Glass is the product.
The approved assembly
is what you are buying.

A storefront system infills a structural opening between floor and head, and is the normal answer at ground level. A curtain wall spans continuously past the floor slabs and is what you use for multi-storey glazing. They are engineered, priced and approved differently.

In South Florida, for a commercial elevation, effectively yes - either impact-rated glazing or an approved shutter system. Miami-Dade and Broward carry High-Velocity Hurricane Zone requirements that are stricter than the rest of the state, and the requirement applies to the assembly rather than to the glass alone.

If the existing frame is part of a documented approved assembly and a matching unit is available, yes. If nobody can tell you what the assembly is - common on older units - then a new pane in an unapproved frame is still an unapproved system.

The interlayer. Impact glazing is laminated: glass bonded to a tough interlayer that holds the pane together when it is struck. Thickness alone does not do it, which is why the tested assembly matters more than the specification sheet.

Yes - low-emissivity coatings and tints change solar gain considerably, and the same laminate build-ups improve acoustic performance. Both are specified on top of the impact requirement and have to stay inside the approved assembly.

Usually, but it changes the structural opening and therefore the anchoring design, so it is a construction question rather than a shopfitting one. It also brings the accessible threshold and door swing into scope.

A Notice of Acceptance - Miami-Dade County product approval showing that an assembly has been tested and accepted. Elsewhere in Florida the equivalent is a Florida Product Approval. It covers the whole assembly, including how it is anchored.

Because it is what transfers wind load from the glazing into your building, and it is what the approval and the plan reviewer actually scrutinise. A perfect assembly anchored into an unsuitable substrate is not compliant.

Yes, in practice. Replacing an exterior glazing assembly is permitted work, and the product approval and anchoring details are submitted with the application.

The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone - a designated area with stricter requirements for building envelope assemblies. Miami-Dade and Broward counties are inside it; Palm Beach County is not. It genuinely changes what may be installed, so the answer depends on your address.

Typically the frame finish and sightline, the signage band, the working hours and how the unit is secured overnight. That approval runs separately from the permit and on the centre or landlord calendar.

Not necessarily. Most commercial glazing is done around trading, with the unit made secure and presentable before each trading day. Closing is quicker and cheaper if you can spare the days, and we will price both.

Temporary secure closure goes in at the end of each shift and comes out at the start of the next. It is scoped and priced up front, because a shopfront cannot be left open.

Frames and laminated units are fabricated to order, so lead time is measured in weeks and it starts when the specification is fixed - which is exactly why we settle the specification before anything else.

Because you are buying a tested assembly plus its engineering, its approval documentation, its anchoring design, a permit and an installation that has to be secure every night. The glass itself is a modest share of it.

In rough order: HVHZ requirements, a non-standard anchoring condition, curtain wall instead of storefront, corner and edge wind zones, working around trading hours, and large or heavy units needing access equipment.

The product approval documentation, the glazing specification and the door hardware maintenance schedule, plus the closed permit. The approval paperwork matters at sale, at reletting and with your insurer.

Mostly the door. Closers and pivots on a busy entrance are serviceable items and should be adjusted and replaced on a schedule rather than when they fail. Perimeter seals are worth checking annually before the wet season.