re: New Window Sales - Profit Margins

There was a fantastic show on Netflix about vinyl window salesmen in the 80’s in Great Britain. It was hilarious (not British humor hilarious, just in general). I think it got canceled, though, because one of the cast was “me too”’d.

It talked about how they would mark stuff up then slash to the original price.

Anyway, That’s all I have to add.

After going through the hour-long sales pitch from a window company and getting the same horseshite "discount" from $50,000 down to the one-time-only price of $29,000! I told them hell no and called a local GC I know well.

GC sent a sub over to take measurements without the clownass sales pitch. We ended up doing the ground floor windows only, 13 standard windows + 2 custom installed for less than $15,000 (I paid 50% down in cash), there was a 4-month backlog at the time, they'll be installing mid-April.

Good deal or not? IDGAS as I'll be selling the house inside 12 months.

It's funny when people dont know how MSRP/list pricing works.

i called relief windows summer of last year. just looking for more energy efficient windows for the afternoon sun. dude takes like an hour and a half preparing a quote at my dinner table and says "$8,150 if you sign now. 8900 tomorrow and 9400 every day after." i told him thanks but no thanks.

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Good deal or not? IDGAS as I'll be selling the house inside 12 months.

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So why replace the windows?

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The wife's carrying on that there are a few windows where the seals are busted, and the double panes are fogging, distorting the view to the lake,etc. + A couple of window seals have some rotten wood in the corners from rain/moisture over the years. It'll definitely show better, and we can say "windows recently replaced" when listing.

I have a few West facing windows on the second floor that get hot as hell in the late afternoon.

Has anyone ever used a sunscreen film that looked halfway decent from the exterior to block out some of the heat/sun? Something that's non-adhesive and easily removable in the winter?

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Tried and true old faithful tin foil.

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The wife would stroke out.

Allright, allright...previous seller of all building materials here. I worked for large national suppliers as well as a few smaller local dealers as well. Primarily in overall sales to the pro-builders and some homeowners. We would do full estimations on the customers plans and provide pricing in hopes of selling the entire house package. An often used strategy by many in the field is low margins on the framing materials that you make up in windows, doors and other finishes. 35% is a good average on windows and doors. It can be as low as 20% on low end or high quantity but easily reach 50% on the higher end and custom. This is the case in 8 different states I have worked in when selling the whole house package was the goal. If a supplier is a stand alone window and door supplier I can see there margins being a little higher, but keep in mind not all suppliers pay the same to the manufacturers. A national company is absolutely going to have lower cost than a smaller local company, but the local company may still lower their margins to compete.

So many window variables it’s hard to say. The range in quality has never been greater.

This was back in 2014.

I installed my own windows on a camp.
Easy as I didn’t have to do retro fit in brick areas.

All fiber cement siding.
Wood jams.
Avg commodity vinyl window
Nothing fancy
Prairie grids to give good vision to lake but still got declarative pattern
Odd sash
Tilt sash
New construction with fins
Lowe E
3060 vinyl
$279 per window

Composite Azek trim $100 per window

A rolls of window flashing $30

Window $279
trim $100 per window
Flashing $30
Insulation $20
Caulk $10
Looking $439

I did the install myself.