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How to choose a window replacement company in Cyprus

What you can verify about a window company in Cyprus before you sign: registrations, the glazing specification, and what a complete quote itemises.

8 min read

How to Choose a Window Replacement in Cyprus — illustrasjonsbilde

Photo: Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels

ByStavros Loizou· Editor, kitchens, bathrooms and finishes

Stavros covers the rooms that carry the most cost per square metre and the finishes that go into them. He tracks the order trades have to arrive in, which moves a Cypriot renovation bill further than any hourly rate does.

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Three things about a window company can be checked before you sign anything: whether the business is registered and current at the Registrar of Companies, whether they will hand over the Declaration of Performance for the units they are selling you, and whether the quote describes how the frame is fixed and sealed into the opening rather than only what the frame is made of. In Cyprus, water and heat get past a window around the frame far more often than through the glass, so the installation detail is the part worth arguing about.

What can actually be verified

Start with the company. The Registrar of Companies keeps a public search, so you can confirm the entity exists, see the directors and see whether returns have been filed. That matters more here than on jobs paid in arrears: windows are ordered, manufactured and delivered weeks later, and your deposit sits somewhere in the middle of that.

The product itself is verifiable, which makes windows unusual among renovation purchases. Windows placed on the EU market carry CE marking and a Declaration of Performance stating the tested values for the unit. Ask for it: it tells you what was tested rather than what the brochure claims, and a company that cannot produce one for the system it sells has told you something worth hearing.

Insurance is a document, not a reassurance: public liability, employer's liability where staff are involved, current dates, and the insured name matching the quote. Fitting windows means removing old frames from the outside of the building, often from scaffold, sometimes over a neighbour's parking space.

Tax and grants are records too. Renovation on a primary residence can qualify for a reduced VAT rate, but it is conditional and applied for. Residential energy upgrade support has separately been administered through the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry, with glazing a common eligible measure — availability and conditions change, and schemes generally require work to start after approval rather than before.

What you cannot verify is reputation, and this site publishes no ratings or testimonials. For real evidence, ask for an address where the company fitted windows four or five years ago and look at the outside: the sealant joint around the frame, the state of the sill, and whether the frame finish has held.

Registrations that matter

Registrar of Companies. Existence, directors, filing history — checked before the deposit against a manufacturing order leaves your account.

Tax Department. VAT number, and the rate the quote assumes. If you intend to claim the reduced rate on a primary residence, ask who makes the application and what it is conditional on.

Contractor registration. Building works above a value threshold must be carried out by a contractor registered in the appropriate class. Replacing the windows in a flat normally sits below that line; a villa's full glazing inside a larger renovation contract may not.

ETEK. You do not need an engineer to put a window back into an existing opening. You do the moment the opening is enlarged: that is a hole in a structural wall or an infill panel, and it needs designed support and permission through the district or municipal authority.

Building management. In an apartment block the external face of the building is usually common property, and the block's regulations may control colour, frame profile and whether shutters can be added. Settle that with the management committee before you order.

Questions to ask

The stock this work is usually done on is specific. Across the 1970s to 1990s blocks that fill Strovolos and the older suburbs, the original glazing is typically single-glazed aluminium sliders with no thermal break, set into a plaster reveal with external render. Those frames come out by being cut out, and the damage that causes is the part nobody prices.

  1. What is the glazing build-up, in full?

    A sealed unit is described by glass thickness, cavity width, coating and gas fill, and each part does a different job. In Cyprus the dominant problem is heat coming in rather than going out, so solar control on the outer pane usually matters more than the headline insulation figure.

  2. Which elevations face south and west?

    Nicosia and the inland towns have the widest temperature range on the island, and that drives both insulation and shading. A west-facing living room with a large slider is a different specification from a north bedroom, so ask for the glass per elevation. A company quoting identical glass everywhere has not looked at the house.

  3. How is the frame fixed and sealed into the opening?

    This separates a good fit from a cheap one. Ask about the fixings, the perimeter seal, the drainage at the sill and how the external render junction is finished. A bead of silicone over an unprepared gap is a repair waiting to happen.

  4. What grade of hardware, given the exposure?

    On the coast, and directly so in Kato Paphos, salt-laden air is a standing condition and galvanised or marine-grade fixings are the local norm. Ask what the handles, hinges, rollers and screws are, and read the warranty conditions for coastal installations before assuming they apply to you.

  5. Who makes good the reveals?

    Cutting old aluminium frames out damages plaster inside and render outside. If the quote does not say who patches, seals and paints, it is you — priced by another trade after the fitters have gone.

  6. Can the units physically reach the opening?

    Large sliders are heavy and awkward, and on the hillside plots around Peyia steep access roads limit the size of delivery vehicle that can get near the house. Upper floors without a lift raise the same problem. Ask whether a platform is in the price.

Ask for the manufacturing lead time and the fitting date as two separate dates — the gap between them is where programmes slip. Decide on external roller shutters and insect screens before ordering: on a hot elevation external shading does more than a glass upgrade, and retrofitting a shutter box is far worse than fitting one with the window.

What a good quote looks like

Windows are quoted per unit, supply and fit, and the number moves with frame material, glazing build-up, opening size and how the unit opens. A single price per window therefore tells you almost nothing: a fixed pane and a three-track slider of the same width are not comparable, and neither are two sliders with different glass.

A quote you can use contains all of this:

  • A schedule of openings, measured on site, each numbered and located by room, with width and height.
  • The frame system named — manufacturer and series — with the material stated and whether an aluminium system is thermally broken.
  • The glazing build-up per opening: glass thicknesses, cavity, coating, gas fill, and where laminated or toughened glass is used.
  • Which units open, how, and which are fixed.
  • Hardware named, at a grade appropriate to the exposure.
  • Fixings, perimeter sealing and sill drainage described as method rather than assumed.
  • Removal and disposal of the old frames and glass.
  • Making good: internal reveals, external render, sealing and painting, each included or explicitly excluded.
  • Shutters, screens and ventilation priced separately.
  • Lead time from order to delivery, a fitting duration, and the VAT rate assumed.
  • Payment stages, with the balance on completed fitting rather than on delivery, and a retention held until the defects period ends.
  • The written warranty split into units, hardware and installation, because those are usually three different periods.

Give three companies the same schedule of openings and the same performance requirement. If each prices a different specification, you have three numbers and nothing to compare. Our window replacement project guide goes through the sequence in detail, and the district pages show which companies work in your area.

Warning signs

A price well below the others is almost never the same window fitted better. It is usually a thinner glazing build-up, an aluminium system with no thermal break, lower-grade hardware, or making good left out.

Other things worth stopping for:

  • A quote produced without anyone measuring the openings. Windows are made to size; a survey is not optional.
  • No product name for the frame system and no Declaration of Performance.
  • One glass specification applied to every elevation of the house.
  • Silence on who repairs the reveals inside and the render outside.
  • A deposit covering the whole manufacturing order, paid to a business you have not checked at the Registrar of Companies.
  • "Energy saving" claimed as a percentage with no basis given, or a discount that only holds if you sign today.
  • An offer to widen an opening on the day, without drawings or permission.

Common questions

Do I need a permit to replace windows in Cyprus?

Replacing windows like for like in existing openings normally does not. Enlarging or moving an opening does, because it affects the structure and the external appearance, and it goes through the district or municipal authority. Listed buildings and properties inside protected traditional settlements are treated more strictly, and a block's own regulations may govern external appearance regardless of what planning requires.

Aluminium or uPVC?

Both are used widely in Cyprus and neither is automatically right. What matters more than the material is whether an aluminium system is thermally broken, what the glazing build-up is, and the exposure the window faces. Ask each company to price the same performance rather than asking which material they prefer, because they will prefer whichever one they sell.

Will new windows cut my cooling bill?

They should reduce heat gain, particularly on west-facing glass, but the size of the effect depends on the glass specification, the glazed area, shading, insulation elsewhere and how you use the air conditioning. Treat any percentage quoted without stating what it was calculated from as marketing.

Should I replace all the windows at once?

Not necessarily. Doing the worst elevation first — usually the west and south glazing on an older block — captures much of the benefit for a fraction of the cost. If you phase the work, agree the system and colour now and write it into the first order so the second phase still matches.

What about the balcony doors?

They take the most abuse: heavy leaves, constant use, direct sun, and on the coast a permanent film of salt. Specify the hardware and the threshold detail carefully, ask about laminated glass for safety at full height, and check that the threshold drainage works with the fall on the balcony you already have.

Window companies in Cyprus

8 companies covering this area.

Sources

  1. Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry — energy efficiency and support schemes — retrieved 2026-07-28
  2. Department of Town Planning and Housing — planning and building permits — retrieved 2026-07-28
  3. Registrar of Companies — company search — retrieved 2026-07-28
  4. Tax Department — VAT rates and conditions — retrieved 2026-07-28

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