Installing new windows in your home is a big decision. There’s a lot that goes into picking the perfect windows for your home, price being the first thing most people look at. Getting discount windows can be a great way to save money so your whole home window replacement doesn’t bite so deeply into your family’s budget.
However, there are all too many ‘window installation companies’ who prey on the desire for cheap windows, delivering substandard windows that don’t satisfy Florida Building Code (FBC) compliance requirements.
When all’s said and done, a ‘cheap’ window may end up costing you far more than you anticipated—especially if you have to pay to get it removed and replaced all over again with something that does satisfy the FBC’s requirements!
So, what’s the difference between a great impact window being offered at a discounted price and a cheap window that you shouldn’t waste your time and money on? Let’s go over some of the key ways to tell the difference between the two:
Discount Windows vs Cheap Windows: Impact Resistance
In Florida, you need to have strong impact resistance for your windows. Not just because the FBC’s compliance guidelines demand it, but because our state faces frequent extreme weather hazards.
Tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, even hail, of all things… There’s a ton of weather hazards that can shatter a non-impact window with ease. When a cheap, non-impact window breaks, that leaves your home open to moisture and pest intrusion that can be incredibly costly to fix.
As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The ability of impact windows to take the worst hits of hurricane season without letting wind and rain into your home makes them worth their weight in gold, and then some!
Cheap windows, on the other hand, often lack the proper hurricane resistance features to protect your home. Particularly unscrupulous window installers might try to pass off single pane non-impact windows as ‘impact resistant’ because they feature tempered glass. However, a real impact window is more than just tempered glass: it’s several layers of tempered glass with impact-absorbing flexible interlayers and reinforced frames and sashes designed in such a way as to be incredibly resistant to breaking even under concentrated attempts to destroy the window.
Here’s a quick video showing the difference between how quickly a regular, tempered glass door and a true impact door can be broken into with tool assistance:
In the video, you see that it only took a couple of hits for the baseball bat to smash the cheap sliding glass door panel wide open. On the other hand, even after multiple attempts with a bat, then an axe, the impact sliding glass door panel held strong. There were holes where the axe head penetrated, but nothing large enough to walk through. It took a forklift to damage the glass enough to allow entry!
If you come across a window that has a suspiciously low price, be sure to check it closely. It could be a cheap window company offering a non-impact window that won’t protect your home!
Discount Windows vs Cheap Windows: Energy Efficiency
Before you buy any window, check for a National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) label and look at the information on it. The label should have ratings for U-factor, SHGC, and air leakage. These are three key energy efficiency statistics that can help you sort out a high-quality window being offered at a discounted price from a window that’s merely cheap.
In Florida, you want a window that has all three numbers as small as possible to maximize energy efficiency. A low u-factor means there’s less heat passing between your home and the outside. A low SHGC, or Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, means that there’s less heat entering your home from the sun. A low air leakage means both heat and moisture are restricted from passing into your home.
To be highly energy efficient, a window should have an SHGC of 0.23 or less and a u-factor of less than 0.23 as well, with an air leakage rating of under 0.3 cubic feet per minute per square foot of window.
Cheap windows often don’t have strong energy efficiency characteristics, making their cost of ownership over time much higher than a high-quality discount window.
Not sure if an NFRC label actually goes to the window you’re looking at? You can look up windows on the NFRC Certified Products Directory using the window’s manufacturer and product information or the CPD code on the label, then check to see if the information on there matches the window you’re looking at!
If a window doesn’t have an NFRC label and you don’t find it in the CPD search, then it isn’t certified! Don’t fall for these so-called ‘discount windows’ when they’re pushed by unscrupulous sellers of cheap tricks (and windows)!
Discount Windows vs Cheap Windows: The Price Quote
A lot of companies love to say they have the lowest prices on their windows or outright say they have cheap windows like being cheap alone is something to be proud of.
Yet, they often don’t back that claim up with proof. Even in their price quotes, they’ll do things like give you a total amount that your installation will cost without breaking that cost down for you.
For example, $12,000 for ten windows sounds like a great price, as that comes out to about $1,200 per window. That’s on the low end for impact windows. But, how much of that price is actually the window and how much is for the labor? What about permit applications and specialized equipment for the installation? What kind of caulk, insulation, shims, and fastenings are they using? Does that total include weatherstripping?
If the installer doesn’t break down the costs, just giving you the total, you’ll never know what that money is for… which makes it harder to dispute the additional charges they might hit you with for the ‘unexpected’ cost overruns that seem to happen with cheap window installations all the time.
A discount window from a reliable window installer should have a price quote that breaks down your costs as precisely as possible, spelling out how much the window is, how much labor should be needed to put it in, what consumable resources will be used and their costs, everything. It should also put the brand of the windows in writing.
That way, there are no surprises later when you get the final bill and if there is an unexpected cost overrun, you can see exactly what it was and how much it added to the cost of your installation.
Discount Windows vs Cheap Windows: The Warranty
Does your new window come backed with a warranty that covers your costs if there’s a significant defect with the window? How long does that warranty last? Is it a standard (or rather, substandard) 5-10 year warranty or a lifetime warranty?
The companies that make cheap windows know the quality of what they’re making. That’s why they often try to make their warranties as short as possible, then stuff them chock-full of exceptions that make it nearly impossible to get warranty covered service and replacement.
A strong warranty with few exceptions is one of the hallmarks of a great-quality product, even when it’s a discount-price window. Meanwhile, a short warranty that excludes even basic wear and tear is a sign of a cheap window manufacturer and installer who just wants to get your money and doesn’t care if your new windows last more than a handful of years.
Just as an aside, Karoly Windows & Doors offers a lifetime labor warranty on the windows we install, covering labor for 25 years, guaranteed. We can do that because we’re so confident that the windows we install will last you a literal lifetime. We aren’t worried about having to come back out to fix our work!
What’s the Real Cost of Installing Cheap Windows Over Reliable Discount Windows?
The big reason a lot of people fall for cheap windows is that their price tag is so appealing in comparison to even discounted high-quality windows.
For example, say that you wanted to put in ten impact windows and two impact doors. One company gives you a price quote of $12,000 to put those windows and doors in, while the other company has a final price quote of ~$24,000.
- 4 PGT single-hung windows at $1,200 each: $4,800
- 2 PGT large horizontal sliders at $1,800 each: $3,600
- 1 PGT bay window at $4,000
- 2 PGT double hung windows at $1,500 each: $3,000
- 1 PGT awning window at $1,200
- 1 BHI entry door at $2,400
- 1 PGT sliding glass door set at $5,000
That’s $16,600 in windows and $7,400 in doors.
Naturally, the $12,000 installation seems like the better deal, right? It’s half the cost of the other price quote. Even if the costs aren’t broken down item by item, it’s so low!
Well, it’s suspiciously low, in fact. So low that it probably wouldn’t cover the cost of even moderate-quality impact windows and the labor needed to install them, even if the seller outsourced the work to the cheapest subcontractors in Tampa Bay!
A price that’s too good to be true often is too good to be true. There have been cases where sellers promised crazy cheap window installations like the one above, then never got around to the installation. They pocketed their customers’ money and ran instead. While arrests do happen for this kind of fraud, that doesn’t guarantee that the victims of these scams will get their deposits back.
For argument’s sake, let’s say that the $12k installer actually does provide windows and doors. However, when the windows and doors show up, there’s an issue: They aren’t the brands promised. The thing is, during the sales pitch, the windows were sold as “being equivalent to PGT windows” and not actually as PGT windows.
And, because the price quote and contract didn’t specify window brands, there’s no paper trail showing that you were promised a premium, high-quality brand at that cheap window price. Instead, you now have cheap windows that ape the PGT style without the quality and reliability the brand is known for.
Worse yet, the next time a storm hits, you discover that the windows aren’t actually impact windows, because they shattered when a loose rock got picked up and thrown at your home, shattering the windows.
Now, you have to pay to get that window replaced, there’s water damage to your home, your ceiling’s looking a little cracked from internal wind pressure, and there’s now about a dozen different pest species infesting your home through the broken window.
That ‘cheap’ $12k install is now looking like even more money to get the windows replaced to meet the Florida Building Code, replace your damaged furniture and flooring, and exterminate the bugs and rats that got into your home. Worse, homeowner’s insurance is refusing to cover these costs because you didn’t have the right protection installed to prevent it, making your home more of a liability than was assumed when you installed ‘impact’ windows.
Get Discount Windows You Can Trust!
Rather than dealing with the stress of having to fix and replace cheap windows, get actual discount windows from top brands installed by trustworthy experts who know what they’re doing!
Karoly Windows & Doors specializes in installing impact windows from top brands like Simonton and PGT. Not only do we offer custom-made windows from the best manufacturers, we back it up with expert installation that ensures your windows will last you a literal lifetime!
We’re so confident in the quality of our discount windows that we back them up with a 25-year labor warranty and a 50-year material warranty, so you can rest easy knowing that your windows are covered.
Reach out today to learn more about our discount window offers like I.M.P.A.C.T., which help homeowners get top-quality windows installed at a reduced price!
