When Dave Signorelli spotted a house up for sale in his favourite road, he knew he had to act fast. Although the large villa – built in 1929 – was rather rundown, it had great bones and was situated on huge plot with a well-established garden surrounded by mature trees.
With three children aged 13, 10 and three, Dave and his wife Kellie realised they had the chance to pursue their dream of achieving the ultimate family home. Plenty of light and bright living space, spilling out into a beautiful garden.
Here, we speak to our customer Dave, a telecoms executive from Swindon, about his renovation journey and why Minima’s slimline sliding doors with their 20mm sightlines were a key part of the success of his project.
Well, we’ve completely renovated the whole house since moving in in July 2020. We added a big extension along the back, turning what was originally a 2,500 sq ft property into 3,800 sq ft house. We replaced the entire roof and pretty much knocked the whole house about. Myself and my wife Kellie had never done anything like this before. We lived in the property the entire time. It was tricky at times with no water or heating with three young children, but so worth it because we absolutely love our new home!
At first we were going to have bifold doors. It just seemed like the obvious choice. But I’d always been concerned there was too much metal in them and not enough glass. And we needed a lot of glass for the rear extension – three openings of 3660mm wide by 2520mm high.
So when we went to the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon and saw Ultraline sliding doors, we were so impressed. There was just SO much glass! They do cost a lot more than we were originally going to spend on bifolds, but once I’d seen them I realised there was no comparison! I obviously shopped around and looked at other suppliers of sliding doors, but Ultraline doors were not only the best product available they were actually the most economical, too.
It’s been a great experience – probably the most seamless part of our build. Everything happened exactly as they said it would. The installation team were amazing. So knowledgeable and polite. And it was like a walk in the park because they’ve done it hundreds of times before and knew exactly what they were doing.
The after care service was amazing as well. Most of the trades I’ve dealt with aren’t interested once they’ve finished. But when I had a query, Minima sent somebody over to look at it straightaway. That’s the bit that really counts. When you spend that amount of money you want to feel like the company really cares, that you’re being heard. Minima does that and it makes a massive difference.
Absolutely! Kellie and I have no doubt we would have regretted it if we’d gone for bifolds rather than the Ultraline doors. It feels like a complete no brainer now! The overriding benefit is the sightline. Because the panes of glass are so big and the doors have 20mm sightlines, all you see out of every window is green trees and big blue skies.
We had aluminium doors fitted to match upstairs from a different supplier and the sightlines are nowhere near as good. We now feel spoilt with downstairs! It just feels like it’s all glass. Everyone who comes around is absolutely blown away by the doors. Before, they might have said: ‘Why would you pay that much on a set of doors?’ but they only have to take one look to realise why. The product speaks for itself.
And actually, because I decided to project manage the whole thing myself, we actually came in at the same price as if we’d used a contractor, even including the Ultraline doors. Doing it ourselves meant that we could go for really high end features such as the doors. We really couldn’t be happier with the end result.
The view of the garden from the extension. All you see in every direction is green trees and blue sky. It’s so beautiful! And because the sightlines with Minima’s doors are so good, you feel like you’re permanently outside even when you’re not. It’s an incredible feeling!
Read more about the Signorellis’ renovation journey here.
If you need help with your renovation, extension or newbuild, do contact us to talk about how you could open up the view with Minima’s 20mm sightline sliding doors.