7 Questions To Ask Before You Buy New Windows

Asking the Right Questions Now Prevents Hassles Later

Looking to buy new windows? Before you choose, you might want to ask your prospective contractor a few questions about their products, process, and people.

What Questions Should You Ask?

Knowing that you should ask questions before committing to buying windows from a company doesn’t help much if you don’t know the questions to ask. While this is hardly an exhaustive list of every question you might have for a contractor, it’s a good place to start, and it may help you think of a few questions of your own you might like to ask.  

What warranties do you offer?

Warranties and guarantees are excellent indicators of the quality of a contractor. Any contractor confident in their work should offer good coverage of that work — after all, a good warranty looks good in their advertising and shouldn’t cost them any money if they’re doing good work.

When is the first payment due?

You don’t want payment to be a surprise when you’re working with a window company, and you probably don’t want to be spending money well before any work is done on your project. The most confident companies will take payment upon completion because they’re not scraping by with cashflow issues (which could become getting-your-windows issues), and they’re confident in the work they’re going to do for you.

How many window styles do you offer?

A window company should be able to tackle nearly any style of window you might want, with the only limitation being the cost of truly custom designs. You don’t want to get funneled into whatever specialty the company has instead of getting what you truly desire — don’t settle for the same style throughout the home if you want a variety of interesting designs!

Are your energy-efficiency features standard on all windows?

Well-constructed modern windows are inherently more energy-efficient than their predecessors, but there’s no guarantee that you’re buying energy-efficient unless you dig into what you’re getting. Even if the answer from a company is “no,” they should at least be communicating clearly to you what sorts of energy features you can choose from and what you can expect from a given product or assembly.

What brands do you recommend or work with?

Most window companies work with particular brands, and if they understand the deeper details of the work, they’ll have strong recommendations ready when you ask for them. If they suggest the same thing for essentially every request, that’s a bad sign — if they have specific picks for your particular needs or preferences, that’s great.

Will you handle permitting issues?

Fighting through bureaucracy is a major source of stress on any upgrade to your home or property, which is why it’s a great relief when you can forget about all that and leave it to the professionals. At a minimum, you want to know if your planned project requires permits in your area and when or if you’ll need to take care of them — but you shouldn’t have to unless specific local regulations require your involvement.

What makes you different?

There are countless window companies out there and even more general-work contractors who will do windows if you ask. Perhaps the easiest way to understand what — if anything — a window company has to offer you is to ask what makes them different.

Ask Zen Windows These Questions and More

Now that you have a few questions in mind, you might want to direct them at Zen Windows and see what answers we can provide! We work hard to make buying windows and doors as painless for the consumer as possible, with a huge variety of styles and customization options, hassle-free quotes with no money down, and superior customer service from start to finish.

Ready to get started? Call or contact us online with these questions and more!