Treasure Coast specifics · A House Nobody Is In
Shutters Need a Person. That Is the Whole Argument Here.
Approved shutters meet the requirement and cost less. They also need somebody at the house to deploy them. On a coast where a large share of properties are empty through hurricane season, that single fact decides most of these jobs.
Tell us the address and whether the house is occupied year round. On this coast the second answer changes the recommendation more than the first.
2004
Two landfalls, three weeks apart, on the same stretch of coast
Empty
Glass protects a house when nobody is there to close a shutter
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
A protection plan with a person in the middle of it
Shutters work when the chain works. Somebody has to be watching the forecast, has to be able to reach the house, has to be physically capable of handling the panels, and has to do it before conditions or road closures stop them. For a full-time resident that chain is usually fine. For an owner who left in April, it depends on a neighbor, a property manager or a service that is being asked by every other absent owner on the same street at the same time.
Questions worth answering honestly before deciding
- Will anyone reliably be at the property between June and November?
- If not, who deploys the shutters, and have they ever actually done it?
- How long does it take one person to close every opening?
- What happens if the storm turns with thirty-six hours of notice?
- Is the plan written down, or is it an assumption about a neighbor?
What glass does and does not remove
Impact glazing removes the deployment step. It does not make a house hurricane-proof, it does not remove the need to shut off water or secure loose items outside, and it does not eliminate the risk of water entry through other paths. What it does is make the openings permanently protected without anybody being present.
For an absent owner that is a meaningful change in the risk, because it converts something conditional into something fixed. It is worth being precise about that rather than overselling it — the value here is the removed dependency, not an invulnerable building.
How we handle it
- 01Ask about occupancy before recommending anything.
- 02Recommend shutters where they genuinely fit the situation better.
- 03Prioritize openings honestly where the budget will not cover everything.
- 04Be clear that glass removes a dependency rather than adding magic.
We ask this question at the first phone call and it changes the answer often. An owner in residence year round with a limited budget is usually better served protecting every opening with shutters than protecting half the house with glass. An owner who is out of state for six months does not have that option available, whatever the price difference says.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We do not fit shutters. That means our advice to consider them costs us the job, and it also means we cannot help you with that route beyond saying it is the right one. Knowing that before you spend an afternoon with us is fair.
FAQ
Common questions
- Could I just use a shutter service?
- Many owners do and plenty of those services are good. The thing to check is how many properties they cover and in what order, because every client wants theirs done first and a fast-turning storm compresses everyone into the same day.
- Are accordion shutters easier than panels?
- Considerably, for the person closing them, because there is nothing to carry or store. They still require somebody at the property. Easier is a real improvement on this problem, but it is not the same as removing it.
- Can I do the house in phases if I am seasonal?
- Yes, and it is common. The caveat is that a partly protected envelope is doing less than it looks like it is, so if the house will be empty it is worth prioritizing the large windward openings first rather than the ones that are easiest to reach.
What we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and on this coast the argument for it is different from the one made further south. Here the deciding factor is usually not cost or code — it is whether anyone will be at the house when a storm is named.
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Sliding Glass Doors
Sliders here are large, they face water, and they have usually been sitting in salt air for decades. All three of those change what has to be checked before anything is ordered.
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Impact Entry Doors
An approved entry door is an assembly — slab, frame, hinges, lock, threshold and glazing approved together. On a seasonal property it is also the one opening that gets used all year by somebody who does not live there.
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Impact Garage Doors
A double garage door is usually the largest single opening in the envelope. On a seasonal property it is also the one that sits shut and untouched in salt air for months, which ages it differently from one in daily use.
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French & Specialty Shapes
Arched heads, radius tops, oversized fixed glass and French pairs are fabricated for one opening in one house. They set the finish date, and on a seasonal property the finish date is the whole negotiation.
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Glazing Into Existing Frames
Where the existing frames are sound and an approval exists for glazing into them, changing only the glass is cheaper, faster and far less disruptive. On this coast the deciding factor is almost always corrosion rather than age.
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More treasure coast specifics
The 2004 Rebuild
Frances and Jeanne came ashore at almost the same point on this coast three weeks apart in September 2004. The rebuilding that followed happened at speed, during a shortage, and it left a distinctive housing stock behind.
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Island & Lagoon
The barrier islands here are narrow, with ocean on one side and the Indian River Lagoon on the other. There is very little distance from water in any direction, and that shows up in the fixings long before it shows up in the frames.
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Three Counties, Three Rules
The Treasure Coast is one market to a buyer and three jurisdictions to a permit. Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River each run their own building department, and several municipalities inside them run their own on top of that.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.