← Window replacement bid calculator
Enough to cover the openings the house actually has, not enough to match the cheapest postcard on the block. A first-floor 3040 insert is not the same job as a second-floor 6048 picture window with a rotten sill, and a flat price per window cannot see the difference.
Open the free bid calculatorStart with width and height on each opening, in inches. Add them. That sum is United Inches — the unit the glass shop prices from a stock 3040 (70 UI). A 6048 picture is 108 UI and is a different piece of glass, a different lift, and a different flash. Four identical bedrooms and one living-room picture are five openings on a postcard and two different invoices in the shop.
A first-floor insert is a ladder and a helper. A second-floor bedroom is staging, a second pair of hands on the sash, and often a scaffold or a lift. A third-floor opening is a different day. If those hours are “included” in a $550-a-window special, they are unpaid. Count the story on every row.
A clean pocket install is one job. A sill that has to be cut out and rebuilt is carpentry. A brickmold cut-in is masonry time. A house built before 1978 is lead-safe work, not a free upgrade. Contractors who quote only the unit and “figure the rest in” are guessing the line that most often blows a postcard special.
An installer paid $38 often costs more than $50 once employer taxes, workers’ compensation, liability, and paid time off are counted. Overhead sits on top of that direct cost. Margin is a share of the price the customer sees, not a markup you add last and forget. The walk-away number is total cost: below it the job makes nothing, even before you pay yourself.
This is not a manufacturer size chart, not an Energy Star requirement, and not a finding that an opening is permitted, structurally sound, or lead-safe. The starting unit prices and hours are ballpark numbers so a contractor can see the shape of a bid. Replace them with the unit you buy and times from your own jobs, confirm measurements on site, and have a qualified professional review anything that has to be signed, inspected, or permitted.
Price this job in the calculator
Charge the openings the job will actually take — United Inches (width plus height) for the unit, plus hours for the story, the install method, and the tear-out — then divide cost by one minus your target margin. A flat price per window hides the difference between a first-floor 3040 insert and a second-floor 6048 picture window with a rotten sill.
United Inches are width plus height in inches. A 3040 is 70 UI; a 6048 picture is 108 UI. Glass shops price from a stock 3040 and add for every extra inch. Labor also grows once the unit is no longer a one-person lift. Counting openings without counting UI is how two houses with the same window count produce different invoices.
No. Starting unit prices and hours are editable ballpark numbers, not a manufacturer size chart, an Energy Star list, or a finding that any opening is permitted, structurally sound, or lead-safe. Confirm measurements and product quotes on site.