A short brief such as "three glass sliding doors, grey frame" is enough to start a conversation, but it is rarely enough to produce a firm quotation. Sliding doors are made-to-measure built-in items: the opening has to be measured, the track layout decided and the glass chosen before anyone can price the work properly. The gap between a one-line request and an accurate enquiry is where most delays happen.
If you are specifying glass sliding doors for a villa, apartment or hospitality fit-out, the following structure will let a manufacturer such as SANTERSON come back with a real specification and price instead of another round of questions.
Start with the opening, not the door
Send the dimensioned drawing or a site sketch of the opening itself: clear width and clear height, the depth available for the frame and track, and where the finished floor level sits. Note anything that interrupts the run — a column, a beam, a skirting board, a radiator, a light switch, a tiled reveal — because these affect both the frame detail and how far the panels can travel.
Then state what is on each side of the opening. A door between a living room and a terrace behaves differently from one between a bedroom and an ensuite: exposure to weather, expected traffic, privacy needs and cleaning access all change the specification. If the opening will be used daily by children or guests, say so; it influences hardware quality and glass choice more than any style preference.
Decide how many panels and which way they move
Panel count and track layout are the two decisions that drive cost most directly. A two-panel, two-track arrangement is the simplest case. Add a third or fourth panel and you need to decide whether the fixed panel sits in the middle or at one end, and which panels slide past each other. For wide openings, tell us the clear width and where you want the passage to open, and we can propose the layout rather than asking you to guess it.
Also confirm whether the panels should stack on one side or split symmetrically, and whether you need a bottom track set flush with the floor or a surface-mounted threshold. That single detail matters for wheelchair and trolley access and for how the floor finish is laid around the door.
Specify the glass and the frame finish
Glass choice covers safety, privacy and light at once. Clear glass keeps a space visually connected; frosted or ribbed glass screens a bathroom or walk-in wardrobe; bronze and smoked tints cut glare while keeping a view. Where the door is within reach of people, laminated or toughened safety glass is normally the sensible request — ask us to confirm what each option means for your opening rather than assuming.
For the frame, aluminium suits glass-heavy designs and gives a slim sightline; timber and wood-veneer frames suit joinery-led interiors. Our wooden sliding doors collection exists for exactly that case, where the door has to read as part of a wall of cabinetry. Send your finish reference — a RAL number, a veneer sample code or a photograph of an existing joinery item — and we will match against it instead of describing colours in words.
If the doors are part of a wider fit-out, mention the neighbouring items at the same time. Sliding doors that have to sit flush with flush sliding door panelling or align with wardrobe fronts need coordinated detail drawings, and coordinating them from the start avoids two trades working to different levels.
Add the project context that affects delivery
A useful enquiry also covers the practical side: the delivery address, the floor the doors are going to, whether a lift or stair access is available, and any site date you are working towards. Container-based shipping for made-to-measure joinery means the packing layout is planned around the whole order, so grouping doors with other built-in items — wardrobes, vanities, cabinetry — usually simplifies both freight and installation.
Tell us who will install. If your own builder or fitter is doing the work, we send assembled panels with fixing details and setting-out dimensions. If you would rather have installation support, say so at the enquiry stage so it is quoted rather than added later as an extra.
Before you send: check that every number in your enquiry is a clear opening dimension, not a frame size or a nominal wall measurement. Mixed reference points are the most common cause of a re-measure and a delayed order.
What to include in the enquiry
| Item | What to provide |
|---|---|
| Openings | Clear width and height of each opening, available frame/track depth, finished floor level reference |
| Layout | Panel count, fixed vs sliding positions, stacking side, threshold preference |
| Glass | Clear, frosted, ribbed, bronze or smoked; safety requirement for the location |
| Frame and finish | Aluminium or timber/veneer, colour or veneer reference, matching joinery items |
| Quantities | Number of each size, plus any spares for a phased project |
| Site and schedule | Delivery address, access route, target on-site date, who installs |
| Drawings | Floor plan or sketch of each opening, photographs of the existing condition |
What happens after you send it
With those details in place, we can confirm the layout and specification, issue shop drawings for your approval, and then move into production. Where a project needs it, our interior design services cover space planning and coordination of drawings with the rest of the joinery package, so doors, wardrobes and wall panelling are detailed against one set of levels rather than three separate orders.
Send the opening dimensions, a photograph of each location and your finish reference to start the enquiry. If you already have a drawing set, share it — that is usually the difference between a quotation in days and another week of email exchanges.