Mendwell

Category: Questions answered

The questions people ask us before booking, answered plainly.

  • What a written handyman quote should include

    A written handyman quote should tell you exactly what will be done, what will not be done, what it will cost, when it will happen and who is responsible if something goes wrong. If you can read a quote and still not answer one of those questions, it is not finished yet.

    Below is a checklist you can hold any quote against, ours included. It works whether you are in Warwickshire or anywhere else, and whether the job is one door or a week of small repairs.

    Why is a one-line quote a risk to me?

    A one-line quote is a risk because everything it leaves out gets decided later, usually on the day, usually in the trade’s favour. “Fit new door, £250” does not say whether the old door goes to the tip, whether the hinges are included, whether the edges will be painted, or what happens if the frame turns out to be out of square.

    There is also a legal difference between a quote and an estimate. Citizens Advice describes a quote as a fixed price the trade cannot change without agreeing extra work with you, while an estimate is only a rough figure. A one-line “quote” with no detail behind it often behaves like an estimate in practice, because there is nothing on paper to say what the price actually covered. The detail is what makes the price fixed.

    What should the scope say?

    The scope should list the work line by line, one item per line, in plain words. A good test is whether someone who has never seen your house could read it and know what to do.

    For a door, that means: remove existing door, supply new solid core door, hang on three hinges, fit latch and handles, plane and sand edges ready for decorating. For a fence, it means how many panels, how many posts, what the posts are set in, and what happens to the old ones.

    At Mendwell every quote follows a free site visit, because we do not price from photos. The visit is what lets the scope be that specific.

    What should be listed as excluded?

    The quote should say in writing what is not included, because those are the things people fall out over. The three that cause the most arguments are waste, decorating, and making good.

    • Waste: taking old doors, fence panels, carpet and packaging away is not automatically part of a job. On our quotes it is a priced line if you want it, and never included by default. If the quote does not mention waste, ask.
    • Decorating: fitting is fitting. We fit solid core doors with edges sanded smooth and ready for decorating, and we do not paint or treat door edges. Skirting is the same: fitting is one thing, filling and decorating is a separate priced option. A quote should say which side of that line it sits on.
    • Making good: if a job involves removing something, will the holes be filled, the plaster patched, the paint touched in? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Either is fine, as long as it is written down.

    Should the materials be named?

    Yes. A quote should name the materials well enough that you could look them up yourself: the door type, the panel style, the brand of fitting where it matters.

    We price supply against Wickes as the reference point for anything they stock, and we supply and carry materials as standard. You can supply your own if you prefer, and the quote should say plainly what changes if you do: we cannot guarantee a material we did not choose, and a wrong or short delivery becomes a lost day.

    Should it give a start date and how long the job takes?

    It should give a start date or a booking process, and a realistic duration. For us, a booked day means arrival between 9 and 10, and any job that needs more than one day is started on a whole clear day, never squeezed into a half day. Whatever the trade, you want to know when they arrive, roughly how long they expect to be, and what happens if it runs over.

    What should the payment terms say?

    The payment terms should say how much is due, when, and how. Look for three things: whether there is a deposit and what it covers, when the balance is due, and the payment method.

    Our terms are simple: where materials on a job come to more than £60, we ask for 40% of the quote up front to cover them. The balance is paid on completion by bank transfer. Card and bank details never go in a message; they go on the quote and invoice only.

    Should the quote mention insurance?

    Yes. A quote should say that the trade holds public liability insurance and for how much, and a good trade will show the certificate if asked. Public liability is what covers your home if something is damaged during the work.

    We hold £2,000,000 public liability cover with Hiscox, and any contractor working on our behalf must hold at least £2,000,000 before they step on site.

    What company details should be on it?

    A quote from a limited company should carry the registered company name and number. Gov.uk guidance says a limited company must show its registered name, company number, place of registration and registered office address on business letters, order forms and its website, and a quote is a business document. A sole trader will not have a company number, but should still give a full name and a postal address.

    Mendwell is the trading name of Life Assembly Limited, company number 13963870. You can look that up on Companies House in under a minute, and you should feel free to do the same for anyone who quotes you.

    How should changes be priced?

    Changes should be priced in writing before the extra work is done, with a line added to the quote rather than a figure added to the bill. Houses hide things, and sometimes a job genuinely grows. What matters is that you agree the change and the price first.

    If you already have a quote with none of this on it, a fair question to ask is: “Can you write that up with the exclusions and the payment terms?” A good trade will not mind.

    Who is this for?

    Homeowners, landlords and letting agents across Warwickshire and the counties either side. If you are further afield, ask anyway. This checklist is for general repair and maintenance work; gas and electrical installation are not things we do, and those quotes carry their own certification details on top.

    The visit and the written quote are free with no obligation. Book at mendwell.co.uk/book or call 07472 281 663. More guides at mendwell.co.uk/guides.

    Reviewed September 2026.

  • Can I replace an internal door but keep the frame?

    Yes, in most houses you can replace an internal door and keep the frame, and it is how the great majority of internal doors get replaced. The frame, or more often the lining, only has to come out when it is rotten, badly out of square, has a damaged rebate, or has been packed and shimmed so many times there is nothing sound left to screw into.

    What is the difference between a door frame and a door lining?

    Most internal doors in UK houses hang in a lining, not a frame. A lining is three flat boards fixed into the opening, with a separate thin strip called a door stop pinned on to give the door something to close against. A frame is heavier and has the stop cut into it as a rebate, and you tend to find frames on older doors, front doors and fire doors. People say frame for both and that is fine. Either one can outlast several doors, because it just sits there while the door does the work.

    When does the frame have to be replaced too?

    The frame has to go when the timber it is made of will no longer do its job. That is rarer than people fear, but these are the cases:

    • Rot. Damp at the bottom of a lining, usually beside a bathroom or an external wall, turns the timber soft. A new door screwed into soft timber will drop within a year.
    • Badly out of square. Every old opening is a little out, and a fitter takes the door to the opening. But if the head slopes noticeably or the legs lean, the door would need to be planed into a wedge to fit, and the gaps would show. At that point a new lining set plumb and level is the honest answer.
    • A damaged rebate or stop. If the stop has been prised off and re-pinned so often it is split, or the rebate on a proper frame has been chewed out by old locks and keeps, the door will never close cleanly against it.
    • Packed and shimmed too many times. Hinge recesses that have been filled with matchsticks, card and filler over the years eventually have no fresh timber for a screw to bite into. Longer screws through to the stud behind can rescue some; others are past it.
    • You want a different size of door. Widening an opening, or going from a standard door to a taller one, means a new lining regardless.

    If none of those apply, keep the frame. It saves the architrave, the plaster either side and the decorating that follows, which is most of the cost and mess of the job.

    What does fitting a door to the existing frame involve?

    Fitting to the existing frame means making the new door fit an opening that is not quite square, and a good fitter treats it as a small piece of tailoring rather than a swap. In order:

    1. Measure the opening at the top, middle and bottom, and check it for square and plumb. A door blank is bought slightly oversize and cut down to the opening, not the other way round.
    2. Take the old door off and look at the hinge recesses and the stop. This is where the decision above gets made, and it is why we visit before we quote rather than pricing from photos.
    3. Plane the new door to the opening, taking timber off both edges so the panel or the grain stays central, and leave an even gap all round of about 2 to 3 mm.
    4. Cut in the hinges. We fit three hinges to a solid door as standard, not two, because a solid core door is heavy and the top hinge on a two-hinge door carries most of that weight. Three hinges is why our doors do not drop.
    5. Fit the latch and handle, cut the keep into the frame, and set the door stop so the door closes without rattle or bounce.
    6. Sand the planed edges smooth, ready for decorating. We do not paint or treat the door edges; that is part of decorating, and you or your decorator do it with the rest of the door.

    Old doors stay with you unless taking them away is a priced line on the quote. Fitting a new lining as well adds removing and refitting architrave, making good the plaster, and a good deal more decorating, so it is worth being sure before you go that way.

    Can I do this myself?

    You can, if you own a decent plane, a sharp chisel and a square, and you are patient. The hardest parts are planing straight and cutting the hinge recesses to the right depth, and getting either wrong shows every time the door closes. A pre-hung door set avoids the hinge cutting but means replacing the lining, with all the plaster and architrave work that brings.

    What does it cost?

    A new solid core internal door supplied and fitted into the existing frame is around £205 to £225 all in with us. Our live guide at mendwell.co.uk/internal-door-cost keeps that figure current and covers what makes a door cost more. An opening that needs a new lining is priced separately after the visit. For a general picture, trade directory guides put UK labour for hanging a door at roughly £100 to £350, with the door on top.

    We price supply against Wickes as the reference point for items they stock, and we supply and carry the doors as standard. You are welcome to supply your own door; we say plainly what changes if you do, which is that we cannot guarantee a door we did not choose, and a wrong or short delivery becomes a lost day.

    Who this is not for

    If you have one plain door to change and the tools to do it, do it yourself. This guide should get you most of the way. If the frame is rotten or the opening is badly out, it is not a door job any more but a small carpentry job with plastering after it, and a photo will not tell anyone which it is, which is why our first step is always a visit.

    We work across Warwickshire from Nuneaton and into the counties either side. If you are outside that, ask anyway.

    Our visit and written quote are free with no obligation. Book at mendwell.co.uk/book or call 07472 281 663. More guides at mendwell.co.uk/guides.

    Prices reviewed September 2026.