A Win-Win-Win on Window Replacements

When it rained, the complaints poured in. As the newly elected board president at Winston Towers 200, a 614-unit condominium on the Hudson River in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, Lora Sussman knew that fixing the windows – which hadn’t been replaced since the 32-story towers were built in 1974 – needed to be tops on her agenda.

“They were old, drafty, and let water and wind in whenever there were heavy storms, particularly on the sides facing the Hudson,” Sussman says. “The previous board had spent at least $100,000 on consultants trying to resolve the issues, but nothing ever moved forward.”

Sussman was set on taking a different course. When she came on board in December 2014, she promptly set up a windows committee. Within a week, her new vice president, Tatiana Mitchell, had brought in experts who concluded that all 4,200 windows needed to go.

“If I had my druthers, I would have imposed an assessment and changed the windows all at once,” Sussman says. “But that would have required 100 percent agreement from all the residents, since the master deed specifies that unit-owners are responsible for their windows. And when we [did a survey], only about one in ten said they wanted to replace.”

Still, Sussman was determined to make the job as easy – and affordable – as possible for those ten-percenters. The board had an engineer develop specs and drawings for high-tech windows that would be resistant to severe wind and rain. Property manager John Van Decker, of Taylor Management, began seeking bids for bulk pricing, and ended up contracting with Tindel Replacement Windows.

“For any job with more than 100 windows, there are significant savings, and we offered the Winston about 30 percent off the manufacturer’s price,” says Andy Sirotkin, a principal at Tindel. “Bulk purchasing is a win-win for everyone. I’m surprised more buildings don’t do it.”

The board held a meeting at which they told unit-owners about the deal, introduced Sirotkin, and took questions. “We explained that they were responsible for contacting Tindel to take advantage of the discounted pricing,” says Decker, who also mailed the information to all unit-owners. “We made it clear the choice was theirs, and that we had just done the legwork for them.”

In 2015, 1,000 new, commercial-grade sliding windows were installed that keep out wind, water, and cold air, resulting in reduced energy bills. As word spread, more owners opted in and 300 additional windows were installed this year.“

When boards are proactive and provide people with the tools to fix a problem rather than leaving them to fend for themselves, things get accomplished,” says Sussman, who expects there will be enough demand for a third wave of installations this fall. The benefits of the new windows, she points out, are hard to resist: “My apartment is warmer, I’ve got no water issues, and now I can enjoy a clearer, more beautiful view of Manhattan.”

That sounds more like a win-win-win.