Ask three companies to price a fire door and you can easily get three answers hundreds of pounds apart, which makes it very hard to tell who is being fair. The difference usually is not the door itself but what is wrapped around it: the frame, the ironmongery, the labour and whether you get certification at the end. Here is what those parts actually cost in and around Croydon, and why the same job in a Victorian conversion in South Norwood can price differently to one in a newer block off Purley Way.
A fire door is not a door, it is a tested assembly. The leaf only performs to its FD30 or FD60 rating when it is hung in a suitable frame, with the correct gaps, the right hinges and intumescent seals that expand and close the gap when things get hot. Change one component and you can technically invalidate the whole thing.
When a quote looks unusually cheap, it is nearly always because some of the following have been left out and will be charged later, or simply skipped.
For a straightforward internal FD30 door in a house, hung into a sound existing frame with new seals and hinges, most homeowners in the Croydon area should expect somewhere around £450 to £750 per door, fitted. If the frame has to be replaced and the opening made good, add roughly £150 to £300.
A certified flat entrance door set, supplied complete and installed to the manufacturer's instructions, is a different product and typically lands between £1,100 and £2,000 per door depending on the specification, glazing and whether it is FD30S or FD60S. Doing several doors on one visit almost always brings the per door price down, because the setting up, delivery and access time is shared.
South East London and the Croydon suburbs are full of Victorian and Edwardian houses converted into flats, and those openings are rarely square or standard size. Trimming a fire door is strictly limited by the manufacturer's instructions, usually a small amount off each edge, so an unusual opening often means a bespoke leaf with a longer lead time rather than something off the shelf.
Other things that move the price: upper floor flats with no lift and a narrow communal stair, doors needing glazed vision panels, conservation area or listed properties where the visible face has to match the original, and blocks where work has to happen outside normal hours to keep the escape route clear.
If you are letting a property, the cost question comes with a compliance question attached. Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, responsible persons for blocks of flats have duties to check flat entrance doors and communal fire doors at set intervals, and Croydon Council's licensing conditions for HMOs will normally specify fire doors to protected escape routes.
In practice that means the paperwork matters as much as the joinery. Budget for a proper installation record with photographs of the gaps, the hinge and seal products used, and the door's certification details. Retrofitting that evidence later, when a licensing officer or the London Fire Brigade asks, is far more expensive than capturing it on the day.
The cheapest quote is worth having only if it covers the same scope. When you are weighing up prices, look for these specifics rather than a single bottom line figure.
Only if the door is already a tested fire door that has lost its seals, in which case replacing them is sensible and cheap. Adding intumescent strips to an ordinary internal door does not turn it into a fire door and will not satisfy a council inspector or your insurer.
A single door into a sound existing frame is usually a few hours. If the frame is being replaced, or the opening needs squaring up and making good, allow most of a day per door.
Building regulations generally require them where a habitable room opens onto a protected stairway in a three storey house, and for the door between an integral garage and the house. Many two storey homes are not legally required to have them, though owners often fit one to the kitchen or a loft conversion for peace of mind.
Tell us what you've got, whether a single door, a block of flats or a commercial building, and we'll arrange a survey and give you a straight, written quote.
Tell us about the doors or the building and we'll come back to you with a straight answer.