Congratulations! You’ve taken the first step to improving the comfort, quality and beauty of your home by choosing to replace your existing windows. You may have even selected the style and type of home replacement windows you want to use. Now it’s time for the next step: figuring out how to get those great replacement windows installed in your home.
Unless you are a skilled and experienced renovator, chances are you’ll want to find a professional to handle home replacement window installation. A skilled professional home improvement contractor can handle the job far more quickly and efficiently than any amateur can — and they have the experience to avoid making costly mistakes!
For maximum energy efficiency, it is imperative that your home replacement windows be installed correctly. The best home replacement windows in the world can’t do their job properly if they’re not put in your house the right way!
How do you find a home improvement contractor who can install your home replacement windows? You could just flip open the phone book and pick a name at random — but we don’t recommend this method! You don’t know who you’re going to get that way. Do you really want to trust your home — which is, for many people, their most valuable asset! — to a home improvement contractor you’ve never heard of?
Instead, ask for recommendations. The dealer you bought your windows from may keep a list of skilled installation professionals on hand: they work closely with the construction community and can often steer you toward people they know can provide you with top notch service. Additionally, ask family and friends who have had replacement windows installed who they had to do the installation. Questions to ask include if they’re pleased with the installation and if they’d hire the company again to do work for them.
When you’ve compiled a list of home improvement contractors, it’s time to do a little comparison shopping. It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily want the cheapest contractor to handle your home replacement window installation — you’ll be living with these windows a long, long time!
Instead, you’ll be focusing your search on three criteria. You want to know if the home improvement contractor:
- Can do the job
- Has a reputation of doing quality work
- Is experienced with this type of installation
Questions to ask your prospective home improvement contractor include:
Can you do the job?
This is more than the physical lifting and installation process. Ask your contractor if he is licensed to do business in your state and if he has the required insurances. Does he have time in his schedule to handle your job?
What is your reputation?
It’s okay to ask contractors for references and referrals. Get names and numbers, at least three. Call and ask the customers if they’re satisfied with the job the home improvement contractor did for them. Also: do a quick internet search on the contractor and check with the better business bureau for your region. If there are any complaints about this contractor out that, that’s where they’ll show up first.
Have you done this type of installation before?
Everybody’s got to do something for the first time — but let them practice on somebody else’s house! You want an experienced pro to handle your replacement window installation.
I’d have to acquiesce with you one this subject. Which is not something I usually do! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to speak my mind!