The light, the light!

June 17, 2005 9:15 PM

How much would it cost to install a new window where there was none before?

My office is in a framed, metal-sided, gyprock-lined, modular pre-fab building. I currently have no windows, though I do have an exterior wall with a tree just outside. A view of the outside world might be valuable enough for me to split the cost of installation with my employer. I'm just looking for a ballpark figure to see if it would be worth the expense / trouble.

posted by Popular Ethics to home & garden (7 comments total)

Very rough estimate... double the price of the window you want to install. And for an office add about $300 minimum to cover permit costs.
posted by Marky at 9:33 PM on June 17, 2005

We have brick and we just got an estimate to add a window: it was about $4000. Yes, that much. It might be the brick. $300 might be a lowball estimate.

Why don't you call a window replacement company to get a ballpark figure.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 4:45 AM on June 18, 2005

Who owns or runs the building? Building management may have "preferred contractors" that they would want you to go to or specific specs related to matching the other windows. This can add $.

Also make sure there's no wiring running htrough the spot you want the window.

But call a couple of companies and get them to come out and give you a quote - make sure that they'll take care of everything, including demo, repainting, patching the furring, patching whatever the exterior material is etc. They should, but if they won't you may need to call a small GC to estimate it. They do this all the time, we can't know what it will cost where you live.
posted by dublinemma at 6:31 AM on June 18, 2005

TOC: That high cost was almost certainly mostly cutting the brick, which has to be done with a ceramic saw and fixing the resultant hole. Even so, that must have been a huge window---I've had doors done in brick for less than 3k finished.

Double the window cost seems a good rule of thumb to me, as long as its a normal stud-wall (no brick or stonework, for example). If, as I gather, the original poster is in typical industrial prefab, metal studs with sheeting, that's just about the cheapest buliding type to alter. Costs for a new window should be very reasonable. If you're looking at a 3'x4' flat non-opening window, I'd be very surprised by a bill of more than 1k.
posted by bonehead at 6:57 AM on June 18, 2005

Taken Outtacontext, dublimenemma: Why don't you call a window replacement company to get a ballpark figure.
I tried that first, but no one was willing to give me a ballpark figure without first visiting the site. This is still kind of wishful thinking on my part, and I'm not ready yet to explain to my boss why contractors are crawling around the place.

bonehead, Marky: Thanks for the rough 'double-the-cost-of-the-window' estimate. A 3'x4' window in my office would almost be worth half of a grand... I'd even settle for a 2'x3'. Oh, I am so vulnerable to the spend-money jitters.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:08 AM on June 18, 2005

This is still kind of wishful thinking on my part, and I'm not ready yet to explain to my boss

Uh-oh. You need to sound out your boss. Half the cost may be valuable enough from your<> perspective, but what's in it for the company other than a bunch of headaches? If the boss doesn't see real value in coming up with the other half of the cost (not to mention the inconvenience of obtaining landlord permission, permits, etc; plus relocating you temporarily, the office disruption, other staff who will complain about not having their own window too...) it doesn't matter what the price is anyway.

By the way, constructing a window isn't the only way you could bring sunshiny light or an outdoors view into the room.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:01 AM on June 18, 2005

Half the cost may be valuable enough from your<> perspective, but what's in it for the company other than a bunch of headaches?
Oh I realize that. That's why I was looking for a rough figure first, before I decide if it's worth mounting a campaign. We're a small company, and they've treated me well before, so it's not entirely out of the question.

Thanks for the other links. Though I'm pretty sure the virtual window would cost more than the real thing ;)
posted by Popular Ethics at 11:31 AM on June 18, 2005