Greenhouse manufacturers

Latimer

Hi all,

Have spent some of my day trying to get my head around greenhouses.

I'm after a 6x8 and would love a Rhino, as I have seen nothing but praise for them, but they are beyond my budget (£1000 or thereabouts).

I've been looking at the Simplicity brand. Does anyone have any experience? Are they any good? Is it worth me waiting until I can double my budget and get a Rhino? 

Thanks all.

Butterfly66

I can’t comment on simplicity but do have a Rhino and they are good. You also get more as part of the standard package eg roof and side vents rather than everything being an optional extra and additional cost. When we were looking they appeared more expensive than some makes until you factored everything in.

steephill

Keep a lookout on various local social media sites, unwanted greenhouses are often available for little or no money. New house buyers with small kids see greenhouses which came with the house as a threat and just want rid of them. 6x8 is probably the most common size so you might get lucky.

Helios

I’ve got a Simplicity around the size you’re thinking of. It does an ok job but I have to say that if I were going to buy a new one I’d save up for a Rhino. My Simplicity one has lots of draughts and gaps (and it was constructed very carefully)and the door isn’t a good fit either despite the company sending me new door draught excluder as the stuff that came with it was screwed up and unusable. 

Another reason I’d go for a Rhino is that I believe they have poles or hooks on which you can put hanging baskets. Perhaps a Rhino owner can put you straight on that. Oh, and a low door sill. I find I’m constantly tripping on mine.

Wish I’d bought a Rhino...sigh.....

Pete.8

I have a Rhino and am really pleased with it.
The internal braces do have holes that I use to tie up my tomatoes, they could also be used for hanging plants as suggested above. You can also put S hooks through them to hang plants from.
It's a well -made and sturdy greenhouse

Butterfly66

The Rhino door sill is sloped on each side so you don’t trip over it, if that makes sense. And yes as @Pete.8 says the braces have holes. I also use mine for strings for tomatoes/cucumbers but also some s hooks for hanging bits and pieces out of the way

I don’t know about now but they used to offer a discount code if you ordered the brochure and I also got a discount for being a Gardeners World subscriber (they offered this with no proof asked for). Not huge discounts, if memory serves a few % each, but every little helps. They also have a sale towards the end of the season which is when we got ours, it was the end of July that year.

They are very sturdy and the assembly instructions are very detailed - and there are lots of their own utube tutorials and we were given a CD which had detailed written and video instructions. We’re not diy-ears so got someone in, Rhino gave us a list of registered assemblers (if that’s the word) in our area.

Four years in and it’s as steady and sturdy as ever and the automatic roof vents (come as standard) work like a dream

Wilderbeast

I'm currently awaiting an Elite Greenhouse ordered last year, we spent several months looking at and researching different options. Rhino did appear to be the most robust but not so far in front of some other brands, we got 16ft X 8ft Belmont we added extra ventilation options but it was still a 3rd cheaper than then an equivalent Rhino of same spec. 

We also have a 6 x 8 polycarbonate Greenhouse which we inherited with our garden extension, it's tucked into a corner next a big shed and behind a big covered pergola. Despite all the protection I resorted to drilling and screwing the side panels in place as they were constantly coming out in windy weather (roof panels have never been a problem), also the roof vent is held in place with wire as it also comes out of place quite freely. It was only a cheaper unit and I helped our then neighbours to build it as they were not at all practical but I wasn't impressed for day 1. 

Be aware the delivery times for most of the bigger manufacturers is now huge 20-30 weeks.  

Latimer

Thank you all.

It's frustrating not being able to see these things. My parents have a lovely Cedar greenhouse but I know that's way out of my budget plus I'm not keen on the upkeep.

The Rhinos do seem to come in much more costly than Elites or Simplicity, I'm just trying to guage whether they are worth that additional or if you are paying for the name and all the advertising budget they need to cover.

@Wilderbeast did you look at different options in the flesh? 

Wilderbeast

@latimer yes luckily we went down to Rhino just before the 1st lockdown, we also have a big greenhouse place outside Hull not that far away and they were open throughout. We went there twice and it was a great help deciding, they had 4 different manufacturers on display.

We were going to go for an Elite titan but the salesman did say that it really was overkill on the framework, he had me swinging from the Belmont frame work and it withstood my mere 18stone Hull 🤣🤣. I have just been called and it arrives next Monday, it's like having 2 Christmases in 1 year 😀😀😀😀😀 

Latimer

@Wilderbeast I may be back harassing you in a couple of weeks then, once you have it up and built!! 😀

BobTheGardener

One thing to look out for is type of surface you will be putting it on.  The rhino's are strong enough to be placed directly on compacted earth, should you wish.  Many others will need an extra base purchasing unless you build them on concrete foundations, or well-laid slabs.