Doing the whole house in one order

Why it comes up here in particular

Most of Lake Arbor went up in the 1990s. The original windows were fitted together and have aged together, so when the first sealed units fail the rest are rarely far behind.

That is the practical case for doing them in one order rather than in three visits over four years: the second and third rounds are coming anyway, and each of them carries its own set-up.

What changes when the count goes up

The fixed part of the job gets spread. Measuring, mobilising, delivery and set-up happen once rather than three times. This is the main reason the cost per opening usually falls as the order grows, and why sixteen openings is not simply eight openings twice.

The order becomes a single production run. Every unit is made to the same specification, which matters more than it sounds: color, profile and hardware match across the house, and a unit ordered four years later often will not match one ordered today.

Scheduling gets simpler and longer. One lead time for manufacture, one crew booking, usually more than one day on site.

How the work is usually staged

Measuring comes first, and every opening is measured individually. Houses that look uniform rarely are — openings drift by a quarter of an inch, and units are made to the measurement rather than to the drawing.

Manufacture takes weeks, not days. Made-to-order units are exactly that. This is the part of the timeline people underestimate, and it is worth asking for in weeks at the point of signing.

Installation runs room by room. A house is not opened up all at once: openings are done in sequence, and each is closed before the crew moves on.

The interior trim and the exterior capping are the finishing. Whether they come off, whether they go back, and in what condition, is the part of the quote most often left vague.

What to settle before the first unit comes out

• Insert or full-frame, stated for the whole order and not left per-window.
• Whether every elevation gets the same glass specification, or whether the south and west sides are being treated differently.
• What happens to the trim, inside and out, and who paints what afterwards.
• Where the old units go, and whether disposal is a line on the invoice.
• How many days on site, and whether the crew works consecutive days.
• What happens if something is found behind a frame — rot at a sill, a header that was never right. This is the one item nobody can quote in advance, and the one worth agreeing a process for rather than a price.

Doing it in stages instead

A reasonable plan, and common. If you take it, take it deliberately.

Do the elevations that took the weather first. South and west take more heat cycling, and they usually fail first for that reason.

Ask what the price difference actually is. Between five now and sixteen at once, and between five now and eleven in two years. The fixed costs land twice in the staged version.

Ask how long the specification stays available. Matching a profile and a color three years later is not always possible, and on a front elevation the mismatch shows.

Common questions

Does the house have to be empty? No. Rooms are worked one at a time; furniture near the openings gets moved back and window coverings come down ahead of the crew.

What about a permit? Replacing windows in their existing openings with no structural change is on the county's own list of work that needs no permit. Changing the size of an opening is a different matter and does need one.

Can I keep some of the old windows? Sometimes worth it — a bay or an arched unit in good condition is expensive to reproduce. Raise it at measuring rather than after the order is placed.