Here is the honest line this whole page hangs on: photos and rough sizes get you a preliminary estimate; only a measurement visit turns it into a confirmed quote. A preliminary estimate is our early reading of your job — the likely system, the likely scope, and a price indication based on what your photos show. A confirmed quote is a fixed figure, given after we have stood in your bathroom and measured the opening ourselves, and it is the figure we work to. Both are useful; they are not the same thing, and anyone who gives you a “final price” from photos alone is guessing with your money. This guide shows exactly what to send so the estimate is as useful as it can be — and what happens at the visit that confirms it.
At a glance
- A preliminary estimate is based on your photos and rough sizes. It tells you the likely system, the likely work, and an indicative price — honest, but provisional.
- A confirmed quote comes after a measurement visit. It is fixed, and it is based on the opening as it actually is — walls, levels and all.
- What to send: five photos (listed below) plus three rough sizes — width, height, and the bath or tray size if there is one.
- Why the gap exists: photos cannot show whether walls are plumb, floors level, or the opening square — and glass is cut to the opening as measured, not as photographed.
- What it costs you to find out: the message. Send the photos, get the estimate, and decide from there.
What a preliminary estimate is — and is not
A preliminary estimate is a professional first reading, not a guess and not a promise. From clear photos and rough sizes we can usually identify the system that suits the opening — hinged, sliding, fixed or over-bath — spot obvious complications, and give you a price indication that reflects the job as it appears. For most standard openings in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah bathrooms, that indication is close enough to plan and budget around.
What it is not is a fixed price, and the difference is not fine print. It cannot see the things that change glass work: a wall that leans a centimetre out of plumb, a floor that falls the wrong way, an opening that is wider at the top than the bottom, a bath edge that is sloped or damaged. Glass is manufactured to millimetres from measurements we take ourselves; a panel cut from a photograph’s perspective would be a panel cut wrong. So the estimate is labelled preliminary, plainly, and it becomes a confirmed quote only at measurement — never quietly upgraded, never silently different.
Treat any estimate you receive — from us or anyone — with that distinction in mind. If a figure arrives described as “final” before anyone has measured, the risk has not been removed; it has been moved, to the day of the fitting.
The five photos to send
Five shots cover almost every opening. Natural light or the bathroom light full on, camera held level, and nothing cropped tight — context is what makes a photo useful.
- The whole opening, straight on. Stand back and get the full shower or bath space in one frame — walls, floor, and where the glass would go. This is the shot that identifies the system.
- The opening from an angle. A three-quarter view shows depth: how far the tray or bath projects, where a door would swing, what it would swing into.
- The fixing walls. Each wall the glass would attach to, close enough to show tiles, any boxing, pipework or a window in the fixing line — the things that affect channels and hinges.
- The floor or bath edge. Where the glass will sit: the tray edge, the floor line, or the bath rim. This is where seals live, and its condition decides details photos of the whole room hide.
- The shower fittings. The shower head and controls in position — their height and placement shape where panels and doors can go, and whether spray will hit the door line.
If the job is a repair rather than a new screen, swap shot 5 for close-ups of the problem: the hinge, the seal, the leak point, the damaged area — one wide shot of the door and one close-up beats five wide shots of the room.
The rough sizes that help
Rough means rough — nearest centimetre, taken with any tape. Three numbers make an estimate markedly better:
- Width of the opening, wall to wall, at about chest height.
- Height you want the glass — floor or bath rim to the top of the panel, or just say “standard height” and the photo will carry it.
- Bath or tray size, if the glass sits over a bath or on a tray — length and width of the bath, or the tray’s dimensions.
Add two facts in the message itself: your area (so we can confirm you are in our coverage and plan the visit), and what you want — new installation or repair, and the type you have in mind if you have one. That is the whole form. There is no portal, no account, and no obligation attached to an estimate.
What we reply with
You will get a reply on WhatsApp that does four things. First, it confirms the system we read from your photos — and says so if the opening suggests a different system than the one you asked about, with the reason. Second, it gives the preliminary estimate itself, labelled as preliminary, covering the job as the photos show it. Third, it names anything the photos could not settle — the points measurement will decide — so you know in advance what might move the figure and why. Fourth, it offers the measurement visit: the short appointment at which the estimate is checked against the real opening and converted into the confirmed quote.
If the photos show something we cannot honestly estimate — a repair whose cause is hidden, an edge that may not take a screen — the reply says that too, and the visit becomes the estimate step instead. An honest “we need to see it” is worth more than a confident number built on a guess.
The measurement visit: where an estimate becomes a confirmed quote
The visit is short and it has one job: replace every “probably” in the estimate with a measured fact. We measure the opening precisely — widths at several heights, heights, levels, how true the walls stand — check the fixing surfaces and the floor or bath edge, and confirm the hardware and configuration the opening can actually take. How shower glass is measured, and how to prepare your bathroom for the measurement visit, have their own guides; here, what matters is what the visit produces.
It produces the confirmed quote: a fixed figure for the work as specified — glass, hardware, fitting — based on the opening as it is. If measurement finds exactly what the photos showed, the confirmed quote simply firms up the estimate. If it finds something the photos hid — a wall out of plumb that needs the glass cut to a taper, an edge that needs a different detail — the quote reflects it, and the difference is explained against the estimate, item by item, before you decide anything. You are never asked to approve a confirmed quote that quietly differs from the estimate without the reason being on the table.
Only after that confirmation does anything get cut. That sequence — estimate, measure, confirm, then manufacture — is what makes a fixed quote possible at all, and it is set out the same way in our shower glass price guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is a preliminary estimate free?
The estimate itself is a WhatsApp conversation — send the photos and sizes and we reply with the estimate and the next step. There is no charge for finding out roughly where you stand, and no obligation to continue to the visit.
How accurate is a preliminary estimate?
For a standard opening, it is a good planning figure — the system and scope are usually read correctly from clear photos. What it cannot do is guarantee the final number, because it cannot detect walls out of plumb, uneven floors or hidden edge problems. That is precisely what the measurement visit exists to catch, and why the confirmed quote — not the estimate — is the figure everything is contracted on.
Why can’t you just confirm the price from my photos?
Because glass is cut to the opening as measured, and a photograph cannot measure. Perspective hides taper, lean and slope that change how a panel must be cut and fixed. A price “confirmed” from photos would be confirmed again — upwards — on fitting day, or the panel would arrive wrong. We would rather label the estimate honestly than move the surprise to your installation day.
What if the confirmed quote is different from the estimate?
Then the reason is shown to you, item by item, before you decide: measurement found something the photos could not show, and the quote reflects that finding. You can accept it, adjust the specification, or stop there — the estimate never commits you to the confirmed figure.
I need a repair, not a new screen. Do photos still work?
Yes — repairs are where photos help most. A wide shot of the door plus close-ups of the hinge, seal or leak point usually lets us identify the likely fault and say whether it is a seal, a hinge or an alignment job before anyone travels. Some causes — drainage, hidden silicone failure — still need a visit to confirm, and we will say so in the reply rather than estimate blind.
What happens after I accept the confirmed quote?
The glass is manufactured to the measurements taken at your visit — cut, finished and fitted with the specified hardware — and installed once it is ready. Nothing is made from the estimate’s rough sizes; production starts from measured dimensions only, after the confirmed quote is accepted.
Get your preliminary estimate
Message us on WhatsApp on 052 443 2655 with the five photos and three rough sizes above, plus your area and whether it is a new screen or a repair. You will get a preliminary estimate that is honest about what it is — and a clear path to the confirmed quote — with no obligation at any step. If you would rather talk first, our contact page has every route to us; see how to read a shower glass quote.
This guide is part of our Shower Glass Prices series. Back to the start of this series: Reading a Shower Glass Quote: Inclusions, Exclusions and the Questions to Ask →
