This is an awkward article for us to write, because we’re one of the companies you might be choosing between. Take it with that in mind. But we’ve spent thirty years going out to jobs where somebody else has already been, and there are patterns, so the advice below is worth what you paid for it.
The main thing to understand is that window and door repair is an unregulated trade. There’s no licence you need to hold to turn up at somebody’s house and take their glass out. Most people doing it are decent, competent and fair. A few aren’t, and the difference shows up in a handful of questions that are easy to ask on the phone.
The single most useful question
“Do you repair, or do you replace?”
It sounds obvious, but it separates two different businesses that answer the same search. A replacement window company that also offers repairs will very often find, on inspection, that you need replacements. That isn’t necessarily dishonesty. It’s what they do, what they’re set up for, and what pays them properly. But if you rang about one misted pane and the conversation is turning into a quote for the whole front of the house, you’ve probably called the wrong sort of company.
A repair firm’s answer to a misted unit is a new sealed unit. A replacement firm’s answer to a misted unit is often a new window. Same fault, wildly different bill.
Questions about the money
Is there a call-out charge, and is it refunded against the work? Plenty of firms charge to attend. That’s legitimate, but you should know before they arrive rather than after.
Is the price you’ve given me the final price, including VAT? Ask it plainly. A number that grows by twenty percent at the end is a bad start.
Does that include fitting, and taking the old parts away? Particularly relevant with glass, where a very low headline price sometimes turns out to be supply only.
When do you want paying? A modest deposit for made-to-measure glass is normal, because it’s manufactured specifically for your window and can’t be resold. A demand for the full amount up front, in cash, before anything has been ordered, is not normal.
Questions about the actual work
Will you show me what’s wrong? A good tradesman will happily point at the failed part and explain it. Someone who won’t, or who gets vague and impatient when asked, is telling you something.
Are you replacing the whole window or just the failed part? You want to hear specifics: the sealed unit, the friction stays, the gearbox, the cylinder. Vagueness here is worth pressing on.
What glass are you fitting? If it’s a door, a side panel next to a door, or a low-level window near the floor, it needs to be toughened or laminated safety glass. That’s building regulations, not an optional extra. Anyone happy to put ordinary glass in those positions is cutting a corner that matters.
Are you matching the existing glass? Obscured patterns, Georgian bars and leaded designs all come in variations, and a mismatched pane in the middle of a row looks wrong forever.
How long will the glass take? Made-to-measure units take a few days. Anyone promising same-day made-to-measure glass on an unusual size is either very well stocked or not being straight with you.
Guarantees
Ask what’s guaranteed and for how long, and ask whether it’s in writing.
The thing to be slightly careful about is the very long guarantee from a company with no history. A twenty year guarantee is only worth anything if the business is still trading in twenty years, and a guarantee is not a substitute for competence. A five year guarantee from a firm that’s been in the area for decades is worth considerably more than a lifetime guarantee from a phone number that appeared last month.
Signs worth paying attention to
A local landline number and a real address, rather than only a mobile. Not conclusive, but it tells you something about permanence.
Reviews that read like actual customers, mentioning specific jobs, specific streets, specific problems. A wall of five word reviews all posted in the same week is not the same thing.
A willingness to say no. This is the one we’d put most weight on. Somebody who tells you a repair isn’t worth doing, or that what you’ve described isn’t actually a fault, or that you should get a second quote, is somebody whose recommendations you can trust when they do recommend something.
Straight answers about what they haven’t done before. Nobody has seen every window system ever made.
Signs worth walking away from
Pressure to decide today, and particularly a price that’s only available today. Legitimate repair work does not need that.
A quote for replacement windows when you asked about a repair, with no explanation of why repair isn’t possible.
Reluctance to put anything in writing.
An unusually low price against everyone else. In a trade where the parts cost what they cost, a price well under everybody else usually means a cheaper sealed unit, a thinner glass spec, no safety glass where it’s needed, or a corner cut somewhere you won’t see for two years.
Anyone who tells you they can fix a misted unit by drilling a hole in the glass and squirting something in. There is no version of this that works, and the fact that someone is offering it tells you everything.
Getting two prices
Get two, or three if the job is a big one. It’s not rude and nobody sensible minds. Give each of them exactly the same information so you’re comparing like with like, and if one comes back dramatically higher or lower than the others, ask them why. The answer is usually informative either way.
And if you want ours
We’re a family-run firm and we’ve been repairing windows and doors around Wishaw and Lanarkshire for over thirty years. We repair rather than replace, because that’s the business we’re in and because it’s usually the right answer. There’s no call-out charge, we’ll show you what’s wrong and explain it, and if the honest answer is that you don’t need us we’ll tell you that instead.
Send a photo of the problem on WhatsApp and we’ll give you an idea before anyone comes out, or call us on 01698 604 278.
For what it is worth, our own window repair page sets out exactly what we fix and how we price it.
Related advice
Not sure? Ask us, there is no charge for looking.
Stuck on something else? Our window and door advice section covers around fifty of the faults we see most.
Written by the team at Wishaw Window Repairs. Over thirty years repairing uPVC windows and doors across Lanarkshire.