How to Prepare a Commercial Glazing RFQ: A Property Manager's Checklist

Almost every commercial glass scope belongs to one of three tracks: service the existing assembly, replace the glass and keep the frame, or replace the system. Bidders who disagree about which track they are on will produce numbers that cannot be compared at all, so state your working assumption in the RFQ and invite bidders to contest it.

If you are not sure which track applies, say that too, and ask for a field review before pricing. A contractor who prices a distorted, corroded frame as a straightforward lite replacement is not cheaper — they are describing a different job than the one you have.

The following list is what lets a glazing contractor price without padding. Each missing item is replaced by an assumption, and assumptions are always priced conservatively.

Property address, suite and a site contact who can grant access. Photographs of the full elevation as well as the affected opening — the elevation shows the system, the close-up shows the damage. Approximate opening sizes measured corner to corner. Whether the glass is single-pane or an insulated unit. A photograph of any tempering stamp etched in a corner, which tells the bidder what the original lite was. Frame type and visible condition. Interior or exterior, and which floor.

Then the conditions that shape labour rather than product: whether the space is occupied and its trading hours, access constraints such as lifts, loading docks, badge or escort rules, protected landscaping or sidewalk restrictions, and any building rules about noise windows or hot work. Finally, the commercial frame: your target schedule, who holds the permit if one is needed, and whether drawings or a glass and glazing specification section exist.

Glass make-up is the single largest driver of both price and lead time, and it is where bids diverge most quietly. Clear tempered, laminated, insulated and coated units are not substitutes for one another, and a coated unit matched to an existing elevation is a made-to-order item with a real lead time behind it.

If you know the make-up, state it. If you do not, do not guess — ask each bidder to state the make-up they have priced, in writing, including coating and spacer where an insulated unit is involved. A proposal that names its glass build can be compared to another proposal that names its glass build. A proposal that says 'replace glass' cannot be compared to anything.

The same applies to hardware on an entrance scope. Closers, pivots, thresholds, locks and panic devices should be named by function and duty rather than left to the installer's default, because door hardware is what fails first on a busy commercial frontage.

Where a scope requires structural calculations or stamped documents — glass guards are the usual case — someone has to produce and submit them. That responsibility belongs in the proposal, named explicitly, not settled by conversation after award. Engineering, when required, is produced by a licensed engineer.

The same holds for permits and for design review. Work on a property in a designated historic area may attract landmark or design review by the local authority, and whether it applies is confirmed for the specific address and scope. Requirements vary with the adopted code edition, occupancy, building height, the approved project documents, and the Authority Having Jurisdiction, so treat any contractor's code discussion as background rather than as a determination.

'How fast can you do it?' produces an optimistic number from every bidder and useful information from none. Two better questions: what is the lead time on the specific product you have priced, and when is it confirmed? And what has to be true on site before you can field measure?

Tempered glass cannot be cut, drilled or resized after fabrication, which is why measurement comes after the surfaces the glass bears on are final — tile, curb, cap, deck fascia, frame. An RFQ that asks bidders to name their measurement trigger will surface the ones who intend to measure from drawings.

The most valuable page in any glazing proposal is the one listing what is not included. Substrate reinforcement by others, patching and painting, temporary securing, after-hours premiums, disposal, permit fees, engineering, access equipment and finish carpentry are all common exclusions, and all of them become change orders when they are left unstated.

Ask each bidder for three headings: scope, assumptions, exclusions. Bids that carry them can be levelled line by line. Bids that do not are lump sums that will move.

Put the bids side by side and compare on five axes before price: the glass make-up named, the working hours assumed, the securing plan, the responsibility split for engineering and permits, and the measurement trigger. Differences on any of those explain most price gaps you will see.

Then look at what each bidder self-declares. A contractor who states plainly that they do not fabricate in house is telling you where their schedule risk sits and who they depend on. That is more useful than a claim of end-to-end capability that cannot be verified.

Finally, treat any published cost range — including ours — as budgeting guidance rather than a quote. Front Range pricing depends on field measurement, access, glass make-up, hardware, quantities and schedule.