Who can I hire to replace my windows?
You’ve got a nice house. A good house. But nothing crazy, right? You bought it for under $650,000 6 years ago - the bank says it’s worth $1,000,000 now, but that doesn’t mean anything; you only pay $2,500 a month for your mortgage. It’s a nice side of town, a good looking home, but again - you’re not rich. You’re a normal Bozeman homeowner. What’s more, you’ve got mouths to feed. You both work hard, pay your bills, have a retirement plan, but there’s not exactly thousands and thousands of extra dollars lying around each month. Eggs are like $6 a dozen. Gas is getting expensive!
So why do contractors always seem to give you the “rich person” pricing?
Your windows are leaking - you can tell by the damage to the trim on the outside, as well as when it rains hard - a little water creeps in and puddles on the window sill in that second bedroom. The bathroom window is fogged; is that from bathroom moisture or have the seals failed? You know it’s time to begin looking into window replacement. So you solicit a few quotes. The results are in:
-You have 22 windows. Average size: 20 square feet of glass per window. They are builder-grade vinyl. They are again, cracking, failing. It’s definitely time to get them replaced (according to the replacement companies . . .)
-The big outfit wants to put their proprietary window in. If you sign today, they’ll do it for $44,000. If you wait, the deal goes to its “normal” price of $66,000. They claim they can get the windows in within 4 weeks, and the job will take only 3 days. They have an attractive financing plan to boot. The sales guy looks like he’s never held a hammer but he’s super friendly and turned that quote around quick!
-The local contractor/handyman wants to do it for an hourly rate of $85/hour. He says he can get some good vinyl replacements for an average of $650/unit. So $14,300 for the windows. He estimates another $2,200 for trim and paint, and says he can handle everything. His cousin helps him with the heavy lifting. He estimates it will cost $28,000 all-in, and take about 2 weeks. But it’s not a fixed-price contract. Maybe it will cost less (or maybe more? And isn’t he more of a carpenter?)
-Two local window companies both came in at about $50,000 or $2,200 per unit. They seem like the true intersection of local honesty and professional competence. But at $50,000 you’re going to have to tap into that HELOC. $6,000 is nothing to sneeze at, so it might be worth going with the big outfit and saving that 6 grand. Then again, what’s the worst that can happen with the handyman guy? You might save $20,000 or more - how much headache is $20,000 worth?
How do you parse this out? By what standard will you decide who to go with? And most of all: Why does it cost so much?
Let’s look at the factors driving cost in each scenario, and perhaps this will offer some clarity to the decision-making process.
The national outfit.
Their proprietary windows are fine but cheap. They are paying $8,000 total for the units.
Their labor is cheap. They subcontract to semi-local (probably out of Billings or elsewhere in the mountain west) storm-chaser types. The kind of rough men who know how to work, but not particularly hard or clean. They pay them about $150-$200/window in-and-out. Speed is strongly incentivized. Total labor cost is $5,000.
At the end of the day, they are a marketing and sales machine. They might even have their own financing firm too. They have a lot of overhead (mostly marketing spend), and a high sales commission (15% of the total job). Their overhead is going to eat about $5,000 for this job, and the sales team is going to take $6,000 to $10,000.
They also have to cover the inevitable warranty time they will spend fielding your calls with complaints about unfinished scope, malfunctioning hardware, and the mess the guys left behind in the rock beds. Budget $1,000.
Finally, the sales guy failed to note the required safety glass at the stairwell and at the front door, their proprietary window only comes in black or white, the opening you want to change will be a “change order” for an unknown price, and they don’t do interior trim - you’ll have to find a local guy to do that afterward, or they can just caulk the new windows to the trim.
All-in, they charge you $50,000, the outside looks remarkably mediocre, you’re not sure but you think you saw them hacking the flanges off the new windows, there is a large gap between the windows and the interior trim, the guys inside scratched your hardwood floor, and they all smelled of weed and taught your 4 year-old some new words . . . Once they finish, you have to call someone in Salt Lake City to discuss any issues or complaints, and the warranty guy is 5-6 weeks out before he can come take a look.
The local contractor/handyman.
He will install whatever windows you want. He’s not sure the difference between vinyl and fiberglass, and you’re not sure he knows whether a new-construction flange or a pocket-replacement is the way to go.
He usually talks to a guy at the lumber yard, and recommends you go in there and ask him for advice on what windows you should do.
He charges $85/hour, and $80/hour for his helper. He thinks they can get it done in two weeks. His proposal isn’t exactly clear on the scope, and it looks like Chat GPT wrote his contract.
You notice a few items missing from his scope letter. Will he handle haul-away, and if so, will he charge for that? How much? He has a line called “interior trim” but it doesn’t mention species, color, or details. Currently your trim is poplar - can he find poplar, and will it cost extra for him to drive around looking for it, or trying to get it stained just-so? Maybe he wants to stain it in your garage. That’s fine.
After getting the tempered glass, the grilles, and the obscured glass right, as well as adjusting the function on those three living room units, the actual window price comes to $16,500. Trim and finish work comes out to $4,500. The exterior trim and paint work is another $1,800. Finally, when all the labor is finished, it actually took them 3 weeks, and he had to get a third helper for several days (some of those windows are high!). The total labor bill was $17,060. He forgot about the dumpster, the outhouse, and there was some discovered damage that took a lot longer than he anticipated. These all added up to almost $5,000.
The final bill from Joe-Contractor is $44,860. You’re not sure if you over-paid (did he clock out for his lunch breaks or not?), and he’s not sure he’s making enough money to stay in business.
The local window company
They helped you choose the right windows to meet your budget, quality level, and the aesthetic of your home.
They helped you understand the price levers you had to choose features and budget based on your priorities.
Their contract for a fixed-price is solid, with a clear scope and delineated choices. You know what you’re getting, and what it will cost, ahead of the project.
The company and everyone working with them is genuinely local - it’s easy to believe they will be here for full warranty-support after the project.
Your contract price was $52,500. They charged you $52,500. The jobsite was clean and respectful throughout the project, the workers seemed thoroughly competent, they cleaned up very well, and you’ve got brand new, high-quality windows!
