On a speculative house, the window is chosen to please the most buyers at the least cost. On a custom house, the window is one of the largest decisions on the project, and one of the few a client feels every single day. The difference between the two is not the size of the opening. It is the glass, the hardware, the joinery, and the money, everything around the hole in the wall.
A spec window and a custom window are not the same object
From the street they can look alike. Up close they are built to different rules. A speculative window is specified to a price and a broad market, so it lands on standard insulated glass, catalog hardware, and joinery assembled to hit a number. A fully custom window is specified to the house, the client, and the sightline, low-iron or coated glass where it matters, hardware engineered for the size and weight, and joinery detailed to the wall it sits in.
That range is real money. On Boroughs and Burbs, Scott Hobbs put a window package anywhere from a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to a million, with genuine quality differences inside that spread. The opening is the same. What you are paying for is everything you feel when you stand at it.
Speculative and fully custom, side by side
The custom window runs on a longer clock
The other difference is time. Specialty glass is not on a shelf. On Boroughs and Burbs, Scott Hobbs described telling a client that the specialty glass he wanted was not being made at that moment, and that the honest answer was to wait for the factory to run it, worth waiting for, but not something you can rush.
That is why the windows on a custom house get decided and ordered early, alongside the structure, not chosen at the end. A window that has to be produced on the manufacturer’s schedule sets the schedule, so it goes on the calendar first.
Windows, in brief
- What is the difference between a speculative and a fully custom window?
- A speculative window is specified to a price and a broad market, standard glass, catalog hardware, joinery built to a number. A fully custom window is specified to the house and the client, glass, hardware, and joinery chosen for that opening. The size can be identical; the build is not. See how we work.
- How much does a custom window package cost?
- A wide range. On Boroughs and Burbs, Scott Hobbs put a custom window package anywhere from a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to a million, with real quality differences inside that spread. It is priced to the house, not by the opening.
- Why do custom windows take so long?
- Specialty glass is made in production runs, not held in stock, so a window can be set by the manufacturer’s calendar rather than the site’s. On a custom house the windows are specified and ordered early, with the structure, so the long-lead glass does not hold up the build.
- Where does Hobbs build?
- Across the Hamptons, New York City, New Jersey, and the Fairfield County and Litchfield County area of Connecticut. See our work.
More to read and watch
Stay in the conversation
More from the Journal
New writing on how a Hobbs home comes together, and each new Conversation, delivered as it publishes.
Working on a home of your own? Start a conversation.
To hear Scott Hobbs on building at this level, watch the conversations on Boroughs and Burbs.