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Three Questions to Answer Before Anyone Quotes You
In Collier and Lee these come before the windows. Answering them can change the scope, the budget, or whether this is a window job at all.
Tell us the address and whether the property has been repaired since 2022. That second answer decides whether this is a window job or something larger.
1. Has this property ever been assessed as substantially damaged?
The local floodplain administrator holds the answer. It matters because once repair or improvement costs reach half the structure's value, the obligation can extend to bringing the whole building into current compliance.
That is a phone call, it is free, and it should happen before you collect quotes rather than after you have accepted one.
2. What protection does the house already have?
A great many newer Collier and Lee homes were built compliant using shutters rather than rated glass. Owners frequently do not know which route their house took.
- Count the shutter panels in the garage against the openings in the house.
- Look for an etched marking in a corner of a few panes.
- Check the original permit package for what was approved.
- Confirm the mounting hardware for the panels is still in the walls.
3. Are there open permits on the address?
A repair from 2023 whose permit was never closed can complicate pulling a new one, and it is invisible until somebody checks the record.
The building department can tell you. If the contractor who did that work has since left the state, this is the point at which you find out.
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.