What we install · French & Specialty Openings
The Openings That Make the Elevation
Arched heads, French pairs, fixed picture units, corner glazing. These are the openings that give a house its character, and the ones where approval and appearance argue with each other most.
Give us the address and a rough count of openings. We will tell you what the design pressures are before anyone quotes you a price.
HVHZ
Broward is inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone
NOA
Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance is the approval that governs here
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
Being told the shape is not possible
It is common for a homeowner to be told that an arched head or a corner assembly cannot be done in impact, when what is actually true is that the company quoting does not carry a product line that covers it. Shapes and specialty configurations do hold approvals — they are a narrower field, they cost more, and they take longer. That is a different statement from cannot be done, and the difference is worth several elevations.
What is genuinely constrained
- Approved shapes exist but the product field is narrower than for rectangles.
- Lead times are longer, sometimes considerably.
- Approved pressure at unusual sizes is the binding constraint, not the shape itself.
- Corner assemblies without a structural mullion are the hardest case.
- Matching sight lines across mixed shapes takes specifying, not luck.
Where the money goes on a character house
On a house with arches, corner glass and mixed openings, the cost is rarely in the glass. It is in the number of distinct units, the lead time on the specialty pieces and the labour to make sight lines agree across them. A house with twenty identical rectangles is a cheaper job than a house with twelve varied ones.
Knowing that early changes how people phase the work. The usual answer is to do the character elevation properly in one go and phase the plain ones, rather than spreading a compromise evenly across the whole building.
How we handle it
- 01Establish what shapes hold approval at your pressures before design.
- 02Keep sight lines consistent where units of different types meet.
- 03Order early, because specialty lead times drive the programme.
- 04Fit and finish with our own crews so the reveal detail is right.
We work out the shape question before anything is priced, because it decides both cost and programme. Where a shape genuinely cannot hold the pressure required, we will say so and set out what changes — a structural mullion, a different configuration, or accepting a squarer head — rather than quietly substituting something and letting you notice at installation.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Some corner glazing without a mullion has no approved solution at HVHZ pressures. Where that is the case we will tell you at the measure. It is a real constraint, not a sales position.
FAQ
Common questions
- Can arched windows be impact rated?
- Yes. The product field is narrower and lead times are longer, but shapes do hold approvals. If somebody has told you it is impossible, they most likely mean they cannot source it.
- Can I keep frameless corner glass?
- Sometimes not at HVHZ pressures without a structural mullion. That is one of the few places where the honest answer is a genuine no, and we would rather give it at the measure than after a deposit.
- How much longer do specialty units take?
- Materially longer than standard rectangles, and they set the programme for the whole job. We order them first for that reason.
Broward specifics
Broward Is HVHZ
Miami-Dade and Broward are the only counties inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. It is a genuinely different approval regime, and it is the single fact that should shape a Broward quote.
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Design Pressure
Design pressure is calculated per opening from the building, the site and the unit. It is the number that decides what may legally go in the hole, and most homeowners are never shown it.
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Waterfront & Exposure
Broward is cut through with waterway. A house on the Intracoastal, a finger canal or the ocean carries higher design pressures and a corrosion problem the inland houses do not have.
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Older Housing Stock
A great deal of Broward housing predates the code changes that followed 1992. On those buildings the window is the easy part; what the window is fixed into decides the job.
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How We Work Here
Most of this trade sells the job and subcontracts the installation. We do not. On a house where the finish matters, that is the whole difference.
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More what we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and the one most often quoted wrong. What matters is not the brand on the sticker but whether that exact unit holds an NOA for the pressure your specific opening has to resist.
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Sliding Glass Doors
The widest opening in the house, usually facing the water, usually carrying the highest design pressure on the elevation. It is also the one most likely to have been under-specified.
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Entry Doors
An entry door is a small opening carrying a large expectation. On a luxury elevation it is also the piece everyone looks at, which makes the trade-off between approval and appearance sharper here than anywhere else on the house.
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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.