Window replacement costs in Miami

In Miami-Dade, a window job isn't done until an inspector sees the screws. Under Miami-Dade County's fast-track window permit, the crew installs every window but leaves the inside edge of each frame uncaulked and unfinished, with no cover plates over the fasteners. Then comes a "buck and fastener" inspection of the shims and fasteners, by video or in person, and that inspection closes the permit.

The fast track has limits. It covers a detached house, duplex or townhouse with a mean roof height of 30 feet or less, and only an exact swap. Moving, adding or closing up an opening sends the job through regular review. Each window needs a Florida product approval or a county Notice of Acceptance written for the current code. An expired approval, or one from an older code cycle, won't be accepted.

Count before you decide how many to do. The county's form, citing the state's existing-building code, says that if you replace more than a quarter of the glazed openings in your Miami house, every replaced opening has to meet the impact rules, with impact glass or an approved device like a shutter. The shutter takes its own permit.

Bedroom windows still have to meet the emergency escape rules after the swap.