We carry windows, doors and joinery to the UK on transport racks and pallets, upright, with glass and edge protection, as LTL groupage from 1 pallet or on a dedicated vehicle. Delivery is kerbside as standard, with no carrying indoors. Poland is the largest exporter of windows and doors in Europe, and the UK is one of its most important markets.
Why joinery travels to Britain
Polish window and door makers have supplied British construction sites, developers and private customers for years. According to the Polish government trade agency, Poland is the largest exporter of windows and doors in Europe, with the UK its most important market outside the EU. In practice that means a steady stream of shipments: from single window sets for one project to full vehicles for distributors.
How we pack windows and doors
- Always upright: glazed units and sashes travel on A-frame racks or the maker's own transport stillages, never flat.
- Edge protection: corner pieces and foam strips on frames, separators between elements, film and straps padded at contact points.
- Load to rack and rack to vehicle: separate straps for the goods and the frame, without tension that bends the profiles.
- No stacking: joinery rides as a top load, nothing sits on it in the trailer.
General securing rules are covered in our piece on securing a pallet for export.
Non-standard sizes and groupage
A typical window fits a pallet or a rack with a pallet-sized footprint, but shopfronts, lift and slide patio doors and facade elements exceed standard groupage dimensions. Then we price the load by its real dimensions, as explained in the article on pallets and loading metres, and for large sets we compare the options in FTL or LTL. Oversized elements and heavier sets are handled much like furniture and oversized goods to the UK.
Delivery: kerbside, not installation
The industry standard for joinery is kerbside delivery: the vehicle arrives at the given address and unloading heavy racks is organised by the consignee, for example with a forklift, a lorry mounted crane or the fitting crew. A tail lift helps with lighter packages, but a heavy rack of glass cannot come down on one safely. So before dispatch we agree who unloads, with what, and whether the site has a receiving window. For deliveries into London and city centre sites we also use the buffer at our Milton Keynes warehouse, from where goods reach the site exactly on the booked slot.
Damage: how we defend against it
Glass and lacquered frames need evidence: we document the condition of the load at collection, and we advise the consignee to inspect at unloading and note any reservations on the transport document immediately, not afterwards. A few minutes at the ramp saves weeks of dispute.
What to prepare before joinery is loaded
- The dimensions of every rack or bundle: length, width and height including the frame, not the window alone.
- The real weight of each item, because sealed units and triple glazed packs can surprise you when payload is calculated.
- Whether the racks return to the manufacturer, and whether the consignee takes off the whole rack or unloads individual elements from it.
- Item numbering matching the packing list, so the set can be checked on site without unwrapping everything.
- Photographs of the packed bundle taken before the curtain closes, marking any pre-existing scratches or knocks.
Groupage or a dedicated vehicle: where the line falls
With joinery the line between groupage and a dedicated vehicle falls differently than with ordinary pallets. It is set not only by loading metres but by the number of transhipments, because every rack moved from one vehicle to another is another chance to crack a pane or knock a frame. So for complete sets going to one consignee, for unusually tall elements and for facade units we more often propose a dedicated vehicle, even when the metres alone would fit into groupage. For single racks and standard windows groupage is the natural choice, and the load travels with us as a top load, not stacked and with nothing placed on top of it.
Sources
Shipping windows or doors to the UK? We quote from a single rack in LTL groupage up to full vehicles for manufacturers. Give us dimensions and weights in the contact form.
