Window replacement is fast work compared with most renovation, and the pace is the reason things get missed. A crew that is fitting ten windows in a day is spending under an hour on each.
How long it takes
Inserts: 30 to 60 minutes per opening once the crew is set up. A two-person crew handles six to twelve windows a day.
Full frame: 2 to 4 hours per opening, because the old frame comes out, flashing goes in, and interior and exterior trim is replaced. Three to six windows a day.
Most whole-house jobs are one to three days. Weather stops exterior work; a competent crew will not open a wall with rain coming.
What to do before they arrive
Clear three feet inside and outside every window. The crew needs to work from both sides, and outside means moving planters, hoses and furniture, not just the shrubs they will otherwise stand in.
Take down curtains, blinds, rods and brackets. Anything left up will be removed by someone in a hurry, and rod brackets rarely go back where they were.
Take things off the walls near the openings. Removing an old frame involves prying and occasionally a hammer, and pictures fall.
Disarm and disconnect alarm sensors. Contact sensors are glued or screwed to the old sash and frame. They will be destroyed. If the system is monitored, tell the alarm company the day before and arrange for a technician afterwards — this is the single most common post-installation surprise.
Cover furniture in the room, even for insert work. Old windows are dusty in ways that are not obvious until they come out.
Decide about pets in advance. Exterior doors stay open, and openings stand empty for stretches of the day.
Lead paint, if the house predates 1978
Federal rules require the contractor to be EPA RRP certified and to use lead-safe work practices: plastic containment, restricted access to the work area, HEPA clean-up.
This is not a formality and it is not optional. It changes how the day looks — plastic sheeting, a slower pace — and it should have been priced. A contractor working on a pre-1978 house without it is out of compliance, and it is worth asking for the certification number before the day rather than during it.
What to check before they leave
Walk every window with the crew leader while they are still on site:
- Operate it — open, close, lock, unlock. Even effort throughout the travel.
- Look at the reveal — the gap between sash and frame should be parallel all the way round.
- Check the exterior sealant — continuous at head and jambs, and deliberately absent along the bottom so water can drain.
- Confirm the weep holes at the bottom of the exterior frame are open and not sealed shut.
- Count the units against the order and check the glass package is what you paid for — the NFRC sticker is still on the glass at this point and it is the last chance to read it.
Do not let the stickers be removed before you have read them.
Payment
Hold back a final payment until you have done the walk-through and, ideally, until after the first heavy rain. A deposit at order and a balance on satisfactory completion is standard.
Get the manufacturer warranty registration done yourself. Several manufacturers require registration within a fixed window after installation, and a warranty that was never registered is the kind of problem that only appears fifteen years later, when the glass fogs.