Window and Door Delivery Across the UK

A failed sealed unit means a hole in someone's house. The installer has taken the old one out, the aperture is boarded, and the customer is living behind plywood until the replacement arrives — which is why this trade measures delivery in hours rather than days.

T&C Logistics delivers for window and door fabricators, IGU processors, installation companies and building merchants. Companies House records over 7,000 active UK companies in windows, glazing, door supply and conservatories. We have run specialist transport since 2020 with more than 3,000 vetted driver-partners nationwide. Quotes from £50 (ex VAT), quoted in full upfront before you book.

Why must glass travel on edge?

Because flat glass is strong in its plane and weak across it. A sealed unit laid flat flexes over every bump and cracks somewhere in the middle where nothing was pressing on it.

Carried vertically, resting on its long edge on a padded frail or A-frame and restrained, the same unit travels the length of the country without complaint. That is not a refinement — it is the difference between a delivery and a breakage claim, and it is why glass vehicles look the way they do.

Why is a remedial unit urgent?

Because the property is open. An installer who removes a failed unit and finds the replacement is wrong or broken has left an aperture boarded, and the householder is insecure until it is filled.

That makes a remedial delivery closer to an emergency than a distribution job. The unit is worth very little; the situation it resolves is worth a great deal to the customer, and the installer's reputation is attached to it.

Fabricators who share their processing sites and typical installer geography in advance get a materially faster answer than those calling cold. See our same-day courier and urgent courier services.

How are composite and timber doors protected?

By keeping the manufacturer's protective film on and never sliding one surface against another. A composite door slab is a finished product going into someone's house, and a scuff is visible for the life of the door.

Doors travel on edge in a rack or interleaved with protection, never stacked flat under weight. Hardware is boxed separately rather than fitted, because a handle catching on the door beneath it is the most common way a set gets damaged in a load.

Timber doors add a moisture consideration: an unfinished timber door that takes rain swells and may not fit the frame it was measured for. Covered transport is a requirement rather than a preference.

Do you deliver to occupied homes?

Yes, and it is most of the installation trade. A domestic replacement job means a van on a residential street, a two-person carry through a hallway, and a customer watching.

The practical constraints are parking, the route to the aperture, and someone in to receive. Rear-garden access is common and frequently narrow — a bifold set going to a rear elevation through a side gate is a genuine measuring exercise before it is a delivery.

Installers usually want material on site the morning of the fit rather than days ahead, because glass stored in a garden is glass at risk. That makes timing tighter than a merchant delivery and worth agreeing precisely. See our white glove delivery service.

What about site and new-build work?

Different constraints entirely. New-build developments take windows by plot on a programme, with a gate, an induction and estate roads that may be unfinished.

Plot-level delivery is the recurring question. Glass delivered to a central compound has to be moved again by the fitting team, and every additional handling of a sealed unit is another chance to break it. Where a plot is reachable, delivering to it is worth the extra time.

Commercial glazing adds scale: curtain walling and large units need mechanical handling and are frequently outside van work altogether. We say so rather than take a booking we cannot serve. See our construction industry hub.

Do you handle collections from IGU processors?

Yes, and processor collections are a large part of the flow. Sealed units are made to order from a fabricator's schedule, which makes the collection a made-to-order pickup rather than a stock one.

The unit does not exist until the line has produced it, so a realistic ready-time matters as much here as at a hose counter or a paint desk. A vehicle arriving early waits; one arriving late misses the fabricator's own delivery slot to the installer.

Processors also work to daily production runs, which makes a scheduled collection far more efficient than individual bookings. Where a fabricator collects from the same processor daily, that is a standing arrangement rather than a series of jobs.

What happens to broken and failed units?

They come back, and they are waste glass rather than general waste. A failed sealed unit is glass, spacer bar, desiccant and sealant bonded together, which limits where it can go.

Broken glass also needs handling as a hazard rather than as a load. Units are not thrown into a van loose — they travel contained, and a driver handling broken glass needs to be able to do so safely.

T&C Logistics holds Environment Agency upper tier registration CBDU654368 as a waste carrier, broker and dealer, so the disposal leg is carried lawfully with a waste transfer note. See our WEEE collection service for how our waste documentation works.

Who is responsible for the installation?

The installer. Fitting, sealing, certification and any building control notification are the installation company's, and none of it is part of a transport contract.

Replacement windows and doors in dwellings are subject to building regulations, and installers work under a competent person scheme or notify building control. That is a competence and registration matter belonging to the installer.

What we contribute is the right units, undamaged, at the right place at the right time — which in this trade is most of what goes wrong. A correctly manufactured unit that arrives broken is the same outcome as one manufactured wrong.

Do you deliver conservatory and roof glazing?

Yes, and roof glass is the hardest part of the trade. Conservatory and lantern units are large, heavy and frequently laminated, which makes them both more valuable and more awkward than a wall unit of the same area.

Laminated glass is used overhead precisely because it holds together when it breaks, and that construction makes it heavier than a comparable toughened unit. A large lantern pane is a genuine mechanical handling proposition rather than a two-person lift.

Access is the other half. Roof glazing goes to a rear elevation almost by definition, which means a carry through a house or round a side passage before anyone gets near the roof. Establishing that route before the vehicle is loaded is what keeps a delivery from becoming a return.

What happens if a unit is wrong on arrival?

It goes back and the aperture stays boarded, which is why measurement errors are so expensive in this trade rather than merely annoying.

The common causes are a mis-measure at survey, a transposed width and height, and a handing error on a door. None of them are visible until an installer offers the unit up, by which point the vehicle has gone and the customer is watching.

What transport can contribute is speed on the replacement. A fabricator who can remake within a day needs a delivery that matches, and that is a dedicated run rather than a slot on a round. The cost of the run is far below the cost of a second failed appointment.

Can units be delivered before the installer arrives?

Yes, though it needs agreeing rather than assuming. Glass left at a domestic property ahead of a fit is glass exposed to weather, children and passers-by, and a customer signing for it has accepted goods they cannot assess.

Where it works, it works because there is a secure covered space — a garage or an outbuilding — and the customer knows what is arriving. Where it does not, the unit sits against a garden fence and the installer finds it damaged.

The alternative is delivering to the installer's base and letting them bring it on the day. That adds a handling but removes the exposure, and for a single high-value unit it is usually the better trade.

What does window and door delivery cost?

One fixed price per job for remedial work, or a rate per drop on a standing arrangement, quoted upfront with fuel and goods-in-transit insurance included.

From £50 (ex VAT). Final price depends on distance, vehicle, urgency and time — quoted in full upfront. Related: kitchen delivery and blinds and shutters delivery. Call 0121 720 3841 or use our contact page.