What we install · French & Specialty Shapes
Arches, Radius Heads and French Pairs — Where Lead Times Bite
Arched heads, radius tops, oversized fixed glass and French pairs are common on Palm Beach houses and are made to order. They carry the longest lead times on any job and the least flexibility if something is measured wrong.
Give us the address. In this county the address decides the pressure, the review, and often the price — before the window does.
Not HVHZ
Palm Beach uses statewide approval, not a Miami-Dade NOA
Still required
The county sits in the wind-borne debris region
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
One mis-measured arch holding up the whole schedule
Specialty units are not stock. They are fabricated to a template for one opening in one house, and if the measurement is wrong the remedy is a re-order rather than an adjustment. On a house with a dozen standard openings and two arched heads, the two arches decide when the job finishes. Crews that measure specialty units at the same speed as rectangles are the reason this trade has a reputation for slipping dates.
What specialty units demand
- A template or a survey rather than a tape measurement.
- Confirmation that the approval covers that shape at that size.
- Longer lead times, planned for rather than discovered.
- A decision on whether the existing shape is kept or squared off.
- Matched finish and sight lines against the standard units nearby.
Why Palm Beach has more of these than most markets
The Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial vocabulary that runs through this county — on the island, through parts of Boca Raton, and across a great many of the western estate developments — is full of arched heads, radius tops and grouped French pairs. It is a defining feature of how the houses look.
That has a direct consequence for cost and program. A house whose character comes from its openings is a house where the openings cannot simply be swapped for the nearest rectangle, and where a municipal design review, if one applies, is looking hardest at exactly those shapes.
How we handle it
- 01Survey specialty openings separately and carefully.
- 02Order the long-lead units first, not last.
- 03Sequence the standard openings around the specialty delivery.
- 04Match finishes across the elevation so the composition reads as one.
We order the long-lead items first and fit the straightforward openings while they are being made. That is an obvious sequence and it is skipped constantly, which is why so many of these jobs sit ninety percent complete with a hole in the front elevation waiting on one arch.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Some existing shapes cannot be matched in an approved impact unit at a sensible price. Where that is true the honest options are squaring the opening off, which changes the elevation, or paying considerably more for a genuine custom unit. We will lay out both rather than quietly assuming which one you want.
FAQ
Common questions
- Can any arch be matched?
- Most can, at a price and a lead time. True ellipses, unusual radii and very large fixed arches are where cost climbs steeply. We would rather price the real thing and let you decide than quote a rectangle and mention the change later.
- How much longer do specialty units take?
- Meaningfully longer than standard units, and it varies by fabricator and by how loaded they are. What matters is that they are ordered first. The delay is manageable when it is planned for and it wrecks the schedule when it is not.
- Can I square off an arch to save money?
- Yes, and sometimes it is the sensible call. It changes the elevation, it involves structural and stucco work above the opening, and on a house under design review it may need approval. It is a real option, not a free one.
Palm Beach specifics
You Are Not in the HVHZ
The High Velocity Hurricane Zone is Miami-Dade and Broward. It is not Palm Beach. Your openings are governed by statewide Florida Product Approval, which is a wider field, and knowing that changes what you should be quoted.
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The Debris Region
The second mistake in this county is the opposite of the first. Being outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone is not being outside the requirement — Palm Beach County sits in the wind-borne debris region, and openings need protecting.
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Design Review on the Island
The Town of Palm Beach reviews the appearance of exterior work, and several other municipalities in the county run their own review. Where that applies, the design question is settled before the code question, and the order is not negotiable.
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The Western Communities
Move inland from the coast and the calculated pressures fall while the houses get larger. That combination changes the economics of a job here more than anything else in the county.
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How We Work Here
We are based in Broward and we work throughout Palm Beach County. That is worth stating plainly, along with what it does and does not mean for how a job runs.
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More what we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and in this county the one most often over-specified. Palm Beach is outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, so the approved field is wide — and the job is choosing correctly inside it rather than defaulting to the most expensive label.
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Sliding Glass Doors
Sliders are the largest glazed openings in most Palm Beach homes and the ones where a size-based approval limit is most likely to be exceeded. They are also where the structural question above the opening gets skipped.
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Impact Entry Doors
An approved entry door is an assembly. The slab, frame, hinges, lock, threshold and glazing are approved together, and changing one part outside the approval invalidates the whole thing.
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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.