What is a reasonable conservatory price?
As a rough guide a very basic professionally fitted conservatory can cost from £5000. If you can't afford that then maybe think of a DIY kit which could cost up to £1500 less. However, the actual price can vary hugely with costs for supplied and fitted large conservatories of £30,000 or more!
Basic conservatory price
Typically, you can expect to pay a price of about £500 per square metre for a basic conservatory (supply and fitting) including VAT. This cost will go up if the site is difficult, for example if the ground slopes away from the house in which case it will need leveling first. A basic conservatory is of PVCu frame and double glazed.
A medium - high end conservatory price
A more luxurious conservatory could well cost £1000 per square metre, but more typically come in at around a price of £750 per square metre. For this extra you will get K glass (low thermal loss gas in double glazing panes) and the roof may be coated to minimise over-heating on hot summer days. You may also get some form of climate control air-conditioning unit thrown in with the price of the conservatory.
The price of your conservatory will go up even more if you choose a hardwood finish instead of PVCu. This will look very nice but will cost up to 50% more than a PVCu one. If your house has white PVCu windows already then maybe a white PVCu conservatory would be more in-keeping with the look anyway?
Additional costs outside of the conservatory build
To comply with building regulations your conservatory cannot be permanently heated, but it can still have a radiator if its got a thermostatic control on it. The price will be about £500-1000 to have one or two controllable radiators fitted in your conservatory depending on existing plumbing.
If your conservatory is south facing you will definately have to consider some form of cooling or heat build up prevention. This can take the form of blinds, specialist glazing or a solar coating applied to normal glazing, a ceiling fan or air conditioning. Blinds can cost £1000's and for even a fairly small (3x3m) conservatory look to pay more than £1000. Air conditioning can cost anywhere from £200 for a free-standing unit to £1000's for a professionally installed split-unit.
An additional cost that you may forget about is that the conservatory is a new room for the house and will need furnishing, in particular somewhere to sit. You can add anything from £50 for a second-hand patio furniture, to £500 for a living room settee to a price of £1000 plus for cane furniture typical of many conservatories.
All-in-all you get what you pay for (up to a point) and if you want an addition to your house that will not only give you more living space, but will add value to your property, then think quality as well as low cost. A shoddily built, cheap conservatory could be more of a liability than an asset.
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