Double glazing quotes in Cyprus — what should be in writing

A double glazing quote that can be compared with another one carries a schedule of every opening with its size and opening type, names the frame system and whether it is thermally broken, states the sealed unit make-up in millimetres, names the coatings and which surface they sit on, says where safety glass is used, specifies the hardware and its corrosion grade, and describes what happens to the reveal after the old window comes out. Anything less is a total attached to a guess about the parts nobody sees until installation day.

Recorded ranges are held per opening, supplied and fitted, with the sample size and the month noted against each figure. Per opening rather than per square metre is deliberate: a fixed pane and a tilt-and-turn casement of identical area carry different hardware, and averaging them describes no window in the house.

Why written scope matters

Glass and frame profile are commodities. The same extrusions and sealed units arrive through the same importers whether they are fitted in Aglantzia or Chloraka. What varies is the specification chosen inside those commodities — unit make-up, coating, spacer, hardware grade — and the work around the opening, where most of the labour and nearly all of the disputes live.

The specification question here is not the one most quotes are written to answer. Marketing built for northern Europe leads with winter heat loss, but on this island solar control and shading govern performance far more than winter U-value. A window that keeps afternoon heat out of a west-facing room does more for a Cypriot household than one optimised for a January night, and the two are different products at different prices. Inland, Nicosia carries the widest temperature range on the island, so both ends matter there; on the coast the summer end dominates.

The building stock decides the labour. Around Strovolos, 1970s to 1990s apartment blocks are typically fitted with original unbroken aluminium frames set into openings that are rarely square, and removing them takes plaster with them. On the high-rise stock around Limassol centre, getting large panes to a fifth-floor balcony is a hoisting and permission exercise before it is a glazing one — which is why recorded Limassol quotes sit above the island median on the same written specification. In Kato Paphos, salt-laden air makes the corrosion grade of hinges, handles and fixings a specification item, and near Oroklini and the salt lake the raised humidity makes condensation behaviour worth naming.

The eleven items a quote needs

1. 1. A schedule of every opening

   Each window and door listed with its room, its measured size and its reference. A quote for "the whole house" priced as one figure cannot be compared, cannot be part-ordered, and cannot be checked on delivery.

2. 2. Frame material and system, named

   uPVC, aluminium or timber is not enough. The system name, the profile depth, the number of chambers, and for aluminium whether the profile is thermally broken. An unbroken aluminium frame around an advanced sealed unit undoes most of what the glass was bought for.

3. 3. Opening type, per opening

   Fixed, side-hung casement, tilt-and-turn, horizontal slider or lift-and-slide. Hardware cost tracks this directly, and it is the single item most often changed between quotation and order without the price being revisited.

4. 4. Sealed unit make-up in millimetres

   A sealed unit is two panes separated by a spacer and a filled cavity, and the quote should give all three: outer pane thickness, cavity width, inner pane thickness. Whether the cavity is air or gas filled belongs on the same line.

5. 5. Coatings, and which surface they sit on

   Solar-control and low-emissivity coatings are applied to a specific glass surface, and putting a coating on the wrong face changes what it does. The quote should state the coating and the surface, with the light transmission and solar factor alongside the U-value rather than instead of it.

6. 6. Safety glass, where it is required

   Toughened or laminated glass at low level, in and beside doors, in bathrooms and on full-height balcony glazing. This is a compliance item, not an upgrade, and finding it excluded after installation is expensive.

7. 7. Hardware, locking and corrosion grade

   Handles, hinges, multi-point locking, restrictors and the finish of every fixing. On directly exposed coastal frontage such as Kato Paphos, marine-grade or galvanised fixings are standard, and specifying them everywhere inland is padding rather than prudence.

8. 8. Removal of the existing windows and disposal

   Who takes the old frames out, who removes them from site, and whether the charge is included. Old aluminium has scrap value, so it is worth knowing whether that has been netted off or quietly retained.

9. 9. Reveal treatment, sealing and making good

   Perimeter sealing, internal and external trims, plaster repair and redecoration. This is the most frequently omitted item in the whole document and the one an owner sees every day afterwards. "Making good excluded" is an acceptable position; silence is not.

10. 10. Screens, shutters and blinds

    Insect screens are widely assumed to be included and frequently are not. Where external roller shutters exist, whether the shutter box is replaced or reused matters, because an old uninsulated box sits directly above a new window and leaks heat past everything below it.

11. 11. Survey, lead time and the warranty split

    Who takes the final measurements and when, the manufacturing lead time from order, and three separate warranties: the frame system, the sealed unit against misting, and the installation. They carry different durations and different claim routes.

Payment stages

Windows are made to measure, so a deposit at order is normal and a schedule weighted entirely to completion is not realistic. What matters is that the stages after the deposit attach to events.

A workable structure ties the deposit to the order being placed after the final survey, a second stage to delivery to site, a third to installation complete, and the final portion to making good, sealing and a written handover with the warranty documents attached. Holding the last stage until the reveals are finished is the most useful clause available, because making good is the step most likely to be treated as something to return for.

There is a grant worth establishing before an order is placed. The energy upgrade scheme for existing buildings is worth up to €12,000, runs from 01/03/2026 to 28/02/2027, names glazing among the eligible upgrades, and requires an energy performance assessment both before and after the works. The assessment has to happen before anything is removed, which makes this a sequencing question rather than a paperwork one, and the current terms sit with the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry.

Variations and how they are priced

A variation is any work outside the written scope, and the rates are negotiable only before the first one exists. The quote should carry a labour day rate, the markup on materials bought for a variation, and a threshold below which small items are absorbed. Four recur often enough on Cypriot glazing work to be priced in advance:

• Openings out of square. Routine in the older apartment stock. Either the frame is packed and the gap made good, or the opening is squared up — different work at different prices, decided on the day unless the quote decides it first.
• A failed or rotten subframe found on removal. Priced per opening, and it cannot be surveyed through an installed window.
• Access above ground floor. Hoisting large panes, a lift too small for the units, or a management committee's permission for work on a facade. On the hillside plots above Peyia, steep access roads limit delivery vehicle size before any of this begins.
• Shutter boxes and blind fixings. Replacing an old box is a separate operation from replacing the window beneath it, and reusing it is a decision with a thermal consequence.

Red flags

• A price per square metre of glass. Openings are priced individually because hardware, not area, drives the difference.
• No window schedule. Without one there is nothing to check on delivery day.
• "Double glazed" with no unit make-up. Two panes and a cavity describes every sealed unit ever manufactured, including the worst one.
• Energy claims with no figures. A quote that promises comfort without a U-value, a solar factor or a light transmission figure has specified a mood.
• A grant shown as a discount already applied. Which scheme, what it pays, who claims it and whether the pre-works assessment exists are four separate questions with four separate answers.
• Making good left unmentioned. Silence here reliably means it is not included.
• Most of the money due before delivery. A deposit is reasonable; a schedule with no delivery stage is not.

The double glazing price guide on this site holds the current ranges with their sample sizes attached, the district area pages break the same figures down by location, and the installer listings record glazing installers across the five districts of the Republic with the towns each one actually covers.

Common questions

Is double glazing priced per square metre in Cyprus?

Recorded ranges are per opening, supplied and fitted, because a fixed pane and a tilt-and-turn casement of the same area are different products with different hardware. A per-square-metre figure usually means no survey has taken place.

Which matters more here, U-value or solar control?

Solar control and shading, in most of the Republic. Winter heat loss is real inland — Nicosia has the widest temperature range on the island — but keeping afternoon sun out of a west-facing room is the problem that dominates a Cypriot year.

What should be asked about the coastal specification?

The corrosion grade of hinges, handles, screws and any external fixings. On directly exposed frontage such as Kato Paphos, salt-laden air makes marine-grade or galvanised fixings standard; a few kilometres inland the same specification is paid for and not needed.

How many quotes should be requested?

Three, and only if all three price the same schedule — same openings, same opening types, same unit make-up, same coatings, same making-good position. Otherwise the lowest number belongs to whoever specified the least.

When is the best time of year to have windows replaced?

Outside high summer and outside heavy rain, since every opening is briefly a hole in the wall. In Famagusta district the seasonal accommodation around Ayia Napa concentrates refurbishment into November to March, so local installer capacity in those months is committed early.