Windows for a region built mostly before 1980.
Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Elmira, Baden, New Hamburg and Breslau. Published pricing, our own crews, and honest answers about which of your openings actually need brick-to-brick.
- From $900 per opening
- Heritage permit drawings included
- Install date in the contract
- 25-year transferable warranty
Our Waterloo shop
120 Northfield Drive West, Unit 4, Waterloo N2L 5J2. Crews dispatch from here, so a service call in Waterloo Region is a short drive rather than a scheduling problem.
Typical timeline
Estimate this week · quote next business day · remeasure within 5 days of signing · installed 3–5 weeks later.
Four housing types, four different answers.
Waterloo Region has an unusually old and unusually varied housing stock for its size. The right window for a 1912 brick semi in Old Berlin is not the right window for a 1994 build in Laurelwood, and the installation method is not the same either.
Century brick — Old Berlin, Victoria Park, Mary-Allen, Dickson Hill
Original wood frames, usually painted many times, often with rot at the sill and sash horns. These are the openings where brick-to-brick genuinely pays for itself: a retrofit here traps a failing frame inside a new one, and you lose two inches of glass on a window that was already small.
Usually: brick-to-brick, single or double hung, between-the-pane grilles to match the original light pattern.
Post-war and boom-era detached — Forest Heights, Stanley Park, Preston
Aluminium or early vinyl sliders in sound wood or steel frames. This is the biggest single category in the region and the one where retrofit is almost always correct. The frames are fine. The glass, the seals and the hardware are forty years past their design life.
Usually: retrofit, casement or tilt slider, triple pane. Whole-home projects land between $14,000 and $24,000.
Subdivision builds — Laurelwood, Beechwood, Doon South, Hespeler
Builder-grade double-pane vinyl reaching end of life all at once. The tell is fog between the panes on the south and west elevations first. Frames are almost always reusable, so this is retrofit work, and it is the group where the rebate math works hardest.
Usually: retrofit, like-for-like styles, ENERGY STAR triple pane for the rebate.
Student rentals and duplexes — Northdale, Sunnydale, Cedar Hill
Different problem entirely. These need egress compliance in bedrooms, hardware that survives tenants, and a schedule that fits between leases. We quote them the same way we quote owner-occupied homes, and we work the first two weeks of May and the last two of August.
Usually: retrofit, hopper or slider for basement egress, commercial-grade hardware.
What the city actually requires.
Most people are told they need a permit when they do not, and told they do not need one when they do. Here is the real line.
Do I need a building permit?
Not for a like-for-like replacement that keeps the opening the same size, anywhere in Waterloo Region or Guelph.
You do need one if you enlarge an opening, cut a new one, convert a window to a door, or add a bay that requires structural support. We tell you at the estimate, we pull the permit, and there is no handling fee for it.
What if my house is heritage-designated?
A heritage permit is required regardless of whether the opening size changes.
That applies to Part IV individually designated properties and to anything inside a Part V conservation district — Mary-Allen in Waterloo, Dickson Hill and West Galt in Cambridge, and several blocks around Victoria Park in Kitchener. Approval usually turns on operating style, sightline proportion and grille pattern rather than material, which is why hung windows with between-the-pane bars clear it and modern casements often do not. We prepare the elevation drawings and the product spec sheets as part of the quote.
What about basement bedroom egress?
Any bedroom below grade needs an openable window with at least 0.35 m² of unobstructed area and no dimension under 380 mm.
A lot of the region’s finished basements do not meet this, particularly in pre-1990 homes. If you are renting the space or planning to, this is worth fixing during the window project rather than after an inspection. Enlarging an opening to hit egress needs a permit and structural work, both of which we quote separately.
How far ahead should I book?
Book November to February for a spring install. Book in May and you are looking at August.
Fabrication is three to five weeks year-round; what moves is our install calendar. Winter installation is entirely normal here — we work one opening at a time, the house never sits open, and there is no performance penalty to a January install.
What neighbours are paying
Whole-home window projects, supplied and installed, HST excluded. These are ranges from real project sizes, not marketing figures.
| Home | Typical scope | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Semi or townhouse | 7–9 openings, retrofit | $8,500 – $13,000 |
| Post-war detached | 11–14 openings, retrofit | $14,000 – $24,000 |
| Subdivision two-storey | 15–20 openings, retrofit, one bay | $22,000 – $36,000 |
| Century home | 12–18 openings, brick-to-brick, hung, grilles | $26,000 – $48,000 |
Add HST. Subtract the Home Renovation Savings Program rebate you qualify for, which we confirm at the estimate and document for your claim.
Forty-five minutes. No presentation.
We measure, photograph, and tell you which openings need brick-to-brick and which do not. Written quote within one business day.