Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the clear impact podcast brought to you by P G T I university. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
Speaker 2 00:00:15 So these are a group of documents that have been developed by several different organizations. They've done field testing, actual installed products in a real wall condition, and they've done water testing on it. So they're proven methods
Speaker 1 00:00:27 As a dealer. It's likely you have dealt with your local permitting office. Maybe this experience has been a challenge, and that's where our code compliance team really shines. Pulling a permit requires knowing design pressures of the openings, understanding safety, glazing requirements, thermal values, and lots of other details. This episode of windows and doors 2 0 1 will help you know where to find what you need and how to avoid some serious headaches in the permitting and ordering process. Good morning, we are here on the clear impact podcast and we are in a series called windows and doors 2 0 1, which is all about permitting and in studio with us again is Lynn Miller and Lisa Wilson. And they are here to help us answer the questions that are most often asked. And if you didn't catch the first episode, go back and listen to that because Lynn and Lisa know what they're talking about. So I'm very excited to have you back welcome back into the studio.
Speaker 3 00:01:18 Thanks. Thank you. Good to be
Speaker 1 00:01:19 Here. So filing permits is an important part of the process of replacing your windows and doors, whether it's new construction and the builder is still doing both the permitting or whether you are hiring someone, you know, to have your windows and doors replaced for our dealer, audience, windows and doors are their things. So what is the recommended process for this? Should they wait for the order to arrive first and then file for the permit? Or what is the recommendation from this team?
Speaker 3 00:01:47 Okay, I'm gonna take this one, get quite a few calls on permitting processes. Uh, we would recommend that they pull their permit first and then order, but we understand that's not always possible for them in the permitting process. For us. A big thing is knowing what your design pressures are, what you need to meet after, you know, what you need to meet, then you can really order the correct product for that opening. Okay. That is one question I get quite often when people are turning permits in, they'll call me up and say, Hey, I, I turned in the NOA. I turned in the Florida approval. They still are asking me what my design pressure is. I don't understand. I, I highlighted it. I gave it to 'em and the thing they're usually missing is the design pressure for the opening itself, not for the product, but for the opening in the building.
Speaker 3 00:02:29 They're not aware of that. And that would have to come from the project manager or an outside engineer. And there is actually a chart in the Florida building code in the residential section that they can use. It's so helpful. I always point people to that. It will be your most conservative case, but you can use that and you can turn that in for permitting for your openings. So that's a huge thing. I get that phone call quite often. So after they know their design pressures, then they can look at our products and see what options they need to choose from. Mm-hmm <affirmative> to make sure it meets. So knowing your DP and then knowing for Florida, especially if you're in a Windborn debris region in the high velocity hurricane zone, if you need to meet some kind of opening protection, then also safety glazing is this window in a hazarded location where you need safety glazing. You need to know if you need to meet certain thermal values, turtle code, possibly. If you're along a coastline, there are a number of different things to check for before permitting, but we can help with all of that. And we also have our documentations listed on our website so they can pull off Florida, uh, approvals. They can pull off NOA that they need to turn in. Okay. Also, we have some details about waterproofing. We don't do those ourselves, but we do have the information and links that they can get.
Speaker 1 00:03:41 That's awesome. So that's a lot of stuff. So it would, it does make sense that they would go through the process, even if they're not actually filing for the permit or haven't pulled the permit is when you say pull the permit, does that mean that they've received it or they've just applied
Speaker 3 00:03:55 For it when they are applying?
Speaker 1 00:03:57 So when they apply for the permit is so it's better for them to have those conversations with you prior to them filling all of that information out so that they have it correct? Correct. And they go to apply for the permit. Okay. That makes sense. Because the permitting process can take a while, right? Because the county has to have it all. They have to verify everything through their systems before they give you the permit. Correct? Correct. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so those, so that can kind of work in tandem with our lead times and our production times.
Speaker 3 00:04:23 Right. It has to go through the permitting process first and through a reviewer. And every department has their own process that they want you to go through their own paperwork to fill out. And depending how busy that jurisdiction is, you don't know how long it will take to get that back. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:04:38 Okay. And the dealers would understand which jurisdiction they need to have approval from depending on where the property is. So if it's in the state or if it's in the county or if it's in the city, or if it's in do eight, OHAS even get involved in that, would that be an HOA thing or no?
Speaker 3 00:04:53 No, not really. HOAs don't get involved in that. HOAs might have recommendations, but the bottom line is going to be up to the building department itself. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:05:01 Yeah. I think an HOA would be more concerned about the architectural appearance of the windows. Right. And so they'd say you can't have aluminum windows or you have to have vinyl or whatever, certain shapes,
Speaker 1 00:05:10 Right. Like certain requirements, certain colors. So everything looks standard, especially like in condos and things like that. Right. Okay. Well that was an excellent answer. I had no idea that that was so complicated. I guess it makes sense that the opening would have a requirement because that product needs to meet that requirement. So that totally makes sense, but I never thought of that. Right. I mean, I'm still new around here a year and a half, but I'm
Speaker 3 00:05:30 Still new. Don't feel bad because I have people out there who've been doing this for a while and they still didn't realize that you have to turn the opening information in, along with product information. Yeah. So you're not alone.
Speaker 1 00:05:40 Okay. Well that makes sense when that's what we're doing, we're educating people. So then one of the things that you mentioned in our last episode was that you help with the quoting software. So our quoting software, depending on which product you're using may be different, but in the quoting software, a customer fills out a quote and then it becomes an order. And then there are anchor groups to choose from. So what happens when the default group is chosen, say anchor group C or anchor group a or whatever, what happens if they just choose a default group instead of researching what anchor group is really needed.
Speaker 2 00:06:09 Okay. And I'll take that one. And this touches on what Lisa mentioned about having that process ahead of time, before you order knowing the building that you're going to be installing the product into is very important. So that, you know, whether you have a wood frame building or a masonry building, or even maybe a deal structure, all of those may have different anchor requirements on our certification documents. So it's important to know what you're installing into before you order so that you selected proper anchor group. And so in the case that you mentioned a lot of times, the dealer might just select the first one they come to, which is a mm-hmm <affirmative>. And they may just select that just because it's the first one in the list. It's the easiest one to do. And there are cases where that may not apply for their particular application and they may have issues at the inspection stage. The inspector may say, uh, you don't have enough anchors per the substrate that you're installing into mm-hmm <affirmative> and then they can call in and we can actually help them out by providing a site specific letter. We can provide information to help them out with that. It's an extra step, takes a little bit of extra time for them to get that window approved. So it's always better if they check ahead of time before they order.
Speaker 1 00:07:06 Yeah. Well that would make sense. I mean, everything has to be tested and approved the way that we say to install it and that, you know, is all around the anchoring. And so if you just randomly pick something, I mean, everything is custom made. We don't have just stock 24 by 36 windows that are this glass package in these colors, like everything is made to orders. So giving us as much detail as possible will ensure that the order is correct. Right, right. Which saves everybody time and money and headaches. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I love it. Be sure to tune in for upcoming episodes to help you understand the ration industry, what you need to know when buying windows and doors and other related topics, you can find out more about
[email protected]. You can also find us on Facebook and LinkedIn. All right. So one last question around the permitting. So, because our products are structural, proper installation is critical. So our team P G T I university has installation videos and courses, but is there additional info for our dealers around installation? And what is that and where would they find it? Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:08:11 Absolutely. So the courses that you have for the installation videos and courses, those are our best practices. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> that's related specifically to our products. There may be certain types of covers that you put on our products or, you know, certain ways to install, but there are code requirements for the specific structural Anchorage. So we have calculations and certification documents, engineering documents stating how we're to anchor our products, to meet wind load pressures. And so those documents are, there's several different documents. We have an NOA, which is a notice of acceptance mm-hmm <affirmative> and that's a document that's certified through Miami-Dade county. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. We have Florida product approval documents that are uploaded in the state of Florida's product approval system. And those documents primarily depict the structural Anchorage. They don't touch on weatherproofing flashing that type of thing, but it's, it's critical for the performance of the products that they're anchored per those documents.
Speaker 2 00:08:59 So those are required when they're submitting a permit, they have to submit those installation documents along with their permit package. And those documents can be found on our website, depending on which company you're buying products from CGI PGT, wind, all the, uh, certification documents are uploaded on our websites so they can be downloaded there. You can also download them directly from Miami dad's website or a Florida building website as well. And that's just for the installation. Then the question always comes up about, uh, waterproofing flashing, preparing the opening before you put the product in mm-hmm <affirmative>. So the building code actually has several options for lashing and weatherproofing. A person can consult with an engineer that does waterproofing and they may have specific details. Other options are, um, there are a set of industry standards, FMA AMA WDMA installation instructions. So these are a group of documents that have been developed by several different organizations. They've done field testing, actual installed products in a real wall condition, and they've done water testing on it. So they're proven methods. Okay. And so we always recommend those methods when, uh, weatherproofing a product, prepping it for the opening and those documents are available upon requests. So they're on our website and they are dealers have access to those documents. Awesome.
Speaker 1 00:10:08 Um, what if they're outta state? What if they're not in Florida?
Speaker 2 00:10:10 Okay. If they're outta state, depending on where you are, if you're in Texas and you're on the coastal area of Texas, likely you will require a TDI document, which is, uh, the TDI is the Texas department of insurance. And, uh, folks that are located in the catastrophe area is what they call it in the catastrophe zones of Texas <laugh> require. It's kind of like our, uh, hurricane prone regions, basically it's the coastal Texas,
Speaker 1 00:10:32 Right. Just where I wanna move. I wanna move to the catastrophe zone. That sounds like the best place for me to live. No,
Speaker 2 00:10:38 <laugh> funny. So they have, that's funny, they have a product approval listing. They're similar to what Florida has. Okay. And, uh, we have several products listed there as well. So those documents would be required when they're permitting in those areas. But similarly with the weatherproofing, we still recommend those same installation documents for the weatherproofing aspect.
Speaker 1 00:10:53 Okay. Okay. So if somebody's in Georgia, they should probably do some homework and figure out where their product approval sources are. And
Speaker 2 00:11:00 Right. Typically outside of Florida and Texas, there really aren't any product approval systems where, uh, windows and door, uh, installation instructions are housed. Like they are in Florida and Texas. So in those situations, uh, you know, we will sometimes reference them to the TDI documents just so that they have an installation document that they can reference. But it's a little, the building codes are a lot more strict in those, in those in Florida and, and, and also in Texas. So it's,
Speaker 1 00:11:24 Um, right, right. That makes sense.
Speaker 3 00:11:26 I just wanted to add on to what Lynn was talking about. So I do get a lot of phone calls about permitting. And as you were talking about out of state, mm-hmm, <affirmative> just need to make people aware, although Miami-Dade, NOAs are the most stringent in the nation. A lot of states outside of Florida, won't recognize those. So sometimes I will have people call in and they want to use a product with Miami-Dade in a wave or a different state other than Florida. And I have to advise them that they need to check with their building department because they might not accept that. So we definitely wanna look at the AHMA or Keystone certifications that we have, and those are listed on our websites too, so that they can find 'em and, and turn those in for permitting purposes.
Speaker 1 00:12:02 Gotcha. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:12:03 That's a great point, Lisa. Yeah. That's uh, you know, outside of Florida, the majority of the country, or most of the country is like, like Lisa mentioned the AHMA certifications and then as TM for impact testing requirements. And so we have products that we sell outta state, we have testing for those, but gotcha. Yeah. It's very important to check on that.
Speaker 1 00:12:20 Yeah. And we actually made a couple of courses around what is an NOA and how do you read an NOA? So we have one that's just an online course. And then we have one that's instructor led that kind of walks people through how to read it, what documentation is in there, why is it important for them to understand? And so we actually developed a course around that last year, because I came in brand new and said, what is an NOA? How am I supposed to know how to read this? I pestered Yens for about three days. And he finally said, I don't have time to help you figure it out. And I was like, okay, thank you. Uh, now I really, it sounds like ends. Yeah, no, he's great. He's great until I said, okay, now here's like 17 more that I need. And he's like, yeah, no, you're gonna, you're gonna have to do this yourself.
Speaker 1 00:12:56 And I was like, help. I don't know how to do this. So, uh, so I, you know, leaned on, on my teammates and said, we need a course around this so that I know how to do this. And, uh, so, you know, we make that part of the certification plans as well. So, um, you know, it's just working together and figuring out where the gaps are and understanding as much as we can so that everyone can be successful in their business. All right. Well, this has been a great conversation, hopefully that will help people understand a little bit more about the permitting process and we'll continue this conversation in our next episode. Safety guys. Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks again. All right. Have a good day. You too. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:13:31 PG C I university is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original, easy breeze porch and closure line then became PG T America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added CGI C G I C window, Western windows, new south windows, echo windows and doors, and our latest acquisition and Lynn windows and doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. P G T I university is here to educate you our listener so that you can be more informed about window and door products.
