About Ruislip Windows
Ruislip Windows has been fitting quality double glazed windows and doors across Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire since 1986, when John Flynn founded the company as a qualified carpenter. He and his son Joe still run it today, and most of our work continues to come from customers who were recommended to us.
Trusted since 1986
Most people replace their windows once, perhaps twice, in all the years they own a home.
That leaves you making a decision worth several thousand pounds about something you have no previous experience in buying, choosing between companies that all say much the same things on their websites.
We have been on the other side of that conversation since 1986.
Here is who we are, how the company came about, and what we have learned in the four decades in the industry.
How Ruislip Windows started in 1986
John Flynn founded the company in 1986, trading then as Ruislip Building Ltd. As the work transitioned into windows and door installations, the name changed with it, becoming Ruislip Windows and Doors in May 1995.
John trained as a carpenter and qualified through City and Guilds, which explains a good deal of what came afterwards. He learned to make things fit before he learned to sell anything. A carpenter judges a job by whether the frame sits true, the sash closes sweetly and the finish is to a perfectionist’s standard.
There was no takeover behind any of this, no franchise and no investor pushing for scale. The company grew because one customer mentioned it to a neighbour and that neighbour mentioned it to somebody else. It is a slow way to build a business and an unforgiving one, because it only works if the standard holds every single time.
Four decades on, a large share of our work still arrives exactly that way.
How It All Began
Ruislip Windows and Doors are a respected local installer specialising in, double glazing, replacement windows, doors and conservatories in both uPVC and aluminium. Based in Watford, we cover all local areas in and around Middlesex, Herts, South Bucks, London and Essex.
1986
Humble Beginnings and Foundation
1995
Expanding Expertise and a New Identity
As demand grew, so did the company’s ambitions. By the mid-1990s, new double glazing systems were introduced and the contracts grew with the demand. To reflect the evolving nature of the business, Ruislip Building Ltd rebranded to Ruislip Windows and Doors Ltd in May 1995. This move showcased a transition into the specialist field we now thrive in.
2000
Building Trust and Industry Recognition
The early 2000s marked a decade of consolidation and trust-building. With over 15 years of experience by this point, the company was no longer a small local firm but a recognised company in the area.
The team’s customer-first approach made Ruislip Windows and Doors Ltd a go-to name for premium double-glazed installations, trusted not only by homeowners but also by commercial property managers.
2020
Relocation and Team Expansion to Support Growing Demand
2023
Becoming a Family-Run Business with the Next Generation Onboard
In 2023, Ruislip Windows and Doors proudly became a family-run business as Joe, the son of owner John, officially joined the team. By keeping business within the family, Ruislip Windows can now continue to uphold the same values that have made them such a trusted name over the last 40 years.
2025
Expansion into a Larger Office with an 11-Van Fleet on the Road
In 2025, we expanded once again, moving into a larger commercial unit in Dwight Road, Watford. Giving us more space, and an improved showroom, to support our growing operations. With a fleet of 11 vans now on the road, we’re better equipped than ever to serve our customers across the region.
Where that experience shows up in your home
It shows up in small decisions more than in grand claims.
A 1930s bay in Pinner needs different thinking from a 1990s estate house in Watford.
Homes in conservation areas can have slim sightlines, authentic glazing bars and period-appropriate hardware while still meeting modern thermal standards, which surprises people who assume the two cannot go together.
A south facing conservatory nobody can sit in during August is often a roof problem more than a glass one, and fitting a warm roof is usually the answer.
None of this appears on a price list or a brochure; it comes from having done it.
What four decades in the glazing trade has taught us
John has watched it change from one end to the other. uPVC arrived and became a mass-market product. Building Regulations tightened repeatedly, until the thermal performance expected of an ordinary replacement window today would have looked remarkable in the late eighties.
FENSA and CERTASS arrived, so that registered installers could certify their own work. The high-pressure national sales operation rose and largely fell.
The useful part of having sat through all of that is knowing what lasts. We have seen which installations are still working properly twenty years later, and which shortcuts caused trouble long after the paperwork was filed.
We install uPVC and aluminium, we buy from established manufacturers, and we will tell you honestly when a simpler specification would do the same job in your house.
The people behind the company
John is still here and still closely involved in the day-to-day running of the business. Plenty of our customers meet him, and his name appears in a good number of our Google reviews, which is not something you can say about the founder of a national installer.
His son Joe grew up around the company and was helping on site from about the age of sixteen. He went on to study Business Management and Marketing at University and now works alongside his father as a director.
Joe looks after how the company runs, how it markets itself and how it plans for the years ahead. What he has deliberately not done is change what the company stands for. Four decades of reputation and customer relationships are worth more than any new idea.
You can read more about them both on our Meet the Team page.
You will speak to the same people throughout
Behind John and Joe, our office team has barely changed in years. The person who answers when you ring about a quotation is very likely the same person who calls you about your fitting date, and the one who sorts things out if a handle needs attention two winters later.
Our fitting teams work for us, not for a subcontractor, and there are eleven vans on the road carrying our name and reputation. Ask us who will be working on your home and we can give you their name before they arrive.
The phrase used inside the company is that no favour is too big and no job is too small. That is a far easier thing to live up to when the same faces see a job through from the first phone call to the last visit.
What happens after the installation is finished
Any company can be attentive during the fortnight it hopes to win your order. The real test arrives eighteen months later, when something needs adjusting and you find out whether anybody picks up.
We employ our own service engineer, so there is no subcontractor to chase and no third party to blame. If an issue comes up with an installation we carried out, we deal with it promptly, ask only what we need to ask, and put it right.
Our aftercare comes up again and again in our Google reviews, which now stand at 4.9 stars from more than 290 customers.
The registrations and guarantees that protect you
We are FENSA and CERTASS registered, that means we can certify your installation against Building Regulations and register it with your local authority ourselves.
Our work carries insurance-backed warranties through QANW, which matters because an ordinary company guarantee is only ever as good as the company standing behind it. An insurance-backed warranty holds even if the installer does not.
Lead time from confirmed order to installation is usually three to four weeks. If your job is likely to take longer, we will say so at the quotation stage instead of letting you find out later.
Why nobody here will pressure you
We do not do the three-hour evening sales visit.
We do not impose the discount that expires at midnight, and nobody here is trained to close you.
The reason goes back to the carpentry.
A company founded by a skilled fitter thinks about the job from the installation side, and a homeowner who understands their options usually chooses well without any help from a salesperson.
Our surveyors are there to measure and to advise. If you want a fortnight to think it over, take a fortnight.
Where to find us
Our showroom and offices are at Unit 34 Orbital 25, Dwight Road, Watford WD18 9DA.
You are welcome to make an appointment to come and handle the products yourself.
This tells you far more about the difference between a flush casement and a standard one than any photograph will.
What we do
We fit uPVC and aluminium windows, composite, uPVC and aluminium doors, bi-folds and sliding doors, conservatories, orangeries, roof lanterns and warm roofs across Harrow, Eastcote, Pinner, Ruislip, Northwood, Uxbridge, Watford, Rickmansworth and the wider Middlesex, Hertfordshire, London and Buckinghamshire area.
To arrange a quotation, call us on (020) 8868 1133 or email office@ruislipwindows.co.uk.
We will come out, measure up, talk you through the options, and then leave you in peace to think about it.
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