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An Office News case study: a project written up while it is happening. This one is at the stage most people never see, between the order and the factory, where the windows exist only as drawings and every number on them can still be changed for the price of an afternoon.
Windows for 52 East 64th Street on the Upper East Side, front and rear. We prepared shop drawings and submitted them to the architect for review. While that review is still open, we met the client to go through the most recent version of the drawings opening by opening.
We sat down with the client and reviewed the current set. Two changes came out of the meeting:
The rear change is a trim of five inches. The front change is a different order of thing: about two feet, which alters the proportion of the opening, the glass size and weight, and what happens in the wall above or below the window. That is why the front figure is still “about” 84 and not a fabrication dimension yet.
Where it stands: we are waiting for the client to confirm the revised sizes in writing. We are also still waiting for the architect to come back on the original submittal.
This is what shop drawings are for. An elevation on an architectural sheet shows a window as a rectangle; a shop drawing shows the real frame, the sightlines, the sill, the glass and the hardware at a scale where the owner can see what they are buying. Seeing it drawn properly is often the first time a size gets questioned. Common reasons a window comes down in size are furniture and radiator positions, privacy, a sill height that suits the room better, glass weight and handling, and cost. Changing a number now costs a revised drawing. Changing it after the order is released to the factory costs a new window.
At the moment there are two versions in play. The architect is reviewing the original submittal; the client has since asked for different sizes. If the architect returns comments on the first set and we then issue a second set with new sizes, time is lost and there is a real chance of someone approving the wrong sheet.
So the sequence from here is deliberate:
It is slower by a few days and it is the only way the right windows get built. The lead time does not start until that release: see when to order windows for how the clock works.
We will add to this log when the client confirms the sizes and when the architect responds.
Upper East Side windows and townhouses · What a window supplier does · 165 East 64th Street · All Office News
If you are replacing or installing windows in a townhouse, send us the drawings or photographs with rough sizes. We prepare the shop drawings, review them with you opening by opening, and coordinate the architect’s approval before anything is ordered.