ELITE GREENHOUSES LIMITED Reviews 52

Ordered a 12x6 olive green craftsman greenhouse with toughened glass.I decided to erect it myself without to much of a problem.I noticed a lot of bad reviews regarding the instruction manual which I can understand as it is so large and very detailed,if fact too detailed a more pictorial description would simplify things. I only used the manual for minor reference and instead looked up their utube videos on howto erect an high eaves greenhouse which is very slightly different but done the job.I am a engineer so I did not have to much of a problem but I totally understand other peoples views,however I must admit I would have been very frustrated if I had to rely on the manual alone to construct the greenhouse.Looking at the time I took to erect the greenhouse,I believe the £500 charge to erect it good value and suggest if you are not particularly practical a must.The quality of the product exceeds my expectations and consider it very good value for money and the service from elite was excellent.I suggest elite produce more utube content to simplify the construction of their greenhouses

Date of experience: June 17, 2025

First greenhouse I've built but I've lots of DIY experience and a mechanical engineering background. I have to agree with the negative comments regards the instructions (and the reason I'm not giving 5 stars), you need to read them very carefully and understand what parts/parts the instructions are relating to. You do not get step by step schematics as found in most flat pack furniture and the like. I personally found the installation videos essential, a case in point being the video showing a better way to assemble the doors than the instruction booklet gives. Where I will disagree with some reviews placed here are: the bolts are not made of "aluminium" as stated on one review, I think they are stainless steel (clearly steel and clearly non magnetic). Another review stated no glazing plan and glass not numbered. My instructions did come with a full glazing plan, yes the glass was not marked with any indications put the instructions had all the glass sizes given. If the plan called for a "T1" look up the "T1" size (598x1489) and go and find a pane of glass that size and it will fit, it's not that tricky.

I had one part (unhanded door post) which had been incorrectly manufactured. A quick call too the factory resolved the issue very quickly.

I laid a concrete base for the greenhouse as it was very obvious that it would need a flat base in order to get a squared up greenhouse (oblong glass in a rhomboid hole won't fit as very succinctly put in another review).

Although this is the first greenhouse I've built I have removed a couple and the build quality, dimensions of glazing bars, base sections etc of this is well beyond any of those I've removed.

To summarise I would have absolutely no qualms buying another Elite greenhouse but recommending to somebody else is a little tricky, if your going to use a recommend installer then yes, if you are going to install yourself then be honest about your abilities, if you find yourself struggling with an Ikea bookcase or not confident you can get a flat and square base then maybe this would turn out to be a bad experience. But if your good at reading the details in instructions and are prepared to set aside more time than you think (I initially thought I'd have this done in two days but took 4) then yes highly recommended, you will be rewarded with a greenhouse better than the average.

Date of experience: May 06, 2025

Do NOT buy an Elite greenhouse. Very poor quality and ill fitting joints. When I saw it I tried to get them to take it back and issue a refund as I did not consider it satisfactory. They said that I would have to arrange to deliver it back to them myself "in a condition ready for resale". As the glass panels are all delivered loose (no packaging at all) there was no way any courier was going to accept it for transit so it was impossible for me to return it. I used a professional installer whose name was given to me by the vendor, but it still took him 4 days to assemble the greenhouse as the instructions are impossible, and not for the specific greenhouse I purchased. The parts are not labelled or numbered and the instructions have no labelling / numbering of the parts. Even when you eventually figure what goes where (took 4 days), the joints do not fit together properly, leaving gaps at the apex and at the corners where the roof meets the walls. Also, the nuts / bolts are of very poor quality and some bolts sheared in half when I tried to tighten them while assembling the staging (I am a 5 foot lady pensioner and was using a tiny 4 inch long hand spanner, so incapable of overtightening anything!) . Staff at customer service were rude and unhelpful, and not interested in my complaints and certainly not open to the idea of a return and refund. Will never use this company again.

Date of experience: March 19, 2025

My elite greenhouse arrived at the local retailer. We used their experienced people to assemble. They collected and installed it in a few hours. Really happy with this product. Moral of the tale - get someone who know how to assemble a greenhouse.

Date of experience: April 04, 2025

Looking at the many many bad reviews, I was worried about building this. I bought a 10' x 6' kensington lean to greenhouse. It arrived within 3 weeks which is exactly what they said. It came with all the pieces. Nothing broken nothing missing. I've even ended up with extra clips, screws, even 4 spare glass panels!! Instructions weren't the best I'll be honest, but not ridiculously hard. Ive never built a greenhouse before and it did just fine. Just read everything and take things slowly. It took me a weekend. Make sure your base is level and square and your supporting wall is 90° to your base. 10/10 on delivery & quality. Would recommend.

Date of experience: March 18, 2025

A generous 2 stars. The Elite Belmont greenhouse is of very mediocre quality but it isn't their dearest product. Support was very quick and human (including the dragon on telephone reception). Knowledgeable support quickly rang me back and sent a missing part.

My gripes though are the inability to pack the correct parts which resulted in me incorrectly building the door end. This resulted in a nightmare which I have been unable to fully resolve. The door doesn't fit correctly and is held up by fresh air mainly. I still think I have got parts missing because I had to cobble a spacer to support the glass above the door.

The HUGE PROBLEM IS THE INSTRUCTIONS. A Chinese version of IKEA would be embarrassed! They really are appalling. They look like they have been cobbled together over the years. No consistency, little clarity. Some dreadful diagrams and terminology. Fat too wordy.Formatting changes from page to page. They cover different sizes of greenhouses. They cover all the options without much clarity. There is no index, contents, or even page numbers. The parts are not labelled with stickers so when you've got a pile of metal you've no idea what is what or what the instructions refer to. Appalling! Get into the 21st century Elite.

I suggest next time Elite take on a new member of staff they ask them to construct a greenhouse on the first day. Maybe not because they won't be back on day two.

Would I buy again or recommend NO & NO.

Date of experience: March 05, 2025

Elite Titan 600. Storm proof - not really. Installed by their recommended person. As you can see, the frame remained rooted to the base but the superstructure was destroyed. That wasn’t really the worst of it, I telephoned and asked them to supply me a replacement directly (that is to save double middleman costs-which my insurer recommended), they were very unfriendly and uninterested. They said they don’t deal directly with the public. I went to their local retailer and asked for a small discount and some assurances about delivery timings. They said not interested in giving either. Also said they were very busy making new greenhouses.

I would say they have some lessons to learn about customer experience, design and build quality. I’m off to buy a Rhino

Date of experience: February 21, 2025

Emailed these people several times concerning a complaint about one of their retailers and never received a response .
Very unreliable

Date of experience: January 21, 2025

The instructions are not for someone who it’s not familiar with building greenhouses. If you are a person (like most are) not building greenhouses for a living, then please do not buy from this company. The instructions and the photos/figures within are not very helpful and should be considered as a guideline rather than exact. It would have been very helpful if the packages are labelled and all the parts are accurately drawn (photographed would be better). It is very unhelpful when the instructions accompanying the packages are for a 6x10 foot greenhouse when you have actually ordered a 10x14 foot one.
When you call the company, there are some receptionists who try their best to be helpful. However, there is one who is quite curt and extremely unhelpful. The best thing to do would be to hang up and call again!
Ideally, there should seldom be a reason to call the company for help to put the greenhouse together. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The figurative depictions and the instructions are quite generic (the instructions will be the same whether you have ordered a drop down door or not), leaving you scratching your head as to why the size of lower door panel does not match the diagram. We have had to undo several steps because of the vagueness of the instructions.
The finally built greenhouse looks quite sturdy, but I wish I could have got to that stage with less pain and stress.

Date of experience: February 01, 2025

These are the best greenhosue available and do offer value for money. The issue is that people DO NOT READ the instructions, most people putting them up think they know what they are doing and are just to arrogant to admit that they can't put up what is a large "meccano" set... I have been fitting these for about 15 years and very occasionally I have an issue with a wrongly supplied part but these are sent and normally arrive the next day. They are so much better than the other manufacturers available and a lot more sturdier. The biggest issue is buying a product online that you do not understand and often the person on the other end of the line has never fitted or understands the product. If you are interested in buying and think you have the capabilities to fit it, then go to one of their dealers and see what you are buying and ask about fitting difficulties. Experienced sales and fitting staff will give you an honest answer. I have been called out to buildings that have been so badly put together that I needed to strip them down and start again. If you are not capable of fitting these do not try and send bad reviews as its not right... Also remember the supply issues factories had with COVID. The biggest issue is when you try to fit a building on a sub standard base, trying to fit an oblong section of glass into a rhomboid shaped holes does not work. I also bet that the reviews left about broken sheets of glass will have a substandard base or the building is not square on th base and vertical.

Date of experience: December 31, 2024

The instructions are HORRIBLE, It is the 5th day and the builder is still trying to solve the puzzle. None of the galsses are marked and they are all in different sizes. Worst customer service ever. I wish I had a look at the trustpilot before I ordered it. My builder is about to quit the job after 5 days of strugle. No glazing plan either. No answerimg their phones or emails...DO NOT ORDER!

Date of experience: December 20, 2024

Several toughened glass panels have shattered in less than 4 years.

We are currently ordering yet another glass panel this year at our expense as well as delivery and if you can't fit, fitting too as it's not covered by the 10 year warranty which it states under the guarantee for 10 years for the 'greenhouse'.

The most recently panel is a side panel protected by a fence. As with the others nothing has hit it etc. When one of the roof panels when my mum.was in the greenhouse nothing has hit it or knocked it and it shattered over her head. I know it's safer but the 100s squares are still sharpe and dangerous/horrible to shatter on you. If it has of been normal glass I don't think it would have broken in the first place.

The customer service has been good but the toughened glass is not fit for purpose in our opinion and has the shortest life span of greenhouse glass we have personally have known with no impact causing any harm.

Date of experience: August 15, 2024

Own my own building and handyman business and was asked to install for a Costumer! Absoulute stressed for 10 hours following the cryptic clues they call instructions. Managed to get to a point where I could finally get the glass in (another guessing game)... only to find 6 panes of glass missing ... feel sorry for the Client who paid quite a bit only to have that Absoulute shamble turn up. Do not waste your time !!!

Date of experience: July 18, 2024

Bought through Rhino greenhouses - first mistake. Inadequate guidance on what we needed to buy and inflated price. When it arrived we had serious concerns about quality and construction and rang rhino. They basically said nothing to do with us ring Elite which I did. I can honestly say that I have never experienced such rudeness from a company in dealing with my concerns. The woman I spoke to was unhelpful, abrupt and implied I was stupid for buying from the internet. Without her help or assistance we have managed to assemble the greenhouse and will see if it stands up to welsh winds (very doubtful). I hope they honour the 10 year guarantee. This would be impossible to assemble for anyone not technical. My husband is an engineer and found it tricky. I would never buy from this company again.

Date of experience: February 27, 2024

The best value greenhouses in the UK, bar none. UK made and high quality, no flimsy Chinese made ones here. Most of these poor reviews seem to be from people who really should have paid someone to erect their greenhouse, it's not always as straightforward as you think and it's really not a fast operation.

Date of experience: April 04, 2023

We bought the Elite Windsor Lean-To in Mocha ordering it in Oct, 2022. It was ready for delivery by January, 2023 but unfortunately the landscape company we had enlisted hadn't even started work by then and in fact didn't finish the work till July. Elite Customer Services were excellent and held it for us with no charge till August when we could accept delivery. We paid for it to be installed. The Greenhouse is fabulous, really solid and sturdy, we love the colour. Can't wait till next year's growing season.

Date of experience: August 08, 2023

We ordered an elite greenhouse online and had it delivered to Orkney.

It arrived with no packing list and after erecting the frame it was found that 14 panes of glass were 25mm short!! We were told that they ‘sent what we had in stock’! We were sent some plastic strips to bodge up the gap.

There were a number of parts missing, 24 plastic strips, bracing bar, silicon sealer x 8. Not all of these were found out at the same time due to the absence of a packing list. Some of these parts took 3 weeks to arrive and the 10’ bracing bar we should have had was sent in two pieces. We were told handles do not come as standard for our 5 doors.

The instructions for assembly were indecipherable (not fit for purpose) and it therefore took an age (10 weeks) to erect after also accounting for the missing parts to arrive. It seems staggering that with umpteen reviews saying this that this company still flouts the law by providing assembly instructions that are patently not fit for purpose and also cause untold grief and stress to customers with missing parts that take ages to arrive! It is totally unacceptable.

Our greenhouse leaks profusely. There is no seal whatsoever where the roof glass meets the eaves and the 32’ long gutter which is one and a half inch diameter has no fall/slope on it at all. Water therefore fills up and leaks back into the greenhouse. Unsatisfactory quality.

We have been told by the retailer to order more glass and get someone to replace it, provide a receipt which they will then pay. This would involve taking all the front glass out and replacing it, in December. Also of course arranging all this ourselves and paying for it beforehand. Not acceptable.

We have asked for compensation for the extra time taken and the poor quality of the product, also for the hassle and time with the glass and assembly. This has been refused by the retailer, who is not prepared to comply with the ‘consumer protection act 2015’.

We feel we have had disgraceful service and been sold a product that was not fit for purpose and also not of satisfactory quality. We feel we have been completely ripped off.

We wish we had seen the poor reviews of these greenhouses prior to ordering. If we had not spent so much time, effort and money putting up this greenhouse, it would be going in the skip.

If you value your time, money, effort and sanity DO NOT BUY AN ELITE GREENHOUSE!

Date of experience: November 29, 2023

I bought the Elite Windsor 4ft x 6ft lean to greenhouse and now that it's up I have to say I am happy with the product. However, like others I would have to say that the instructions are of little use relying on knowledge of specific terminology. The company videos are also of limited use as they do not spend enough time showing the right level of detail.

My main gripe is the fact that the fifth of the largest piece toughened glass exploded in my hands as soon as I tried to lift it. My experience with Elite customer services was pitiful. The first female assistant said they don't send out replacement glass as it was too expensive to shift and that it was my fault. When I asked to speak to her manager I got even shorter shrift. It was clearly my fault as they had shipped 50,000 pieces of glass and never had a complaint (anyone know better). She wasn't prepared to listen to my side and after saying her manager would call me next working day, told me that she would be ending the call. Well her manager never rang so I followed up an email to the MD which has never been replied to. Shocking after-sales!

Date of experience: June 23, 2023

My background being joinery/metalwork and design I put this up myself. The instructions to build are very poor with missing or contradicting information. They tell you to be careful so as not to scratch the painted items, but many came marked. Even the replacements for items short in length came marked. One even bent, another bent prior to them painting. One pane of glass was small. When bought up with ELITE they seem to think that I got over the issues so there is no problem. Having read many comments from other people who purchased the Elite greenhouse, I too wish I had opted for a different manufacturer. The greenhouse was not cheap, and did not meet the expected quality I expected. The service after is below what I would expect as a customer. Luckily I am only buying one as I would not go back to Elite. All the replies seem to suggest they are doing things right. Had to wait for missing parts that were not sent.

Date of experience: May 13, 2023

Is there lower than a one star option available? AVOID Elite Greenhouses, it's absolutely not worth the stress.

We ordered through a reputable local shed supplier and thought that their good reputation would extend to these greenhouses. Spoiler: it did not.
Having waited around 6 months for delivery (so it arrived in the middle of winter) for what was a quite expensive greenhouse, we finally got round to assembling it.

Now I'm not thick, I have two science degrees and the skills required to splice DNA, and my husband is a project manager. Between us we should be able to assemble a greenhouse. Unfortunately between the missing parts, the absolutely atrocious instructions and the less than useless videos on their site, all I actually want to do with it is send it to a scrap metal dealer.

At this point, it's in various bits in the garden while we wait AGAIN for a vital part that turned out to be missing. Oh and we need a new door handle as the coating we paid a fortune for is chipped and has rusted already.

Save yourself a LOT of money, a lot of time and several points on your blood pressure, and buy elsewhere.

Date of experience: May 28, 2023