Making the decision to replace your double glazing in Essex is no easy matter. It depends how big your home is, but even installing four casement uPVC windows in your home will cost you upwards of £2,000, and if your home is larger you can be looking at many thousands of pounds. Either way, it is not a cheap investment, so you want to be certain that you are giving your money to the right company, but therein lies the problem.

There are HUNDREDS of double glazing companies out there. Big ones, small ones, some established for fifty years, and some that only started last week. Every last one of them will tell you that they are the best, the cheapest, etc., etc. so how do you make a decision?

Of course, one of the best ways is to ask a friend. If you happen to have family members or friends who have recently had double glazing installed, you can ask them for their opinion of the company that undertook the work. That could make your decision easy. It might be that they are delighted, in which case you would probably consider using the same company. It might also be that they were not happy, which means that you wouldn't use that company, but at the same time leaves you back at square one.

The other problem is that you don't know anyone who has recently had double glazing installed. After all, it's not something that we do every week, and it might be that you simply can't get any recommendations. Having said that of course, if you know someone who had their double glazing installed ten or fifteen years ago and is still very happy with it, that is a good recommendation of itself.

Then there are so many different companies. There are the "big boys" that advertise on TV and have been going or 50 years. You do have to wonder about their prices if they have to include all that advertising. Yes, almost all of them have self-employed salesmen working for them so they don't have to pay them anything, even for their petrol to get to you, unless they make a sale.

However, when they do, they have to pay a commission, and that can be upwards of 30% of the price that you pay. If they didn't pay a big commission, nobody would work for them on "commission only" in the first place. So, if your windows cost £10,000, you can reckon that £3,000 of that is going to the salesman. Sure, some of them DO make a lot of money, but for many that might be the only sale in a month, and they have to take all their expenses out of that and work very long hours for it. Then again, they might only make a sale of, say, £3,000 in a month, or no sales at all. It can be a tough business being a double glazing salesman if you are not in the top 5%.

Sad to say, but many of the big companies use some underhand tricks when it comes to selling. The first price the salesman quotes you is one you should never even consider paying. It is only a starting point. He will find reasons to reduce it quite considerably, and the second price is one that both he and the company will be very happy with if you accept that too!

The third price is the one that may be the final price and at which the company is still making a fairly good profit. It usually involves the salesman phoning his "manager" to "see what he can do".

Buying double glazing is not like going into Tesco and buying a loaf of bread. They don't have prices which they can reduce. If the bread is 80p that's what it is.

You may very well be much better off with a smaller local company. They often don't employ any salesmen at all, so there are no commissions to pay. The guy who comes to see you and measure up will probably be a director of the company. You will also usually find that he will quote you a price and that it is the price in the same way that the loaf of bread is. No gimmicks. You may want to shop around a bit, but it is very unlikely that he will come back next week and offer you a reduction.