Window Replacement in Dunedin
Glass and Window Repair Dunedin replaces windows across the city, from one tired opening in a bedroom through to whole house packages. We do full joinery replacement where the frames are past saving, insert units where the cladding is sound, and glass only swaps where the frame has years left. Every quote says which of the three your house needs.
- Full joinery, insert units or glass only, priced side by side
- Cold 1960s to 80s aluminium swapped for warm double glazing
- We say when a repair is the cheaper right answer
- Fixed written price after the measure
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Four quick questions. Most quotes come back the same day.
Two very different piles of work sit behind that. There is the single glazed aluminium fitted between the 1960s and the 1980s, which has no thermal break at all and streams with water on a frosty Dunedin morning. And there is timber joinery from the villa and bungalow era, where the sill has gone soft at the bottom after a century of southerly rain while the rest of the sash is still perfectly good. Quoting them the same way is how people end up spending far more than they needed to.
Three ways to replace a window, and what each costs
Glass only replacement keeps the frame and swaps the pane. On a standard sized single pane it starts around $250 to $600 and it is the right call whenever the frame is structurally sound.
Insert replacement drops a new unit into the existing frame or reveal, leaving cladding and flashings alone. Full joinery replacement takes the whole thing out. As a rough national benchmark, retrofitting models at $450 to $800 per square metre of glass against $800 to $1,600 for full replacement, which is why the retrofit against replace decision moves the total more than the glass spec ever does.
When the old aluminium has finished
Look at four things. Corner joints that have opened. Powder coat that has gone chalky white. Rubbers that have hardened flat and no longer spring back. Stays that are pitted and stiff. Three or four of those together and the joinery is done.
Replacing it in Dunedin buys more than it does further north, because the temperature difference across the glass is bigger here for more of the year. NIWA's 1991 to 2020 averages give the city roughly 50 days of ground frost annually, with about 15 in July alone.
Timber joinery: fix the bottom, keep the top
Villa and bungalow windows almost never rot evenly. The head and stiles shed water and survive. The sill and the bottom rail hold it and go.
So on a character home the honest answer is often not replacement. We scarf new timber into the sill, reglaze, prime and leave the rest of a hundred year old window where it is. It costs a fraction of new joinery, it keeps the original glass and proportions, and in this city it keeps the street looking like Dunedin.
What replacement changes in a Dunedin house
The bills move, though not usually as much as people hope. What moves more is how the house feels. Bedroom windows stop running with water in June. Curtains stop going mouldy at the hem. The room holds its heat for a couple of hours after the heater goes off instead of shedding it straight back out through the glass.
If damp is the complaint rather than cold, be careful. In the low lying southern suburbs the moisture is often coming up from the ground, and glass on its own will not fix that.
Window Replacement at a glance
- Glass only
- About $250 to $600 a standard pane, $600 to $1,200 for large panes
- Insert units
- New unit into the existing frame, cladding untouched
- Retrofit benchmark
- Around $450 to $800 per square metre of glass
- Full replacement benchmark
- Around $800 to $1,600 per square metre of glass
- Whole house
- Most Dunedin projects land between $10,000 and $24,000
- Timber option
- Scarf repair to the sill and bottom rail, keeping the original sash
- Consent
- Not required for like for like replacement
Window Replacement in Dunedin: common questions
Is it cheaper to repair or replace my windows?
Repair, nearly always, when the frame is sound. Glass only work starts around $250 a pane against $1,500 or more for full joinery. Our quote shows both numbers so you can see the gap yourself.
How much to replace all the windows in a Dunedin house?
Most whole house projects here land between $10,000 and $24,000 for a retrofit. Full joinery replacement runs considerably higher. Window count, glass area and access move it more than anything else.
Can I replace one window and still match the others?
Usually. Powder coat colours from current suites are available and obscure patterns can often be matched. Very old profiles sometimes cannot, and we say so rather than guessing.
Will new windows fix my damp problem?
They will fix condensation on the glass. If the damp is coming from a high water table or no ventilation, which is common in the flat southern suburbs, glass alone will not solve it and we will say so at the quote.
Recent Dunedin jobs
Got three quotes for retrofitting the front of the house. Only ones who measured every opening and explained why the south facing rooms needed different glass. Fourteen windows over three days and the difference in the mornings is obvious.
Landlord here. Had four flats assessed before the inspections. Two just needed sashes freed up and stays replaced rather than new joinery, which saved me a fortune. Straight answers and a written report I could hand over.
Slider had been jamming for years and we assumed it needed replacing. Turned out to be rollers and a bent track. Two hours, a fraction of the price we were braced for.
Fogged unit in the lounge, measured on the Tuesday and in by the following Monday. Fair price and they cleaned up after themselves.
Get a price for window replacement in Dunedin
Free measure, fixed written quote, and a straight answer on whether it needs repairing or replacing.
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Four questions and you are done.