If you are shopping for american made windows in Florida, you deserve a straight answer rather than a slogan, so here is ours: most of the windows we install are made in the United States, and one of our lines is not. We would rather tell you exactly where each product comes from than paint the whole catalog with one flag and hope nobody asks.
That kind of specificity is worth more than a blanket claim anyway. Where a window is built is genuinely useful information. It is also not the thing that determines whether the window will hold up when a hurricane is pushing on it, which is the part we care most about. Both of those things can be true at once, and this post covers both.
Where our windows are actually made
We work with three window manufacturers, and they are based in three different places.
Viwinco, Morgantown, Pennsylvania. This is the line behind roughly nine out of ten of the window orders we place, so if you buy windows from us, odds are strong they are built in Pennsylvania. Viwinco is a family-owned American manufacturer, and their impact products are engineered and tested for the conditions we deal with here.
Eastern Architectural Systems, Ft. Myers, Florida. EAS builds in Florida, for Florida. There is something genuinely useful about a manufacturer that designs its products in the same climate that will test them, and their impact lines are approved for use in the state’s toughest wind zones.
ESWindows, Barranquilla, Colombia. This one is imported, and we added it to our lineup recently. It is not American-made, and we are not going to describe it as though it were. ESWindows is manufactured by Tecnoglass, a large architectural glass producer whose products carry Florida Building Code approvals like every other line we install.
On the door side, both of our lines are domestic: BHI builds in Tampa, Florida, and Plastpro builds in Ashtabula, Ohio. You can see the door products on our entry doors page.
Why we will not call our catalog “American-made”
There is a legal standard behind that phrase, and it is stricter than most people realize. The Federal Trade Commission requires that an unqualified “Made in USA” claim mean a product is “all or virtually all” made in the United States. You can read the FTC’s guidance on it directly. A company that carries an imported line and still advertises that it sells only American-made products is making a claim it cannot back up.
We used to word it that way on this page. It was not accurate once we brought in an imported line, so we changed it. A qualified, specific claim, this window is built in Pennsylvania, that one in Ft. Myers, this one comes from Colombia, is both honest and more useful to you than an absolute.
What actually determines whether a window survives a Florida storm
Here is the part that matters more than the country of origin, and it is the reason we do not lead with a flag.
A window’s ability to protect your home comes down to how it is engineered, how it is tested, and how it is installed. In Florida, that is not a matter of opinion. Products sold and installed here are expected to carry a Florida Building Code product approval, and impact-rated units have to survive a large-missile impact test and thousands of cycles of wind pressure to earn it. You can look up any specific product’s approval yourself through the state’s product approval system. Every window and door we install carries one.
That standard does not care where a factory sits. A window built in Pennsylvania, Florida, or Colombia either passes Florida’s tests or it does not. We only carry lines that do. If you want to understand what that laminated impact glass is actually doing, our guide to upgrading from non-impact to impact windows breaks it down.
The other half is the installation, and that is entirely on us. A code-approved window anchored badly is a code-approved window that fails. This is where a lot of homeowners get burned by companies that hand the actual work to whoever is available that week.
What “Direct” means, and why it affects what you pay
Our name describes how we buy. We purchase manufacturer-direct, as one of the largest direct buyers in Florida, which cuts out the distributor markup that sits in most window quotes. Then we handle every step in house: the measurement, the order, the project coordination, and the installation, with our own crews rather than subcontractors.
That model is the reason we can be picky about which manufacturers we work with in the first place. Buying at volume directly from three manufacturers means we can match the product to the job instead of selling whatever one distributor happens to stock. And because one company owns the whole project, there is nobody to point fingers at if something needs to be made right. You can read more about how that works on our why choose Direct Remodels page, and see finished work in our project gallery.
How to ask the right questions of any window company
If sourcing matters to you, and it is a fair thing to care about, here is how to get a real answer from anyone you are considering.
Ask which manufacturer builds the specific window they are quoting you, and where that plant is. A company that cannot name it, or that answers with a marketing phrase instead of a place, is telling you something. Ask for the Florida Building Code approval number for the exact product, then look it up yourself. Ask who performs the installation, employees or subcontractors, and who holds the warranty on the labor. Those four questions will tell you more about what you are buying than any badge on a brochure.
We will answer all four in writing, on any quote we give you.
See what fits your home
If you want to know exactly which line makes sense for your house, and where it will be built, a Direct Remodels design consultant will walk your openings during a free in-home estimate, tell you which manufacturer we would spec and why, and give you a straight number with no pressure. You can browse the full range on our impact windows and doors page first. Call 813-371-1911 or request your free estimate online.
Frequently asked questions about where our windows are made
Are Direct Remodels windows made in America?
Most are. About nine out of ten of our window orders are Viwinco units built in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, and Eastern Architectural Systems builds in Ft. Myers, Florida. Our ESWindows line is manufactured in Colombia. Both of our door lines, BHI and Plastpro, are made in the United States.
Why do you carry an imported line at all?
ESWindows is a recent addition to our lineup, produced by Tecnoglass, and like every product we install it carries Florida Building Code approval. We would rather name it plainly than leave it out of the conversation.
Does it matter where a window is manufactured?
For durability and storm performance, what matters most is the engineering, the Florida Building Code approval, and the installation. Country of origin is real information and worth knowing, but a product approval tells you more about how a window will behave in a hurricane.
How can I check a window’s Florida approval myself?
Ask for the product approval number on your quote and look it up in the state’s product approval system at floridabuilding.org. Any reputable company will give you that number without hesitation.
Which manufacturer will you use for my project?
It depends on the openings, the performance you need, and the look you want. Your design consultant will tell you which line they are specifying and where it is built before you sign anything.
