How to Choose a Double Glazing Company in Nottingham

Nottingham Double Glazing doesn't make, supply or fit windows. We pass your enquiry to an independent local installer, who surveys and quotes you direct, and we may be paid for the introduction. We don't inspect or approve that installer, which is exactly why this guide is here. Every check below is one you can make yourself, usually by asking a question and getting the answer on paper.

Check Who Will Certify the Work

Replacing a whole window or external door has counted as building-regulations work in England since 1 April 2002. Changing only the glass, or putting a new sealed unit into the frame that's already there, doesn't count. For a full replacement, there are two ways to show the job meets the rules: an installer registered with a government-authorised scheme certifies it, or the council's building control approves it.

Six schemes hold government authorisation to self-certify replacement windows and doors in England:

• Assure
• Blue Flame
• CERTASS
• Certsure
• FENSA
• NAPIT

An installer registered with one of these has to give you a certificate and tell the council about the work within 30 days of finishing. When you're comparing quotes, ask which scheme each job would go through. Once the work is done, ask for the FENSA, CERTASS or other scheme certificate and keep it with your house papers. GOV.UK spells out what's at stake: without approval, "you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you want to sell your home".

FENSA

FENSA was set up in 2002 and is one of the Glass and Glazing Federation's group of companies. After an installation has been registered, the certificate usually arrives within 15 days. Lose it, and FENSA will issue a replacement for £30. FENSA can't register work that's more than 2 years old, and beyond that point the council is the route.

CERTASS

CERTASS has been government-authorised since 2006. Rather than a FENSA certificate, it issues its own compliance certificate, which plays the same part in your paperwork.

If the Paperwork Is Missing

Where a replacement was fitted without a registered installer or building control, the owner can apply to the council for a regularisation certificate. Asking the right question before the job is far easier than sorting the paperwork out years later. Our page on building regulations explains the rules in more detail.

Guarantees and Deposits

The Insurance-Backed Guarantee

An installer's guarantee is only as useful as the business behind it. An insurance-backed guarantee steps in to cover that guarantee if the installer stops trading. Where work on a private home is registered with FENSA, FENSA's rules make one mandatory. That's a scheme rule, not the law.

Separately, every competent person scheme works under conditions that require at least six years' protection against Building Regulations non-compliance where the installer has stopped trading. If your job will go through a scheme other than FENSA, ask the installer to set out in writing what guarantee comes with it and who backs it.

How Much Deposit to Pay

Citizens Advice says not to agree to a deposit of more than 25%. It also suggests asking whether the deposit is insured, thinking about an escrow arrangement, getting a receipt, and paying in stages as the work goes on.

Deposit cover is optional, and it isn't the same thing as the insurance-backed guarantee. One is about money handed over before the windows go in, the other about the guarantee afterwards. The competent person schemes suspended their own deposit-protection requirement in 2020, so a scheme certificate tells you nothing about your deposit. Ask the question directly, and get the answer in writing.

What a Written Quote Should Include

A quote you can hold an installer to is a written one, and the more it spells out, the easier it is to set against a second or third. Look for:

• The products. Every window and door, room by room, with its style, frame material and colour.
• The energy rating. The legal minimum for a replacement window is a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K, or band B on the Window Energy Rating scale. An A rating is worth asking about, but it isn't a legal requirement. Doors have their own minimums, covered on our composite doors page.
• The certificate. Which scheme will register the work, and confirmation that the certificate comes to you.
• Ventilation. Existing trickle vents should be replaced with vents that are no smaller and can be controlled. Where there were none, ventilation mustn't end up worse than it was before.
• Escape windows. Upstairs, a replacement has to give "at least the same potential for escape" as the window it replaces.
• Safety glass. Where it's going: glass below 800 mm, glass in doors, and side panels next to a door.
• The guarantee. How long it runs, what it covers, and whether it's insurance-backed.
• Payment. The deposit, each stage payment, and a final payment due only when the job is finished.
• Timing. The lead time for making the windows, and the planned fitting date.
• VAT. Whether the price includes it. Double glazing is standard-rated.
• Cancellation. What happens if you change your mind, set out in writing.

For typical price ranges to measure a quote against, see double glazing costs. If the house is listed, a flat or in a conservation area, read planning permission before you sign as well.

Cancelling: Decide Before You Sign

This is where most people's expectations and the law part company. When a contract is agreed in your home, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 normally give you a 14-day cooling-off period. Made-to-measure windows are usually an exception. Regulation 28(1)(b) takes the right away for goods "made to the consumer's specifications or ... clearly personalised", and that holds even when you sign at home. Citizens Advice, listing things that are specially made, names "windows or a conservatory".

The line isn't completely fixed. Official guidance says what counts as truly bespoke is decided case by case, and standard products and the fitting part of the job may still be cancellable. Some installers also offer a voluntary cooling-off period of their own. None of that is worth relying on after the event. Decide before you sign, ask about cancellation before you sign, and have the answer written into the contract.

Where the cancellation right does apply and the installer never gives you the cancellation information, the period can stretch by up to 12 months. If you want work to begin inside the cancellation period, the installer needs your request in writing, and if you then cancel, you pay for the work already done.

Hard-Sell Warning Signs

Most installers quote and give you time to think. A few lean on pressure instead. Be ready to say no, or to ask for time, if you come across any of these:

• A "today only" price, a "special offer" or a "price freeze" that ends when the rep leaves.
• A big "discount" taken off a list price that looks inflated to begin with.
• Pressure to sign on the first visit, before you've had a chance to get another quote.
• A request to be paid in cash only.

Nottingham City Council's Trading Standards pages name two problems they see with doorstep traders: "Taking deposits and not returning to do the work" and "Not giving cancellation notices out to consumers after cold calls". The first is a strong reason to keep a deposit small and pay it by card. The second matters because, where you do have a right to cancel, you're entitled to be told about it.

A caller who arrives unannounced and wants a decision on the spot is asking you to skip every check in this guide. Taking a day or two to think it over costs you nothing, and an installer with a genuine business will still want the job next week.

Approved-Trader Schemes

Nottinghamshire County Council's Trading Standards runs Buy With Confidence for the county's districts, which include Rushcliffe, Gedling, Broxtowe and Ashfield. A business on the list has joined a scheme run with Trading Standards. A business that isn't on it may simply never have applied, so treat a listing as one more check rather than a guarantee of good work. The county council also offers a free "no uninvited callers" sign to put on your door.

Derbyshire County Council runs Derbyshire Trusted Trader, which is the one to look at if you live in Long Eaton or Ilkeston.

The city council doesn't run an approved-trader scheme of its own. If you live inside the city boundary, the Trading Standards route is the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.

Paying: Section 75 and Chargeback

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 can let you claim against the card company or lender as well as the installer. It covers a single item priced more than £100 and up to £30,000, paid for wholly or partly by credit card, or with finance arranged through the installer. A deposit paid on a credit card is enough on its own: the protection then reaches the whole price, not just the deposit.

It has limits. Payments by debit card sit outside it. A whole-house job priced as a single item above £30,000 falls outside section 75. For a debit card, the route is chargeback, which is a voluntary card-scheme process with time limits, so contact your bank promptly if something goes wrong.

If the Job Goes Wrong

A supply-and-fit window contract carries two promises under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Section 49 says the work must be done with reasonable care and skill, and section 9 says the goods must be of satisfactory quality.

Your first step is the installer. Put the problem to them in writing, attach photos and a copy of the quote, and say clearly what you want done and by when. Keep copies of everything you send. If the building-regulations certificate never arrives, ask the installer first, then the scheme they named, with the council as the fallback.

If that gets you nowhere, call the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133, which is also the route to Trading Standards. If you paid by credit card, contact the card company about section 75 at the same time.

A Note on This Guide

This guide is general information, not advice on your own contract or dispute. It describes the rules in England as they stood in September 2026. If something has already gone wrong, Citizens Advice or a solicitor can look at the details of your case.

Getting a Quote

When you're ready, get a quote sends one enquiry to an independent local installer, who will arrange a survey and quote you direct. We may be paid for passing it on, and we don't inspect or approve the installer, so keep this guide to hand when the quote arrives. The FAQ page answers the common questions about how the service works.