New windows and doors, Auckland-wide
Window replacement for Auckland homes
Window replacement is for the houses where the frames have had it. The timber is rotten, the aluminium is too slim to hold a sealed unit, or the ranchslider has to be lifted to shut. New glass won't fix any of that, so the whole window comes out and new joinery goes in. An Auckland installer who does retrofits and replacements will go window by window and tell you which yours need.
Get a quoteIf the frames are sound, it's much cheaper to double glaze the windows you have.
Signs the frames have to go
A retrofit is cheaper, so check that first. These four things usually rule it out.
Rot in the timber
The sills are soft, you can push a blade into the bottom of a sash, or the paint keeps failing in the same place. Installers won't fit a sealed unit into rotten timber, because it's heavier than the old glass and needs sound wood to sit in. Rot in one sash can sometimes be fixed by remaking it. Rot in the frame or sill means the window comes out.
Aluminium with nowhere to hold a unit
Some older, slimmer aluminium sections aren't deep enough for a double-glazed unit, whatever glass you pick. Those windows need new joinery, but the rest of the house often doesn't.
Sliders and doors that have had it
A ranchslider you lift to shut, or one that lets the rain in along the bottom rail, is usually replaced as a whole door. Budget for it separately. A new sliding door costs more than any single window.
Monolithic cladding from the 1990s and 2000s
Monolithic-clad houses are harder. If water has got in around the old frames, the whole job changes, so get the walls assessed before anyone quotes joinery.
Most houses have a mix, and a good quote says which windows need which job.
Replacing windows in a Special Character Area
In a Special Character Area, replacing the frames on a street-facing wall may need resource consent. In a case reported in May 2025, the owners of a Mt Eden villa got an abatement notice after swapping the original timber sashes for aluminium-framed windows that opened differently. The council said panes fitted into the existing wooden frames wouldn't have needed consent.
If your villa or bungalow is in one of the overlay's 35 or so areas and the timber is sound, keeping the sashes and putting units into them is cheaper and avoids the consent. If the frames really do have to go, allow for a resource consent application as well as the joinery.
Aluminium, thermally broken, uPVC or timber for the new frames
The R-values are for the whole window, from the Building Code's H1/AS1 reference table. The first is standard double glazing and the second is low-E with argon. Higher is warmer.
Standard aluminium
It's the cheapest new frame, and it's what Auckland's 1960s to 90s houses were built with. It's also the coldest, at R0.24 and R0.35. The metal runs straight through from outside to inside, so the frame itself can still sweat on a humid winter morning.
Thermally broken aluminium
From the street it looks like standard aluminium. A plastic strip separates the outer metal from the inner, so the inside face stays nearer room temperature. It rates R0.30 and R0.46, and the R0.46 window is what the code's reference building assumes for new work in Auckland. Published Auckland pricing puts it 25 to 40% above standard. New aluminium joinery →
uPVC
A hollow plastic frame that lets far less heat through than aluminium, rated R0.37 and R0.63. The sightlines are chunkier than aluminium and there are fewer colours. We haven't given a per-window price because the published sources disagree too much. uPVC double glazing →
Timber
The warmest frame here, at R0.41 and R0.71, and the obvious match for a villa or bungalow. It needs painting, and a new timber window is priced job by job. If the existing timber is sound, putting units into the frames you have is usually the better way to go. Villas and timber →
Building consent, safety glass and the 15-year rule
You usually won't need building consent. On an existing house of up to two storeys, replacing windows and exterior doors is exempt under Schedule 1, exemption 8 of the Building Act. MBIE's examples include swapping wooden windows for aluminium in the same position. Over two storeys, check with the council first.
The exemption doesn't apply if the old window failed within its required life, which for joinery is generally 15 years, so a frame that rotted within 15 years of going in isn't covered. It doesn't apply if the work affects a specified system either. Exempt or not, the new joinery has to meet the Building Code and perform at least as well as what it replaces, but not to the full new-build standard.
Safety glass applies with or without consent. NZS 4223.3 requires it where someone could walk into glass or fall against it, which means doors and the panels beside them, low panes, bathrooms, stairways, and in general any glazing within 2,000 mm of the floor or the ground. A pane that wasn't safety glass when the house was built may need to be when it's replaced.
A whole-house replacement often goes over $30,000. At that point the Building Act requires a written contract and a disclosure statement before you sign.
Four things to ask before you sign
- Which openings need safety glass, and are they marked on the quote?
- Will a Licensed Building Practitioner do or supervise the work?
- Is any window on a street-facing wall in a Special Character Area?
- Is the job over $30,000, and where is the written contract?
Want retrofit and replacement priced on the same windows?
Ask for both prices, window by window, so you can see how much of the cost is the frames.
What window replacement costs in Auckland
These are published Auckland installer prices for 2026. They're per window, not per pane, and vary with the size of the window.
You can see how the costs add up for a three-bedroom house.
- Standard aluminium~$1,200–2,700 / window
- Thermally broken aluminium~$2,000–3,500 / window
- Sliding door~$4,500–7,000
- 3-bedroom, standard aluminium$20,000–45,000
- 3-bedroom, thermally broken or uPVC$32,000–55,000
Published Auckland installer pricing, 2026. Most sources don't say whether GST is included.
Making good, and what an all-in quote covers
Taking a window out disturbs everything around it. Inside, the architraves come off, the gib around the reveal gets damaged, and there's painting afterwards. Outside, the flashings and the cladding around the opening have to be cut back and made good. On weatherboard that means boards patched or replaced. On a monolithic-clad house it usually means a specialist.
An all-in quote covers those. An installer-only quote covers the window and the fitting and leaves the rest to you or your builder. Either is fine, but check which one you've got before you compare two quotes. The difference between them is usually the making good.
What to ask about the quote
- Are the old windows removed and taken away?
- Are new architraves and sills in the price, and who paints them?
- Who repairs the gib inside and the cladding outside?
- If it's upstairs, is the scaffold in the price?
- What's the deposit, and when does the joinery arrive?
Window replacement questions
How much does it cost to replace a window in NZ?
In Auckland a new standard aluminium window runs about $1,200 to $2,700 installed, depending on size. Some quotes include the making good and some don't. There's a full breakdown of double glazing and window costs.
Is it cheaper to replace all the windows at once?
Often, but the only way to know for your house is to ask for both prices. If you have to do it in stages, ask for the whole house and a first stage priced on the same quote, and start with the bedrooms that run wet.
How much does it roughly cost to replace all the windows in a house?
A typical three-bedroom Auckland house comes to about $20,000 to $45,000 in standard aluminium, or $32,000 to $55,000 in thermally broken aluminium or uPVC. We've worked through what a three-bedroom house costs in more detail.
Can double glazing go into a rotten frame, or does the frame have to go first?
The frame goes first, because installers won't fit a sealed unit into rotten timber. If the rot is only in one sash, a joiner may be able to remake it and keep the frame, so the job stays a retrofit.
Which windows need replacing, and which don't?
Send your details and the installer will go through the house with you at the measure, window by window, and put a price on each.