IOWindows.com makes window shopping simple with online pricing

Project at a glance

• Company: IO Windows (iowindows.com)
• Location: Towson, Maryland
• Category: Innovation in Home Improvement
• Scope: 16 custom vinyl double-hung windows and 1 picture window, priced and ordered online, installed by IO Windows crews
• Score: 92 out of 100

The challenge

Replacing the windows in an older home usually starts with a sales visit. A rep measures, talks for two hours, and leaves a quote that is good for today only. The homeowners in this 1940s brick colonial had been through that twice and still did not know what a fair price looked like. Their old wood windows were drafty, painted shut in places, and the openings were not quite the same size from one room to the next.

The innovation

IO Windows lets homeowners configure custom vinyl replacement windows online and see the real price right away, with no phone number or email address required. Size, glass package, color, grids and hardware are all chosen on screen, and every window is built to the opening to the eighth of an inch. Installation is optional. Homeowners can install the windows themselves, hire their own contractor, or have IO Windows crews do the work.

On this project the homeowners priced all seventeen openings in one evening, compared glass packages side by side, and placed the order without a single sales call. An IO Windows installer then field-checked every measurement before the order went to the factory, which caught two openings that were out of square.

The work

The crew removed the old sashes and stops, kept the original interior trim, and set the new units with low-expansion foam and backer rod. Each window was flashed and sealed on the exterior before new aluminum capping went on over the old brick mold. Grids were matched to the original six-over-six pattern so the house still looks like it belongs on the street.

Judge’s note

This entry changes how a homeowner buys the product, not just how it gets installed. Clear pricing up front, a real field check before manufacturing, and careful installation on an old masonry house. The homeowner rated the process 5 out of 5 and said it was the first time buying windows felt simple.

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