Door leaf only
The moving panel, without automatically including a suitable frame, seals, hinges, closer, latch, glazing system or perimeter detail. Each remaining element still has to be selected and evidenced.
Procurement Guide
Supply-Only vs Supplied-and-Fitted Fire Doors
The useful comparison is not simply a product price against an installed price. It is who checks the opening, selects a supported assembly, coordinates every component, fits and finishes it, and holds the evidence and responsibility when the work is complete.
Know What Is Being Supplied
Components or kit
A grouped set of parts can reduce omissions, but the buyer must still establish exactly what is included, whether the components are compatible and who takes responsibility for the opening and installation.
Compatible documented doorset
A leaf, frame and specified components supplied as an assembly supported by product evidence and installation instructions. Site conditions and workmanship still matter; documentation does not compensate for poor fitting.
What Supply-Only Leaves With The Buyer
Supply-only can be an entirely valid route when the client has a competent installer, a properly assessed opening and clear control of specification and records. It is not inherently non-compliant, and supplied-and-fitted is not automatically correct simply because one company holds the order.
The risk appears when a leaf is ordered before the frame, hardware, dimensions and evidence are reconciled. A low product price can then be followed by incompatible components, opening alterations, repeated attendance or a replacement order.
- Confirm the opening dimensions, wall and frame condition before ordering
- Match the leaf, frame, seals, glazing and ironmongery to supporting evidence
- Allocate responsibility for manufacturer queries and substitutions
- Appoint and coordinate the installer and any finishing trades
- Retain product documents, delivery information and installation records
- Resolve damage, missing parts and site variation without blurred ownership
What An Installed Scope May Include
A supplied-and-fitted quotation should join the product and opening into one defined scope. That can reduce interfaces, but only if the written quotation names the work rather than relying on the phrase ‘fully fitted’.
Opening assessment
Measurements, frame and substrate condition, threshold detail, required rating and any access or security constraints recorded before ordering.
Frames and liners
Retention only where compatible and sound, or replacement with the fixing and perimeter sealing detail included in the scope.
Seals and ironmongery
Compatible hinges, closer, latch, locks, handles, viewers, letterplates and glazing components selected for the doorset and use.
Fitting and commissioning
Installation to the product instructions, with alignment, gaps, closing and latching checked before handover.
Making good and finish
Architraves, adjacent surfaces, floor interfaces and decoration either included clearly or left as a named client responsibility.
Removal and evidence
Old-door disposal, product documents, door references and installation or completion records defined before award.
Compare Total Scope, Not Headline Price
Put both options on the same worksheet. Add every item that remains outside the supply-only price and remove anything genuinely excluded from the installed quotation. The result is a comparison of whole responsibilities, not two unlike figures.
- Product and delivery, including non-standard size or finish
- Opening survey or pre-works assessment and specification coordination
- Frame, liners, seals, ironmongery and perimeter materials
- Installation labour, access arrangements and return visits
- Protection, making good, decoration and waste disposal
- Handover evidence, VAT basis, exclusions and responsibility for variations
A Hypothetical Procurement Comparison
Imagine a buyer compares a supply-only leaf with a quotation for a complete supplied-and-fitted doorset. The leaf price excludes the frame, closer, latch, fitting, perimeter sealing, decoration, disposal and records. The installed quotation includes most of those lines but excludes final decoration. Neither option is automatically wrong or cheaper overall.
The decision becomes clear only after the buyer confirms whether the existing frame is usable, adds the missing components and labour to the supply-only route, records the decoration exclusion on both sides and compares VAT on the same basis. This is a hypothetical method example, not a Parsec price or project.
Related Pages
These pages explain the installed scope, evidence and opening details behind the comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Need A Supplied-And-Fitted Quotation?
Send the door schedule, opening photographs and any known specification. We will confirm the information needed, assess the works scope and state products, fitting, exclusions and VAT clearly in writing.