Aluminum doors and windows from China have found their way into construction projects on every continent, and for good reason. Foshan’s Nanhai district is one of the most important aluminum processing and fabrication centers in the world. The factories here produce aluminum profiles, extrusions, and finished door and window systems at a scale and price that no Western manufacturer can come close to matching. If you are building, renovating, or supplying the construction industry, this is a product category worth understanding properly.
What is Made in Foshan’s Aluminum District
The range of aluminum doors and windows produced in the Nanhai district covers every configuration used in modern construction. Casement windows, sliding windows, tilt-and-turn windows, fixed glass panels, bi-fold doors, sliding patio doors, lift-and-slide systems, pivot doors, and curtain wall systems are all produced here in enormous quantities. The aluminum profiles themselves are extruded locally, anodized or powder-coated in nearby finishing facilities, and then cut and assembled into finished products in the same industrial zone. This vertical integration keeps costs low and allows for fast turnaround on custom orders.
Profile Systems and Thermal Performance
Standard aluminum profiles without thermal break are the most basic and lowest-cost option. They are suitable for warm climates but will cause condensation and heat loss in colder environments. Thermally broken aluminum systems use a polyamide or polyurethane barrier inside the profile to reduce heat transfer. These are required by building codes in most European countries and increasingly common in North American construction. High-performance triple-glazed thermally broken systems from Foshan factories are competitive in price with European alternatives and can meet strict energy performance standards. Always specify the required U-value and ask factories to provide test reports to confirm compliance.
Glass Options and Hardware
Glass is typically sourced separately or supplied by the factory as part of a complete system. Low-e glass, laminated safety glass, tempered glass, and double-glazed insulated glass units are all readily available from factories adjacent to the aluminum fabrication zone. Hardware includes multipoint locking systems, handles, hinges, and weather seals. European hardware brands like Roto and Siegenia are available as upgrade options; Chinese hardware equivalents are used at the standard specification.
Our Role in Your Aluminum Sourcing
Agent Foshan sources aluminum doors and windows for developers, architects, and construction companies. We help define specifications, identify the right factory for your performance and budget requirements, arrange samples, conduct factory and pre-shipment inspections, and manage shipping. Contact us with your project drawings and specifications and we will prepare a detailed sourcing proposal.
Thermal break or not, and why the price doubles
Aluminium conducts heat extremely well, which is excellent for a saucepan and terrible for a window frame. An untreated aluminium frame carries cold straight through the wall, wastes energy and produces condensation on the inside face in winter.
A thermally broken profile solves this by splitting the frame into inner and outer halves joined by an insulating strut, usually polyamide. This roughly doubles the profile cost and it is not optional in any market with meaningful building energy rules.
What to ask: is the profile thermally broken, what is the strut material, and what is the strut width in millimetres. Wider struts insulate better. A factory quoting a very low price on an aluminium window is usually quoting a non broken profile, and comparing that against a broken one is not a comparison at all.
The glass is most of the performance
The frame gets the attention and the glazing unit does most of the work. The variables that matter:
- Low emissivity coating. A microscopically thin metallic layer that reflects heat back where it came from. The single most cost effective performance upgrade available.
- Cavity fill. Argon between the panes performs better than air and costs very little more.
- Spacer bar. The strip around the edge of the unit. Traditional aluminium spacers conduct cold to the glass edge and cause edge condensation. Warm edge spacers largely solve it.
- Toughened or laminated. Required by regulation in many locations for doors, low level glazing and anything near a wet area. Laminated also adds security and acoustic benefit.
Ask for the whole window performance figure rather than the glass figure alone, because a good unit in a poor frame gives a mediocre window.
Profile wall thickness and hardware
Aluminium profile is sold by weight, so the cheapest way to reduce a quotation is to thin the walls of the extrusion. A thin profile flexes, which causes seals to leak and sashes to drop out of adjustment over time.
Ask for the wall thickness in millimetres and for the alloy and temper designation. Then ask about hardware separately, because hinges, locks and the multi point mechanisms on large sliding doors are what people touch every day, and a heavy sliding panel on cheap rollers becomes hard to move within a couple of years.
These are made to measure, which changes everything
Unlike almost every other category, windows and doors are manufactured to your exact opening sizes. There is no stock and no returns. If the site measurements are wrong, the goods are scrap.
So the sequence has to be: structural openings finished, a professional survey taken on site, sizes confirmed in writing with tolerances agreed, and only then production released. Never order from architectural drawings alone, because buildings are not built to the millimetre the drawings claim. Agree who carries the risk if a unit does not fit, and agree it before you pay a deposit.
Price ranges
| Product | Approx. FOB per square metre |
|---|---|
| Non thermally broken casement, double glazed | USD 55 to 95 |
| Thermally broken casement, low E double | USD 110 to 190 |
| Thermally broken, triple glazed | USD 170 to 300 |
| Sliding door, standard | USD 100 to 180 |
| Sliding door, large panel, heavy duty gear | USD 200 to 400 |
| Bifold door system | USD 220 to 450 |
Approximate FOB ranges per square metre of finished unit. Profile system, glazing specification, hardware brand and finish drive the spread.
Packing and breakage
Glazed units are heavy, rigid and fragile at the corners. They travel upright in purpose built frames, never stacked flat, with foam between units and the corners individually protected. Ask for photographs of the loaded container before the doors close.
Order a small number of spare glazed units on any large project. Site damage during installation is routine, and a replacement unit made and shipped separately months later costs many times what a spare in the original container costs.
What goes wrong
- Non thermally broken profile supplied against a thermally broken quotation.
- Glass specification downgraded, low E or argon quietly omitted. It is invisible without instruments, so require the unit specification labels.
- Sizes wrong because production ran from drawings rather than a site survey.
- Corner breakage in transit from inadequate frames.
- Seals and gaskets that harden in cold climates because the compound was specified for a mild one. State your climate.
- No spares, turning routine site damage into a months long delay.