Pre-war NYC building facade with cast iron fire escape and double-hung windows
After 30+ years supplying, installing, and repairing windows and doors across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Westchester, and Long Island, we've reviewed a lot of window maintenance contracts written by property management companies. Most of them are written to survive a legal review — not to actually protect the building.
Here are the five mistakes we see most often, and what to do instead.
1. The scope of work is too vague to enforce
"Routine maintenance of windows and doors as needed" sounds reasonable until something goes wrong and nobody can agree on what "as needed" meant. A workable contract spells out frequency (quarterly inspections, annual hardware checks), what's included (weatherstripping, balances, locks, glazing seals), and what triggers an emergency visit versus a scheduled one. If your current contract couldn't be handed to a new vendor tomorrow and produce the same results, it's too vague.
2. Maintenance is reactive, not scheduled
Most contracts only get activated when a tenant complains. By the time someone calls about a drafty window or a stuck sash, the underlying issue — a failed balance, dried-out weatherstripping, a compromised seal — has usually been developing for months. Buildings that put windows on a proactive inspection schedule catch small issues before they become tenant complaints, emergency repairs, or water damage claims. It's cheaper every time.
During COVID, we were contacted by an agency managing a residential condominium in Midtown Manhattan to repair a number of wood double-hung windows — used, but not quite ready for replacement. We were handed a predefined contract for "routine maintenance" that basically just wanted problems fixed as they occurred. We explained that this isn't a maintenance plan — it's an ongoing repair job. A true maintenance plan, focused on extending the life of the units in a building, spells out specifics: a set number of functionality inspections, catching rot before it spreads, lubricating hardware on a schedule, and so on. That's what a maintenance plan actually looks like.
3. One contract, every building, no site-specific assessment
Windows in a pre-war landmark building and windows in a 1990s high-rise have almost nothing in common — different materials, different failure points, different regulatory considerations if the building sits in a historic district. A maintenance contract that treats every property in a portfolio identically usually means it's badly suited to at least half of them. A vendor who's actually walked the building before pricing the contract is a good sign. A vendor who quotes off a portfolio spreadsheet is a warning sign.
4. No clarity on who owns code and landmark compliance
If a building is in a historic district or landmark building, window repairs and replacements can be subject to Landmarks Preservation Commission approval — and getting that wrong can mean fines, forced removal of non-compliant work, or delays that outlast a tenant's patience. Contracts rarely specify whether the vendor is responsible for flagging compliance issues before work starts, or whether that's on the property manager to catch. That ambiguity is exactly where things go wrong.
Unfortunately, a significant portion of the work we get called in for is at the direction of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, after a homeowner's window repair ran into trouble over Landmark approval. One customer had hired a repair company to change the glass and divided-lite configuration on her units, only to learn — after the sash was installed and the project was complete — that it violated her building's Landmark-approved plans. A project that should have been quick and relatively inexpensive ended up costing significantly more, all because the contract never made clear whose job it was to catch that.
5. Price is compared, credentials aren't
It's easy to compare three bids by their bottom line. It's harder — and more important — to compare manufacturer certifications, insurance coverage, warranty terms, and whether the vendor actually installs the products they're quoting or subcontracts it out. A cheaper bid that doesn't carry manufacturer-certified installation can quietly void your warranty coverage, which costs a lot more than the difference in price down the line.
What a better contract looks like
The property managers we work with who have the fewest tenant complaints and the lowest emergency-repair costs tend to have contracts built around three things: a defined inspection schedule, a single point of contact who knows the building's history, and clear language on who handles compliance when a building falls under landmark or historic district rules.
If your current window maintenance contract doesn't check those boxes, it's worth a second look before renewal season — not after the next emergency call.
Original Window has worked with NYC property managers and building owners for over 30 years, supplying, installing, and maintaining windows and doors across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Westchester, and Long Island.