Office buildings
Long runs of matching units on each floor, where the elevation has to read as one building once the job is done and every suite stays usable while its own windows change.
Commercial Window Installation in Austin, One Floor at a Time
Austin Quality Windows handles commercial window installation in Austin, TX as a leading Travis County specialist, specializing in thermally broken aluminum frames, punched openings in masonry facades and ribbon windows across office floors. We offer fixed lites and operable vents for clinics, classrooms and apartment floors.
- Free in-home measure
- Elevations you approve
- Installed to manufacturer instructions
- One written price
About our commercial window installation
Our team provides tempered and laminated safety glazing, delivering quieter, cooler occupied space for tenants and code-ready elevations for both residential and commercial projects. Our own crew measures every existing opening floor by floor, draws the shop drawings your architect signs off, and we install each unit to the manufacturer's written instructions before the interior trim closes it up.
From the field check of an out-of-square brick opening to a building-wide change-out run one floor at a time, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, Lakeway and Steiner Ranch, we set each floor's dates so offices keep working, patients keep their appointments and residents keep their homes.
Why Austin Quality Windows
How We Work
No handoffs between a salesperson, a measurer and a subcontracted crew. The crew that measures your openings installs the windows.
Measured on siteEvery opening measured in the wall it sits in, by the crew that will install it
Elevations firstYou approve the drawings, sizes, glass and finish before anything is ordered
Flashed to specSill pans, flashing and sealant to the manufacturer's written instructions
Water testedOpenings checked for leaks before the interior trim goes back on
Commercial Window Installation for the Buildings Austin Owners Manage
This page is for the owner, property manager, facility director or general contractor with a building full of individual window openings: the rows of punched units in a brick office block, the ribbon of glass along a clinic corridor, the bedroom and living room windows of a three-storey apartment building. Ground-floor shopfronts and multi-storey glass facades are a different system and a different bid; this is the window in the wall.
Medical and dental clinics
Exam rooms and procedure areas that cannot sit open, so each room is scheduled as its own short visit, with the opening closed and the space wiped down before the next patient.
Schools and campuses
Classroom wings sequenced around the academic calendar, with operable vents, safety glazing near doors and floors, and staging kept clear of drop-off lanes and play areas.
Multifamily and mixed-use
Apartment units entered with notice, bedroom windows checked against egress rules, and retail or office floors below kept trading while the residential floors above are worked.
Surveying Every Opening Before a Number Is Written
A commercial window bid that starts from the original drawings alone is a guess, because buildings move, get re-clad and pick up decades of patch repairs. Our crew walks the building and records each opening: its size checked in more than one place, whether it is square, what the existing frame is anchored into, the state of the sill and the sealant joint, and whether water has been getting past it.
Shop drawings rely on jobsite dimensions, and on a renovation those field measurements have to be verified before anything is fabricated. That is why the survey is done by the people who will install the work, not handed off. The survey sheet becomes the schedule of openings that the bid, the submittals and the phasing plan all refer back to, so a property manager can point at any window on the building and see what happens to it and when.
The survey is also where the hard openings surface early: a steel lintel that has rusted, a frame tied into a structural column, an opening that a past tenant enlarged without a header. Each is noted with a photo and priced as its own line rather than discovered on the day.
Phasing Window Work Floor by Floor Around Tenants
Most of our commercial window work happens in a building that never closes. The phasing plan breaks the job into floors, then into stacks or suites, and gives each tenant a written window of time when their space is affected.
- Each opening that comes out is glazed and sealed again the same visit, so no office, exam room or bedroom is left open to the weather overnight.
- Work from inside an occupied unit is booked with the property manager, with notice to the tenant and furniture moved back from the wall only where the crew needs room.
- Dust and debris are contained at the opening, and old frames leave the building by a route the manager agrees, not through a lobby at rush hour.
- Lift or scaffold positions are planned against parking, fire lanes and building entrances, and moved as the work moves along the elevation.
- A floor is signed off, with the punch list cleared, before the crew moves up to the next.
For a school, the heavy phases land in the breaks between terms. For a clinic, the plan follows the appointment book. For apartments, it follows the lease and notice rules the owner already works under. The plan is written into the bid so a GC can slot it straight into the master schedule.
Submittals and Shop Drawings Your Architect Approves
Once the scope is agreed, we prepare the submittal package. Submittals exist so the architect and engineer can confirm the correct products are going into the building, and approval of them is what releases the work for fabrication and delivery.
- Product data for the frame system and each glass makeup, with sizes, finishes and performance ratings.
- Shop drawings for the window types, showing elevations, sections through the head, jamb and sill, anchorage into the existing structure and the perimeter seal.
- Finish samples where the architect is choosing an anodized or painted color, since anodized color can be hard to reproduce consistently from one batch to the next.
- A mock-up opening where the owner or design team asks for one, so the detail can be seen and water-tested on the building before the full run is ordered.
Changes from the construction documents are marked on the shop drawings for the architect to accept or reject. We build to the approved set. If a field condition forces a change once work has started, it goes back through review rather than being solved quietly on the lift.
Safety Glazing, Egress and the Commercial Energy Code
The International Building Code applies to every building where it is adopted except one and two family dwellings, so offices, schools, clinics and larger apartment buildings fall under it. Three questions from it shape most window bids.
Safety glazing
Glass near doors, stairs and floors is checked against the adopted code and marked on the drawings as tempered or laminated, since tempered glass breaks into small granular pieces and laminated glass stays in the frame.
Old wired glass
Many older buildings still carry wired glass in corridors and stairs. It is weaker than unwired glass, and the IBC effectively ended its use in 2006, so we flag every lite of it at the survey.
Energy code
Travis County sits in Climate Zone 2. Commercial fenestration answers to the adopted commercial energy code, where ASHRAE 90.1 sets U-factor and SHGC limits, so each glass makeup is checked at bid.
Egress openings
Bedroom windows in apartments can serve as emergency escape openings. Their clear opening size and sill height are confirmed against the adopted code before a replacement unit is chosen.
What Drives the Cost of Commercial Window Installation
We do not publish prices for commercial window work, because two buildings with the same number of openings can carry very different scopes. These are the variables a bid is built from, and each is settled at the survey and in the drawings.
- The glass makeup: dual or triple pane insulating units, the low-E coating and its solar heat gain, tempered or laminated lites where safety glazing is required, tint, and laminated glass for sound on a busy road.
- The frame: thermally broken aluminum, fiberglass or vinyl, the frame depth, and an anodized or painted finish matched to the building.
- Opening count and size: how many openings, how many different window types, oversize units, and operable versus fixed.
- Existing conditions: removal of the old units, rusted lintels, rotted subframes, masonry, stucco or panel repair at the perimeter, and openings that are badly out of square.
- Phasing and hours: how many floors or suites can be worked at once, after-hours shifts for clinics and offices, and work inside occupied apartments.
- Access: lifts, swing stages or scaffold for upper floors, and staging on a tight downtown lot or a sloped site.
- Code scope: safety glazing locations, egress window sizes, energy code compliance and any accessibility work at the same time.
The bid follows the survey, itemized by floor or phase, with the frame system and each glass makeup named so it can be compared line for line against another bid.
Request a Bid for Your Building
Call with the building address, the number of floors, whatever drawings or photos you have and whether the building is occupied. We set a survey date, walk the building with your property manager or superintendent, and return a schedule of openings, a phasing plan and an itemized bid. Bids are requested by phone.
The process
From First Measure to Finished Openings
Four steps, and nothing is ordered until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
Free in-home measure
We measure every opening, check the framing and the header, and talk through glass, frame material and how each window should operate.
Elevations and a written price
You get drawings of every unit for your approval and for any HOA or historic review, with one written price.
Ordered to your sizes
Units are ordered to the approved sizes and glass package, and checked against the drawings when they arrive.
Installed and water tested
Old units out, openings flashed, new units set, sealed and water tested, then trim and cleanup.
More of What We Install
Service area
Where We Install
Questions
Commercial Window Installation: Common Questions
Can you change the windows while tenants are still in the building?
Yes. The job is phased floor by floor and suite by suite, every opening is closed again the same visit, and each tenant gets a written window of time when their space is affected.
Do you work inside occupied apartments?
Yes, by appointment through the property manager and with notice to the resident. The crew needs clear access to the wall at each window, and the unit is closed and cleaned before they leave.
Will you work from our architect's specification?
Yes. We submit product data, samples and shop drawings against the specification, mark any proposed change for the architect to accept or reject, and build to the approved set.
What drives the price of a commercial window job?
The glass makeup, the frame system and finish, the number and size of openings, the condition of what comes out, phasing and working hours, access to upper floors and the code scope. We price after the survey, never from a photo.
How long from approval to the first floor?
It depends on the frame system and the glass, since each unit is made to size after the submittals are approved. We give you the date in writing with the bid, and the phasing plan is built around it.
Which windows need safety glass?
Glass near doors, stairs and walking surfaces, and other locations the adopted code lists. Each lite is checked against it and marked on the shop drawings as tempered or laminated before anything is ordered.
Does our project need TDLR registration?
Under the TDLR architectural barriers program, a project whose cost reaches $50,000 must be registered and reviewed by a Registered Accessibility Specialist. A window-only scope rarely raises accessibility items, but we flag it at the survey and the owner's design team files it.
Should we replace the whole building or just the worst elevation?
The survey answers it. If the frames are sound and only some insulating units have failed, a partial scope can make sense. If water is getting past the frames or the building has no thermal break, a phased full change-out is usually the better spend.
Is there a warranty?
Yes, our installation carries a written warranty, and the frames and glass carry their manufacturers' own. The terms are set out in writing with the bid.
Free in-home measure
Talk to us about commercial window installation
Free in-home measure across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.