Before you sign
How to Tell Whether You Are Being Sold the Wrong County’s Code
Palm Beach County is outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. A quote built on a Miami-Dade acceptance is not wrong, but it should be a decision rather than a default.
Give us the address. In this county the address decides the pressure, the review, and often the price — before the window does.
The four questions to put to any quote, including ours
None of these are hostile questions. A contractor working properly in this county answers all four without effort.
- Which approval regime is this quoted under — statewide Florida Product Approval, or a Miami-Dade acceptance?
- What is the calculated design pressure for each opening, and how was it derived?
- Is there an approval number against each opening, or only a brand and a product line?
- Does the approval cover the actual size going into the opening, not just the product family?
What a Miami-Dade specification in Palm Beach usually means
Most often it means the contractor is based south of the county line and quotes the same way everywhere. That is habit rather than dishonesty, and the product itself is tested to a higher protocol.
What it costs you is choice. The statewide approved field is considerably wider, which affects price, available sizes and shapes, and lead times. Being quoted from the narrower field without being told there is a wider one is the part worth questioning.
And the opposite mistake
Some homeowners hear "not HVHZ" and conclude that nothing much is required here. Palm Beach County sits in the wind-borne debris region, so glazed openings need impact-rated units or approved shutters.
The two errors are symmetrical. One overpays for a protocol that was never required; the other under-protects a building that genuinely needs it. Both come from reading a label instead of a calculation.
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.