Secure the shattered slider tonight, then win the whole-house replacement next month.

Window and door customers call in two very different moods. The urgent ones have a pane cracked by a storm-blown branch or a stray baseball, a slider that jumped its track, or an entry door forced in a break-in. They want the opening secured before dark, and many need a written estimate for an insurance adjuster, plus a police report number when there was a burglary. The planned buyers have lived with drafts, fog between the panes, soft sills or sashes painted shut for years until something tips them: a heating bill, a home sale, a remodel, or a line in a home inspection report. Those buyers often invite more than one company to measure and take days or weeks to decide.

A good share of this work starts with another trade. Siding and roofing crews find rotted trim around windows during tear-off, painters push a screwdriver into soft sills, remodelers need doors hung, and home inspectors write up failed seals in reports that buyers read before closing. Those referrals carry no per-lead fee and arrive warm, because someone the homeowner already hired vouched for you. A marketplace lead is a stranger who may have asked several companies to come out, and every in-home visit costs a salesperson an evening. Angi's annual report for fiscal 2025 says a pro's match fee is charged even when that pro never does the job.

Sales closed at the kitchen table come with a federal cancellation right. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule covers most sales of $25 and up that a seller makes in the buyer's residence, and generally gives the buyer three business days, ending at midnight, to change their mind. The seller must hand over a completed receipt or contract with a cancellation notice and a cancellation form in duplicate, and must refund payments within 10 business days of a valid cancellation (16 CFR 429.1). State law can add more home-sale rules, and contractor licensing and permits vary by state and locality, so check your state's requirements, read the contractor license guide, and have a lawyer review your contract. This is general information, not legal advice.

Older houses add paperwork. EPA's RRP program covers most paid jobs that disturb painted surfaces in a house, apartment, preschool or day care building that dates from before 1978. The firm must be certified, its workers need lead-safe training (as certified renovators or on the job from one), and some states run the program themselves under EPA authorization. The rule's exemption for small jobs leaves out any work that involves window replacement (40 CFR 745.83), so even a one-window job in a 1950s bungalow can't fall back on that exemption.

Climate changes what people ask for. In cold regions, frost on the glass and condensation puddling on sills in January prompt calls, and owners want low heat loss. In hot regions, the complaint is a west-facing room that bakes every afternoon. ENERGY STAR sets U-factor and, where it applies, solar heat gain limits separately for four climate zones (Northern, North-Central, South-Central and Southern), and both ratings appear on the NFRC label, so the right glass depends on where you install. Along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, hurricane season brings questions about impact-rated glass and shutters, and opening-protection rules come from the building code your area enforces.