Retrofit vinyl double-hung
- Est. investment
- $450 to $950 per window
- Est. duration
- 45 to 90 minutes
Insert into the sound old frame, stucco left untouched
Apartment Window Projects in Carlsbad, CA
Carlsbad Quality Windows is the North County rental market's top-rated team in multifamily window replacement, partnering with property managers, apartment owners and asset managers and specializing in occupied-unit installs, balcony slider replacement, and turnover-unit packages. We run programs from a 4-unit building to 64 windows across 16 apartments released four units a day.
Get a free window estimate
Apartment Window Replacement With Tenants in Place
Our crews work occupied garden apartments and lakeside rental buildings, phasing each unit around tenants so nobody moves out and every unit stays rentable. Backed by 13 years in business and our 2-year workmanship warranty on every installation, we have completed over 1,730 projects, and owner and property manager references are available on request.
From the dated entry calendar your manager posts to the last unit on the punch list, our team handles the parts of an apartment job that decide whether it finishes on schedule. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Lake San Marcos, Encinitas and Poway, we hold your leasing schedule, work weekends where a building needs it, and turn each unit back the same evening.
Why Carlsbad Quality Windows
What You Can Hold Us To
13 yearsMeasuring and installing windows across North County
1,730Window and door projects completed
2-year2-year workmanship warranty on every installation
30 milesFrom Carlsbad to Poway, Bonsall and Lake San Marcos
Apartment Program Sizes We Take On
We take on rental buildings from a 4-unit property to programs of 64 windows across 16 apartments, and larger communities are phased building by building. A typical garden apartment in North County has four to six windows and a balcony or patio slider per unit, so the bid is written per floor plan and multiplied across the property.
Replacing Windows With Tenants in Place
Tenants stay in their apartments while we replace the windows, because each unit opens and closes on a single install day. We pull furniture back from the walls, cover the floor below each window and take out the old sashes and sliders one at a time. The new units go in flashed, sealed and trimmed on both faces, the debris leaves with us, and the manager or tenant checks locks and screens before we go. No opening stays open overnight: if trim runs late, the new frame and glass close the hole and the trim is finished the following day.
Apartment Window Standards We Hold Across a Property
- Glass package
- Dual-pane Low-E with argon fill as standard; Low-E 366 on west and ocean-facing walls
- U-Factor
- 0.30 or lower on every Title 24 job; 0.25 to 0.28 typical on our standard dual-pane
- Solar Heat Gain (SHGC)
- 0.23 or lower on south and west walls
- Install method
- Retrofit pocket insert into sound frames; full-frame tear-out where the frame or sill has failed
- Sound control
- 26 to 34 STC on standard dual-pane; 35 to 42 STC with laminated acoustic glass
- Design pressure
- DP 30 to DP 50 on most homes; DP 60 or higher on exposed bluff-top walls
- Safety glazing
- Tempered glass near doors, tubs and low sills, per CBC R308
- Lead time
- Est. 4 to 12 weeks from final measure to install day
- Crew
- 2 to 4 installers; a 2-person crew sets 8 to 12 retrofit windows a day
- Deposit
- Capped at $1,000 or 10% of the contract, whichever is less (California law)
Apartment Window Cost Per Unit and Per Window
Vinyl or fiberglass slider
- Est. investment
- $750 to $1,400 per window
- Est. duration
- 1 to 2 hours
The common 1970s and 1980s aluminum slider swap
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Apartment window replacement in North County is typically budgeted per window, with a retrofit vinyl double-hung estimated at $450 to $950 per window and a vinyl or fiberglass slider estimated at $750 to $1,400, and the floor plan, the install method and how many units release each day move the per-door figure most.
| Apartment line item | Est. investment | Est. time on site |
|---|---|---|
| Retrofit vinyl double-hung | Est. $450 to $950 per window | Est. 45 to 90 minutes |
| Vinyl or fiberglass slider | Est. $750 to $1,400 per window | Est. 1 to 2 hours |
| Sliding patio door at a balcony | Est. $1,800 to $4,000 per door | Est. 6 to 8 hours |
| Full-frame tear-out where a sill has rotted | Est. $800 to $1,500 per window | Est. 3 to 6 hours |
At the property scale, the lakeside building at Lake San Marcos came in at an estimated $24,500 to $33,000 for 64 windows across 16 apartments, a useful per-door benchmark for a capital plan.
These apartment figures are budgetary estimates and are subject to change after we walk sample units. Your written quote, confirmed on bid from the floor plans and the unit count, sets the final price and the unit-by-unit schedule.
Apartment Project: 16 Lakeside Units at Lake San Marcos
Gary, lakeside, Lake San Marcos
Apartment Window Projects
- Material
- white vinyl single-hung, dual-pane Low-E
- Size
- 64 windows across 16 apartments
- Est. investment
- $24,500 to $33,000
- Est. duration
- 7 to 10 days
Lakeside apartment building with original aluminum windows in every unit
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Gary's lakeside apartment building at Lake San Marcos had original aluminum windows in every unit, so we replaced 64 windows across 16 apartments in white vinyl single-hung, dual-pane Low-E. Four units a day were phased with resident notices, the work came in at an estimated $24,500 to $33,000 over an estimated 7 to 10 days, and every unit was finished with residents at home and one unit-by-unit punch list closed out.
Entry Notices and Unit Sequencing
Every apartment window calendar is shaped by Civil Code 1954, California's rule on landlord entry. It lets a landlord enter for repairs or improvements, contractors included, provided the tenant gets written notice naming the date, rough time and reason. The law treats twenty-four hours as reasonable notice, treats a mailed notice as reasonable when it goes out six days before entry, and keeps entry to normal business hours unless the tenant consents to another time.
Serving the notices stays with your office, so your manager gets a dated calendar, building by building and unit by unit, in time to post or mail each one. Crews then move by building and stack, setting a lift once at one end to reach every floor there, and a tenant who works nights is slotted wherever the calendar has room.
Turnover Units and Phased Budgets
Turnover is the simplest moment for new windows, so a vacant unit between leases, whether in Old Encinitas or Eden Gardens, is priced as an add-on your manager can release whenever it empties. Owners in Bonsall or Harmony Grove who cannot fund a whole property at once often start with the elevation that takes the most sun or traffic and finish the rest as units turn.
Older Buildings and Lead-Safe Work
Pre-1978 apartment buildings put the federal lead rule on the job. The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule treats window replacement in housing that old as covered work, so those scopes are written around lead-safe steps: dust held at each opening, a careful cleanup and a final check before the tenant is back in the room.
Why Apartment Owners Choose Carlsbad Quality Windows
Apartment owners choose us because one crew measures, installs and closes every unit, and after 13 years and 1,730 projects we know how little downtime a rental can take. Our commercial project coordinator handles the resident notices with your manager and keeps the unit-by-unit punch list. Every unit carries our 2-year workmanship warranty on every installation, and manufacturer warranties passed through to you, commonly 20 years on the glass and 10 years on non-glass parts.
Apartment Service Areas Around North County
We run apartment programs within a 30-mile radius of Carlsbad, from rentals in Carlsbad Village and Calavera Hills to lakeside buildings at Lake San Marcos and older complexes in Old Poway. Small apartment buildings in Encinitas, Leucadia and Solana Beach are bid the same way, and our residential work is on the Carlsbad Quality Windows home page.
Related Commercial Window Services
Owners whose buildings are condominiums rather than rentals use our HOA and condo window projects, and mixed-use buildings with shops below add storefront glass for the ground floor. Every property type we glaze is on our commercial window replacement hub.
Apartment Window Questions From Owners and Managers
Do tenants have to move out for window replacement?
No, tenants stay home while each unit gets one install day, the way Gary's 16 lakeside apartments were done.
How much notice do tenants need before entry?
California presumes twenty-four hours of written notice reasonable, and we give your manager a dated calendar early enough to serve it.
What does apartment window replacement cost per unit?
A retrofit vinyl double-hung is typically estimated at $450 to $950 per window, and your written quote sets the final per-unit price.
How many units can you finish in a day?
We typically release four units a day on a program, as we did across the Lake San Marcos building.
Can you replace windows only in vacant units?
Yes, vacant units ride on the bid as an add-on that your manager releases one at a time as leases end.
Do you replace balcony sliders too?
Yes, a sliding patio door at a balcony is typically estimated at $1,800 to $4,000 per door and is listed as its own line.
How is payment structured on a multifamily program?
Payments are typically tied to completed buildings or units, so you pay as the work is finished rather than in one large sum up front.
Request an Apartment Window Bid
Contact us with your unit count, floor plans and any turnover dates, and we will walk sample units and send a written bid.
Recent Commercial Glass
The process
How a Window Job Runs
The measure
We check every frame, sill and the stucco around it, then laser-measure each opening for the unit that goes in it.
The written quote
Frame material, glass package, label values and install method arrive in writing before anything is ordered.
Install and flash
Each window is set on a sloped sill pan, flashed and sealed, with the NFRC sticker left on for the inspector.
The final walk
We open and lock every window and door with you, and the city signs off the Title 24 permit.
Services
More Commercial Window Work
Where we work
Where We Install It
Free in-home measure
Talk to Us About Apartment Window Projects
Homeowners get a free measure at the house. Boards, managers and contractors can send plans or an opening count for a bid.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.