investment, jobs and, of course, the tax that the non-doms already pay on their UK earnings. If the numbers don't add up, this tax-raising policy could morph into an act of self-harm. With the budget already under strain, a poor calculation would be costly financially. The alternative, a U-turn, could be expensive for other reasons, eroding faith in a chancellor who has already been on a turbulent ride. So, how worried should she be? The data on the number of non-doms in the country is published with a considerable lag. So, it will be a while before we know the full impact of this policy. However, there is much uncertainty about how this group will behave. While the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the policy could generate £3.8bn for the government over the next five years, assuming between 12 and 25% of them leave, it admitted it lacked confidence in those numbers. Worryingly for ministers, there are signs, especially in London, that the exodus could be greater. Property sales Analysis from the property company LonRes, shows there were 35.8% fewer transactions in May for properties in London's most exclusive postcodes compared with a year earlier and 33.5% fewer than the pre-pandemic average. Estate agents blame falling demand from non-dom buyers. This comes as no surprise to Magda Wierzycka, a South African billionaire businesswoman, who runs an investment fund in London. She herself is threatening to leave the UK unless the government waters down its plans. "Non-doms are leaving, as we speak, and the problem with numbers is that the consequences will only become known in the next 12 to 18 months," she said. "But I have absolutely no doubt, based on people I know who have already left, that the consequences would be quite significant. "It's not just about the people who are leaving that everyone is focusing on. It's also about the people who are not coming, people who would have come, set up businesses, created jobs, they're not coming. They take one look at what has happened here, and they're not coming." Lack of options for non-doms But where will they go? Britain was unusual in offering such an attractive regime. Bar a few notable exceptions, such as Italy, most countries run residency-based tax systems, meaning people pay tax to the country in which they live. This approach meant many non-doms escaped paying tax on their foreign income altogether because they didn't live in those countries where they earned their foreign income. In any case, widespread double taxation treaties mean people are generally not taxed twice, although they may have to pay the difference. In one important sense, Magda is right. It could take a while before the consequences are fully known. There are few firm data points for us to draw conclusions from right now, but the past could be illustrative. 3:06 The non-dom regime has been through repeated reform. George Osborne changed the system back in 2017 to limit it to just 15 years. Then Jeremy Hunt announced the Tories would abolish the regime altogether in one of his final budgets. Following the 2017 reforms there was an initial shock, but the numbers stabilised, falling just 5% after a few years. The data suggests there was an initial exodus of people who were probably considering leaving anyway, but those who remained - and then arrived - were intent on staying in the UK. So, should the government look through the numbers and hold its nerve? Not necessarily. Have Labour crossed a red line? Stuart Adam, a senior economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the response could be far greater this time because of some key changes under Labour. The government will no longer allow non-doms to protect money held in trusts, so 40% inheritance tax will be due on their estates. For many, that is a red line. 1:57 Mr Adam said: "The 2017 reform deliberately built in what you might call a loophole, a way to avoid paying a lot more tax through the use of existing offshore trusts. That was a route deliberately left open to enable many people to avoid the tax. "So it's not then surprising that they didn't up sticks and leave. Part of the reform that was announced last year was actually not having that kind of gap in the system to enable people to avoid the tax using trusts, and therefore you might expect to see a bigger response to the kind of reforms we've seen announced now, but it also means we don't have very much idea about how big a response to expect."
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Why Rachel Reeves may want to rethink one of her pivotal policies
What do we do about the non-doms? It's a question more than a handful of people have been asking themselves at the Treasury lately. It had seemed simple enough. In her first budget as chancellor, Rachel Reeves promised a crackdown on the non-dom regime, which for the past 200 years has allowed residents to declare they are permanently domiciled in another country for tax purposes. Under the scheme, non-doms, some of the richest people in the country, were not taxed on their foreign incomes. Then that all changed. Standing at the despatch box in October last year, the chancellor said: "I have always said that if you make Britain your home, you should pay your tax here. So today, I can confirm we will abolish the non-dom tax regime and remove the outdated concept of domicile from the tax system from April 2025." The hope was that the move would raise £3.8bn for the public purse. However, there are signs that the non-doms are leaving in such great numbers that the policy could end up costing the UK investment, jobs and, of course, the tax that the non-doms already pay on their UK earnings. If the numbers don't add up, this tax-raising policy could morph into an act of self-harm. With the budget already under strain, a poor calculation would be costly financially. The alternative, a U-turn, could be expensive for other reasons, eroding faith in a chancellor who has already been on a turbulent ride. So, how worried should she be? The data on the number of non-doms in the country is published with a considerable lag. So, it will be a while before we know the full impact of this policy. However, there is much uncertainty about how this group will behave. While the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the policy could generate £3.8bn for the government over the next five years, assuming between 12 and 25% of them leave, it admitted it lacked confidence in those numbers. Worryingly for ministers, there are signs, especially in London, that the exodus could be greater. Property sales Analysis from the property company LonRes, shows there were 35.8% fewer transactions in May for properties in London's most exclusive postcodes compared with a year earlier and 33.5% fewer than the pre-pandemic average. Estate agents blame falling demand from non-dom buyers. This comes as no surprise to Magda Wierzycka, a South African billionaire businesswoman, who runs an investment fund in London. She herself is threatening to leave the UK unless the government waters down its plans. "Non-doms are leaving, as we speak, and the problem with numbers is that the consequences will only become known in the next 12 to 18 months," she said. "But I have absolutely no doubt, based on people I know who have already left, that the consequences would be quite significant. "It's not just about the people who are leaving that everyone is focusing on. It's also about the people who are not coming, people who would have come, set up businesses, created jobs, they're not coming. They take one look at what has happened here, and they're not coming." Lack of options for non-doms But where will they go? Britain was unusual in offering such an attractive regime. Bar a few notable exceptions, such as Italy, most countries run residency-based tax systems, meaning people pay tax to the country in which they live. This approach meant many non-doms escaped paying tax on their foreign income altogether because they didn't live in those countries where they earned their foreign income. In any case, widespread double taxation treaties mean people are generally not taxed twice, although they may have to pay the difference. In one important sense, Magda is right. It could take a while before the consequences are fully known. There are few firm data points for us to draw conclusions from right now, but the past could be illustrative. 3:06 The non-dom regime has been through repeated reform. George Osborne changed the system back in 2017 to limit it to just 15 years. Then Jeremy Hunt announced the Tories would abolish the regime altogether in one of his final budgets. Following the 2017 reforms there was an initial shock, but the numbers stabilised, falling just 5% after a few years. The data suggests there was an initial exodus of people who were probably considering leaving anyway, but those who remained - and then arrived - were intent on staying in the UK. So, should the government look through the numbers and hold its nerve? Not necessarily. Have Labour crossed a red line? Stuart Adam, a senior economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the response could be far greater this time because of some key changes under Labour. The government will no longer allow non-doms to protect money held in trusts, so 40% inheritance tax will be due on their estates. For many, that is a red line. 1:57 Mr Adam said: "The 2017 reform deliberately built in what you might call a loophole, a way to avoid paying a lot more tax through the use of existing offshore trusts. That was a route deliberately left open to enable many people to avoid the tax. "So it's not then surprising that they didn't up sticks and leave. Part of the reform that was announced last year was actually not having that kind of gap in the system to enable people to avoid the tax using trusts, and therefore you might expect to see a bigger response to the kind of reforms we've seen announced now, but it also means we don't have very much idea about how big a response to expect." With the public finances under considerable pressure, that will offer little comfort to a chancellor who is operating on the finest of margins.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Rhianna's Fenty Beauty added to John Lewis's umbrella
John Lewis is pushing further into the fast-growing beauty market, refurbishing its 'beauty halls' and forming a partnership with Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, as part of a wider £800 million turnaround plan. The employee-owned retailer is reopening its Liverpool branch on Friday with an expanded 16,000 sq ft beauty department, housing 132 premium brands, fragrances and new treatment spaces. It marks the start of a multimillion-pound investment to upgrade beauty departments in six stores this year, including Bluewater, Solihull and Cambridge, to fill the gap on the high street left by the likes of Debenhams. The retailer has already refurbished the beauty section of its biggest shop in London's Oxford Street. The drive includes the introduction of Fenty Beauty for the first time at John Lewis, alongside high-end brands such as Byredo, Trinny London and Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
