Data checked · source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
How much does it cost to replace windows?
Ten insert replacement windows, priced unit by unit, with the labour hours taken from what Pella, Marvin and JLC each publish about how long a two-person crew takes per opening.
Expect roughly $2,826 to $14,089 to replace ten windows with insert units in the United States in 2026. The labour part of that is 13–40 hours at a billed rate of about $64–$93 an hour, which is what the US median carpenter wage of $29.12 works out to once a shop covers burden, overhead and profit.
Where the money actually goes
The job we priced. Ten insert (pocket) replacement windows on a single-storey house. Standard double-hung units dropped into sound existing frames, exterior trim capped, interior casing left in place. No rot repair, no opening enlargement.
Every number below is built from that one job. Change the size and the material lines move with it; the labour hours move with it too. We picked a specific job rather than a vague “average” because an average with no dimensions attached cannot be checked.
| Line | Low | High | How we got it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ten window units | $1,750 | $9,500 | $174.99 each for a 24x38 in builder-grade vinyl double-hung, up to $950 for a fiberglass unit. This one line is about 93% of the materials cost in both columns, and never less than 70% whatever mix you pick. |
| Flashing tape, 200 linear feet | $101 | $354 | 20 ft per opening. Three 75 ft rolls of GCP Vycor Plus at $33.53, or one 300 ft box of DuPont Tyvek at $354.45. |
| Low-expansion foam sealant, 2 cans | $12 | $12 | One 12 oz can seals four to six windows, so ten openings takes two, at $6.18 a can. |
| Interior casing, 0-10 openings | $0 | $347 | $34.72 per opening in primed MDF. Zero on a clean insert job where the existing casing stays; the full amount when the trim comes off and does not go back on. |
| Materials, total | $1,863 | $10,213 | $186–$1,021 per window. |
| Labour (13–40 hr) | $837 | $3,716 | Hours × $64–$93/hr. Varies by metro — see below. |
| Permit | $126 | $160 | Set by your city. Ten retrofit windows in Ventura County: $160. |
| Disposal | $0 | $0 | Normally carried away by the installer and buried in the price; we found no published standalone haul-away fee for old windows, so this line is zero rather than guessed. |
| Total | $2,826 | $14,089 | $283–$1,409 per window. |
The low column takes the cheapest verified material at every line and the fastest labour figure our sources support. The high column takes the most expensive material and the slowest labour. Nobody's real quote is all-low or all-high, so treat the two columns as the edges of the plausible range rather than as quotes.
How we got the labour hours
Two installers, one working inside and one outside, at roughly an hour per opening. Pella, Marvin and JLC independently give the same figure, so 10 windows is about 20 crew man-hours. The 13-hour low is JLC's good crew at twelve units a day (16 crew-hours divided by 12); the 40-hour high is oversized units, difficult access, or one person doing the house alone. Full-frame is a different job, and three sources put it three different places. Doubling each for a two-person crew: Fusion’s two to four hours is 4-8, Pella’s four to six is 8-12, Energy Swing’s four to eight is 8-16. Taking the union gives 4-16 man-hours an opening, and the width of that band is the disagreement, not our uncertainty about the arithmetic.
Sources: Pella - window installation, what to expect (two-person crew, ~1 hr per pocket window) · Marvin - what to expect during your replacement project (two-person crew, ~8 windows a day) · JLC - crew size matters (two-man crew, one window an hour; a good crew 8-12 units a day) · Fusion Windows - how long does it take to replace a window (full-frame 2-4 hr) · Energy Swing - full-frame vs pocket (full-frame 4-8 hr per opening). Where a source gives a crew size and a duration but not man-hours, we multiply the two ourselves and say so.
What the permit costs
Not the flat per-window fee most sites quote. Real schedules are a base fee plus a per-window fee, or a flat charge per permit. Ventura County, California charges $60 plus $10 a window for a simple retrofit and $180 plus $20 a window for full-frame replacement — $160 and $380 respectively on ten windows. St. Augusta, Minnesota charges a flat $126 for same-size replacement. The job priced above is insert-only, so our range is $126 to $160 — the $380 full-frame figure belongs to the other job, and it is in the comparison table further down.
Source: Ventura County CA building and safety fee schedule, section C.7.
Insert or full-frame — the fork that doubles the bill
Two different jobs are sold under the name “window replacement”, and the gap between them is not a detail.
| Insert / pocket | Full-frame | |
|---|---|---|
| What comes out | The sashes. The old frame stays. | Everything, down to the rough opening studs. |
| Labour per opening | 1.3–4 man-hours | 4–16 man-hours |
| Ten openings | 13–40 man-hours | 40–160 man-hours |
| Glass area | Shrinks — the new frame sits inside the old one | Unchanged, or larger |
| Permit, Ventura County CA | $160 on ten | $380 on ten |
| When you have no choice | — | Rotten frame or sill, water damage, or the opening has to change size |
Pella puts pocket replacement at about an hour per window and full-frame at four to six — a 4 to 6× difference in labour, from the manufacturer, with the same two-person crew in both cases. One contractor source prices the same split in dollars: $100–$300 of labour per window for a retrofit against $300–$800 for full-frame or structural work (Elevate Building & Design). The dollar figures are one source only — treat the hours as the better-supported number.
What turns a one-day job into a three-day job
| Found on site | Extra per window | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Rot in the sill or frame | +1–3 man-hours | 20–30% of older homes |
| Opening has to be enlarged (egress, or a bigger unit) | +4–8 man-hours | Whenever the code below is not met |
| Second storey or awkward access | +$50–$200 | Ladder spotters, staging, hauling glass up stairs |
| Stucco exterior | Not quantified | JLC calls cutting back the stucco “the most time-consuming part of the job” |
Rot and enlargement figures from ASP (30–90 minutes and 2–4 hours of crew time respectively, doubled here for a two-person crew); frequency from Precision D&W; upper-storey surcharge from HomeBuild Windows.
What the windows themselves cost
Unit price before installation. The spread here is 6.5×, and it is the single biggest decision on the quote — bigger than the installer, bigger than the city you live in. Note that our high column uses the $950 fiberglass rather than the $1,148 premium vinyl: the fiberglass figure covers a whole class of window, where the $1,148 is one SKU in one colour.
| Option | Price per unit |
|---|---|
| Vinyl double-hung, 24 x 38 in (builder grade) | $175 |
| Vinyl double-hung, 32 x 62 in | $250 |
| Vinyl double-hung, 36 x 62 in | $260 |
| Clad wood double-hung (Andersen 200 / 400 Series) | $259–$817 |
| Vinyl double-hung, premium (JELD-WEN V4500, black exterior) | $1,148 |
| Fiberglass double-hung or slider | $650–$950 |
Source: Builders Discount Wincore price ladder and Home Depot double-hung listings, checked 2026-08-13.
Specific products, with the price we saw
Not a recommendation and not an affiliate link. These are the listings we checked on 2026-08-13, so you can see whether the equipment line on your quote is close to retail.
Retail prices move. If one of these is wrong now, tell us and we will fix it with the date.
Parts list
What this job costs in 49 US metro areas
Materials cost roughly the same everywhere. Labour does not. The wage column is US government data; the labour column is that wage run through our published multiplier; the total applies it to the job above. On the same work San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont comes out 19% higher than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington at the top of the range and 21% higher at the bottom — the two differ because materials, permits and disposal do not move with the wage.
| Metro area | Carpenter wage | Labour on this job | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $42.89 | $2,290 | $3,221–$15,846 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $38.68 | $2,066 | $3,100–$15,309 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $38.55 | $2,059 | $3,097–$15,292 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $36.74 | $1,962 | $3,045–$15,061 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $36.41 | $1,944 | $3,035–$15,019 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $36.16 | $1,931 | $3,028–$14,987 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $35.79 | $1,911 | $3,017–$14,940 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $35.72 | $1,907 | $3,015–$14,931 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $35.61 | $1,902 | $3,012–$14,917 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $35.44 | $1,892 | $3,007–$14,895 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $35.19 | $1,879 | $3,000–$14,863 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $34.13 | $1,823 | $2,970–$14,728 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $34.08 | $1,820 | $2,968–$14,722 |
| Columbus, OH | $31.96 | $1,707 | $2,907–$14,451 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $31.64 | $1,690 | $2,898–$14,410 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $31.28 | $1,670 | $2,888–$14,364 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $31.21 | $1,667 | $2,886–$14,355 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $31.14 | $1,663 | $2,884–$14,346 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | $30.73 | $1,641 | $2,872–$14,294 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $29.99 | $1,601 | $2,851–$14,200 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $29.99 | $1,601 | $2,851–$14,200 |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $29.76 | $1,589 | $2,844–$14,170 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $29.72 | $1,587 | $2,843–$14,165 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $29.70 | $1,586 | $2,842–$14,163 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $29.41 | $1,570 | $2,834–$14,126 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $29.23 | $1,561 | $2,829–$14,103 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $29.00 | $1,549 | $2,822–$14,073 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $28.90 | $1,543 | $2,819–$14,061 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $28.89 | $1,543 | $2,819–$14,059 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $28.78 | $1,537 | $2,816–$14,045 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $27.17 | $1,451 | $2,770–$13,840 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | $26.81 | $1,432 | $2,759–$13,794 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $25.06 | $1,338 | $2,709–$13,571 |
| Richmond, VA | $24.94 | $1,332 | $2,706–$13,555 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $24.79 | $1,324 | $2,701–$13,536 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $24.76 | $1,322 | $2,700–$13,532 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $24.50 | $1,308 | $2,693–$13,499 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $24.43 | $1,305 | $2,691–$13,490 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $24.37 | $1,301 | $2,689–$13,483 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $24.34 | $1,300 | $2,688–$13,479 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $24.30 | $1,298 | $2,687–$13,474 |
| Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $24.22 | $1,293 | $2,685–$13,463 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $24.16 | $1,290 | $2,683–$13,456 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | $24.10 | $1,287 | $2,681–$13,448 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $23.92 | $1,277 | $2,676–$13,425 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $23.88 | $1,275 | $2,675–$13,420 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $23.53 | $1,257 | $2,665–$13,375 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $23.51 | $1,255 | $2,664–$13,373 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $23.44 | $1,252 | $2,662–$13,364 |
Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2031 — public domain. Metros where BLS suppressed the figure are left out rather than estimated. Totals are FieldPricing calculations from the parts and hours on this page — they are not quotes and no contractor has agreed to them.
What did you actually pay?
Everything above this line is arithmetic on public data. It is honest, and it is not the same thing as a real invoice. If you have had this work done, the number on your invoice is worth more to the next reader than anything we can calculate.
No reports on this job yet. This site went up in August 2026 and nobody has sent one in. We would rather show you an empty table than invent entries to look established.
When reports come in, they get published here with the amount, the city and the month — never a name, never an email.
No account, no login, no newsletter. A person reads every submission before it appears, so it will not show up instantly. If we cannot make sense of one, we leave it out rather than guess — and if you would rather just email it, that works too.
What actually moves the price
The unit price, which is about 93 percent of your materials bill
$174.99 to $1,147.70 for the same nominal thing. Vinyl, clad wood and fiberglass are genuinely different products with different lifespans, but a lot of the spread inside a single material is colour, grille pattern and glass package rather than performance. Get the model number on the quote so you can look it up.
Whether the frames are actually sound
This decides insert versus full-frame, and full-frame is roughly four times the labour. A salesperson who quotes full-frame without opening anything up is guessing; so is one who quotes insert without checking the sill. Ask which one you are getting and why.
Egress, if a bedroom window is involved
A bedroom window that does not meet IRC R310.2.1 has to be replaced with one that does, and if the opening is too small, the opening has to grow. That is framing, drywall and exterior patching — a different trade and a different budget.
Tempered glass, where code puts it
IRC R308.4 lists seven locations where safety glazing is mandatory: near doors, large low panes, wet areas, stairs. Tempered costs meaningfully more than annealed, and if your quote has it on some windows and not others, that is usually correct rather than inconsistent.
U-factor, which is set by your climate zone
In climate zones 3 and up the maximum fenestration U-factor is 0.30 under the 2018 and 2021 IECC, and 0.40 in zone 2. It rules out the cheapest glass packages in most of the country. The code section below links the Department of Energy table so you can read your own zone off it rather than take a salesperson’s word for it.
How many you do at once
Marvin and Pella both quote about an hour a window and about eight windows a day for the same two-person crew — sixteen crew-hours of work inside an eight-hour day, which is what two people doing eight one-hour windows means. A single-window call-out carries the whole setup on its own, which is why the first window always looks expensive and the tenth does not.
Code requirements that cost money
These are the things an inspector will look for, and each one is a line on the invoice that a homeowner often reads as padding. Mostly it is not.
- IRC R310.2.1 — emergency escape opening — Every sleeping room needs an operable opening with 5.7 sq ft of net clear area (5.0 at grade-floor level), at least 24 inches high and 20 inches wide, with the sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. Net clear is the hole you can climb through, not the size of the window. Source.
- IRC R308.4 — safety glazing — Tempered glass is required in glazing within a 24-inch arc of a door edge with the bottom edge under 60 inches; in panes over 9 sq ft with the bottom under 18 inches and the top over 36; near tubs, showers and pools; and near stairs and landings. Source.
- IECC maximum fenestration U-factor — 0.30 in climate zones 3 through 8 under both the 2018 and 2021 IECC, and 0.40 in zone 2. Rather than argue about which code year tightened what, read the values straight off the Department of Energy laboratory table linked here. Source.
Code citations are to county and city reproductions of the International Residential Code and to a US Department of Energy laboratory table for the IECC, because those are publicly readable. Your jurisdiction adopts its own version of the model code — check locally before relying on any of this.
What we could not verify
We publish this list because a cost page that never admits a gap is not telling you the truth.
- Simonton unit pricing and the cost of the tempered glass option. Home Depot routes Simonton double-hungs to a free in-home quote and publishes no unit price, and we found no other live source. An earlier draft of this page carried $416.45 and $498.87 for these; we could not confirm either, so they are gone.
- Man-hours for a full-frame replacement from any source that states its crew size. Our 8-12 hour middle is Pella's four-to-six hours doubled for the two-person crew Pella itself names. The 4-hour floor is Fusion's two hours doubled, and the 16-hour ceiling is Energy Swing's eight, doubled the same way. Three sources disagreeing with each other by 4x is why that band is so wide.
- Extra time for stucco or brick exteriors. JLC confirms cutting back stucco is the slowest part of the job but publishes no number, and we found nothing at all for brick.
- Haul-away cost for the old windows.
- Valspar and Lowe's window pricing. Lowe's renders price client-side.
- Why DuPont Tyvek flashing tape works out to $1.18 a foot when GCP Vycor Plus, a premium product, is $0.447. Both prices are as we found them, but a 2.6x gap on a commodity tape looks more like a packaging difference than a quality one, and the Tyvek figure sets the entire high end of our flashing line.
- Whether the $650-$950 fiberglass figure and the $259-$817 Andersen figure are comparable to the Wincore units. The first is a dealer's published range rather than a listing with a price on it; the second is a category page where price moves with size. The $9,500 high on the ten-window line rests on the fiberglass figure, which makes it the softest number on this page.
How we got these numbers
- Wages — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 47-2031 (Carpenters), pulled through the BLS public API. US federal data, public domain.
- Billed rate — wage × 1.3 labour burden × 1.70–2.454 overhead and profit, so 2.21×–3.19× the wage. Our assumption, published in full on the methodology page so you can disagree with it.
- Equipment and parts — retailer and supply-house listings, each linked above, checked 2026-08-13.
- Labour hours — Pella - window installation, what to expect (two-person crew, ~1 hr per pocket window) · Marvin - what to expect during your replacement project (two-person crew, ~8 windows a day) · JLC - crew size matters (two-man crew, one window an hour; a good crew 8-12 units a day) · Fusion Windows - how long does it take to replace a window (full-frame 2-4 hr) · Energy Swing - full-frame vs pocket (full-frame 4-8 hr per opening).
- Permit fees — Ventura County CA building and safety fee schedule, section C.7.
We do not use RSMeans or Craftsman cost data. Their licences forbid building a database from them, so every number here traces to a public source or a public listing you can open yourself.
This page is not a quote. It is arithmetic on public data. Get it in writing from a licensed contractor before you spend anything. If a number here is wrong, tell us — we log every correction with the date.