Tips on Choosing the Best Hurricane Shutter Company

If you want to protect your home and family from hurricanes in Florida, it’s important to have hurricane shutters or impact windows installed by one of the best hurricane protection companies. You can get protection from many companies in the area, but in the long run, are they providing you with the support you need in the years to come? Here are a few things you need to consider before making a decision on buying from a hurricane shutter company;

The best hurricane shutter companies have great reviews.

With more and more hurricane shutter companies popping up in Florida, make sure you are dealing with the best hurricane shutter companies. Other customer’s reviews can give you a hint of how the customer service experience and the quality of work will be later down the road. Assured Storm Protection is among the top hurricane shutter companies in South Florida. Assured Storm Protection has over 400 positive reviews on Google, Facebook, and Angie’s List, winning the Super Service award every year in a row since 2014.

Does the company offer a warranty? How long have they been in business?

Hurricane shutters may eventually become damaged or have mechanical issues. Does the hurricane shutter company offer a warranty for damage and other defects? How long does the hurricane shutter company cover their work? Do they offer extended hurricane shutter warranties? How long have they been in business? These are all important questions to ask your hurricane shutter company. Longer warranties normally imply that the quality of work you’ll receive is higher, and if problems ever occur, you’ll get the support you need to keep your family and property safe. It’s important to make sure that the company that you choose is established, it’s important to know that the company will be in business long enough to honor your warranty if problems ever arise. Assured Storm Protection offers a 10-year warranty standard, with extended options available and has been in business for over 20 years in South Florida.

Hurricane Shutter permitting

You want to make sure that the hurricane shutter company you are working with will apply for a permit with your city directly. If you apply for your own permit, and something is installed incorrectly when the city comes for the final inspection, the responsibility to rectify the issue will fall on you, the homeowner, not the manufacturer or installer that you contracted to do the job. Many times, when a contractor has failed multiple inspections and has not rectified the issues that the inspector finds, the city will start denying permits for that particular company for future jobs. It is a red-flag if a company asks you to file a permit for their work. You can call your city building department to ask about the company you are working with has any failed inspections that were not rectified.

Is the hurricane shutter company licensed, insured, bonded?

Before you start working with a hurricane shutter company, ask for a copy of their license, and insurance. Check to make sure their license and insurance are not expired. If one of the installers get hurt on the job, and the company does not have insurance, the worker can hold you responsible for their injuries. If the installers damage your house during the hurricane shutter installation, at least you can have some piece of mind that you could always contact their insurance company to file a claim to receive compensation for the damages, if the company does not resolve the issue with you outside of insurance.

Does the company hire their installers, or do they use subcontractors?

Make sure that the company that you are working with hires their installers on-staff. Subcontractors typically get paid by the job, and not by the hour. It is in the contractors best interest to get the job done as soon as possible. What we have seen over the years is that subcontractors typically take many shortcuts to try and finish the job faster, and the customer typically suffers. For example; some of the most common shortcuts we see are;

• They do not remove the screws from a previous hurricane shutter installation, or patch the holes from previous screws.
• The do not caulk around the hurricane shutter frame, which allows water to enter the unfinished edge of the aluminum which may cause accelerated corrosion damage.
• They may not follow the design spec and installation guide provided by the engineer, and this could cause your installation to fail inspection, or for you shutters to not perform as well as when the shutter was tested by HVHZ, Miami-Dade, or any other governing body which tests hurricane protection systems.