Frameless or semi-frameless glass?

Every glass balustrade conversation reaches this fork. Both options are compliant, both look far better than the fence they replace, and one costs meaningfully more. Here is the honest difference, so you can pick with your eyes open.

Frameless: the glass is the structure

Frameless panels stand on stainless spigots or sit in a base channel with no posts at all. Because the glass carries the loads itself, it is thicker, usually 12mm toughened, and laminated where there is no continuous top rail. The result is the cleanest barrier you can build: from a few metres away it reads as nothing at all. It is the pick for view-side balconies, pools and feature stairs.

Semi-frameless: slim posts, smaller invoice

Semi-frameless runs thinner glass between slim posts, typically with a neat top rail. You notice the posts up close and barely at a distance, and the system is more forgiving to install on imperfect substrates. Metre for metre it lands noticeably cheaper than frameless, which is why it is the workhorse on decks, stairs and long runs.

Where each earns its money

Pay for frameless where the view justifies it: the harbour terrace, the pool with the outlook, the stair in the entry. Choose semi-frameless where glass is the right material but the run is long, the budget is real, or the barrier is not the hero of the space. Plenty of good jobs mix both: frameless on the view edge, semi-frameless down the side.

The fixing decides the finish

Either way, the hardware determines how the job looks in five years. We use marine-grade spigots and posts where salt or chlorine is anywhere nearby, and we set them out with a laser, because glass shows every millimetre of error a coated rail would forgive.