Windows are sixteen weeks out and the frame is already up

window-seat-61

Central Coast NSW build. Frame went up on schedule. Roof is next. Lockup was meant to be late September. Then the window supplier confirmed sixteen weeks from shop drawing sign-off, and we only signed those drawings last week because two openings changed after the engineer letter.

Builder is polite about it. Programme is not. Without windows and the front door we cannot lock up, which means the wet trades wait, which means the rent meter keeps spinning.

If you have been through this: when did you actually order windows relative to slab and frame, and did anyone successfully hold a temporary lockup with plastic and hoop iron while waiting on glass? Trying to work out if we eat the delay or throw money at a faster supplier and eat the variation instead.

Also keen on real lead times people are seeing in 2026 for bog standard aluminium packages vs anything custom. Brochure said 10 to 12. Reality said sixteen plus.

gumleaf_88

Ordered ours the week after slab in Newcastle for a boring aluminium package. Still landed at fourteen weeks because glass was the bottleneck, not the frames. Check-measure waited until walls were up which is correct, but that also means you cannot pretend the deposit date is the start of production.

We did not do temporary plastic lockup. Builder said insurance and weather risk were not worth the theatre. We ate five weeks of rent and rearranged the painter. Ugly, cheaper than a rushed second supplier who wanted a premium and still could not beat the queue.

davefrom-2009

Custom sliding stacker was the killer on ours. Standard windows were fine. The big opening was twenty weeks once shop drawings bounced twice. Lesson: lock the big glass decisions before frame, even if the rest of the schedule is still floating.

Temporary hoop and wrap is a thing some owner-builders do. Our builder refused because one storm and you are owning a wet frame and an argument. If you go that path get it in writing who owns the weather risk.

fuzzy-muppet

SIXTEEN WEEKS IS THE NEW TEN WEEKS

everyone quotes pre-covid numbers like glass grows on trees. order the day the openings stop moving or enjoy paying rent while staring at a timber skeleton

temporary plastic is how you invent mould. ask me how i know. actually dont

BecW-Brissy

We pushed the supplier with a deposit earlier and still waited. What actually helped was freezing opening sizes the day the engineer signed, not the day we liked the elevation on a mood board.

Paying a second supplier a premium for a partial package split the order and made seals and colours a headache at install. Would not do the split again. One queue, one colour batch, take the programme hit once.

window-seat-61

OP update: builder will not do temporary plastic lockup, same insurance line as gumleaf heard. We are eating the rent and the painter has been reshuffled.

Frozen every opening size today even the ones we were still arguing about with the draftsman. Sixteen weeks starts when drawings stop bouncing, not when we feel ready emotionally.

window-seat-61

Central Coast update: supplier finally confirmed a mid-October glass date after we froze openings. Still eating rent, but at least the painter is booked against a real week instead of a shrug.

If you are earlier than us, pay the deposit the day the engineer signs the openings. Waiting for mood-board peace of mind cost us three weeks we will not get back.

window-seat-61

Windows landed last week. Install was messy for a day then suddenly we had lockup. Rent meter finally stops next month if the wet trades hold.

Still mad we waited on shop drawings. If you are earlier than us just freeze the openings and pay the deposit. Mood boards can wait.

window-seat-61

Wet trades moving now that we actually locked up. Still think freezing openings earlier would have saved a month of rent. Live and learn.