26/328 = 13%

We have windows.

40 of them. Four zero. That is a whole lot of windows.

That translates to 328+ panes of glass including doors and all of our 6/1 and 4/4 windows.

26 of those panes were cracked, broken, chipped, or missing entirely. Which seems like a lot until you compare it to the number of total panes on the house. That's only 13% of all the window panes that needed to be replaced.

That's plywood in the left window. One of the small panes around the corner was missing and had the same plywood treatment.

That will make you feel good about the property you bought, right? I mean, nothing says home like some boarded up windows.

Well thanks to the Oklahoma weather (hail), glazing contractors have been IMPOSSIBLE to find. We had multiple recommendations but no one would take our job. Not only would they not take our job, they wouldn't even consider our job. Not because of anything that had to do with the house, but because their backlogs of work were so outrageously long, they knew it wasn't even worth taking down our number because of the time it would take to just get around to us.

"But we would pay cash. This was not an insurance job. You wouldn't have to file paperwork, or wait for a check. We could pay you at the time of service. What is wrong with you contractors?!"

Didn't seem to matter.

We did get the name of a guy who specialized in historic preservation. He came out took a look, and didn't have the desire to replace just the glazing. He wanted to restore the windows. To their former glory. Make them operational (using the old weights) and beautiful again. Wow. Wouldn't that be awesome? For more than $30,000, it wasn't all that awesome. Needless to say we told him to find himself another job.

So, we finally got someone worked out. They were still quite a few weeks out from being able to do the work, but they were willing to take our job. They are a general residential and commercial small contractor from Tulsa, so they are still quite busy, but not as slammed as the local Oklahoma City glazing crews.

So after waiting for them to have some availability, they came out last week and promptly started replacing the broken and missing glass.

Compared to the existing glass in the windows, the new glass is so clean you can barely tell there is a window there at all. I'll be spending the next three months doing nothing but cleaning paint and crap off the rest of the windows to make them even look half as clean as the new panes.

Last Friday, I cut their final check and I was a happy camper. I had windows that were no longer broken and the plywood was a thing of the past! Happy, happy.

The installers are coming back today to take care of a few things that accidentally got missed. I'm thankful for honest subcontractors that are willing to come back and fix things when an accidental oversight might have been made. It is rare to find these types of subs (unfortunately) so its good to keep the ones you do find.