How Long Does It Take to Get Windows for Your ADU, and When Should Your Builder Order Them?

By Buz Artiano, BuildX | October 2026

Watch: Window Delays, Install Fails & What Builders Always Miss w/ Chad Nicoli | BuildX Podcast #25

Your ADU is framed and the roofers are already finished. All the window openings have plywood on them and nobody has called you in three weeks. So you call and ask someone when they will be arriving and they don't really give you a definitive answer, you feel like you're being shrugged off when they say something generic like "I'll check on it". You have no way to know what is causing this holdup, whether it's the factory or an issue with the permit or somebody just forgetting to put the order in.

My name is Buz Artiano, founder of BuildX. We've built ADUs all over Massachusetts, mostly around the South Shore and in Plymouth County. We handle every step of the process. That means we take care of the design, the permitting and everything construction related. Here's why that's important. When the same company draws the plan, deals with the town's septic evaluation and lot coverage review, and places the orders, they are fully responsible for anything that's late. The order date is what we are responsible for as well as any delays.

So we always ask the supplier to give us a number in writing that we can count on. Chad Nicoli handles all trade sales for Pella Windows and Doors here in Massachusetts, and he walked us through the whole process when we had him on the BuildX Podcast. He explained the whole process of a window order, who handles it, and all the steps in between. His answer gives you a number, and we give you a date you can check.

How Long Does It Take to Get Windows for Your ADU?

When we asked him how long windows are currently taking and he said standard windows were easily five to seven weeks out, again that was at the time of the podcast. Specialty windows take even longer. That includes any window that's different from what they make on a daily basis. Round tops, ellipticals, custom shapes, oversized sliding doors, and multi-window setups joined together all take longer than a stock window, and it's very common to have specialty windows on an ADU where the whole design is dependent on the right light and view.

That time frame was true at the time, but it changes constantly. Lead times will change depending on how busy the factory is or what material is available at that time. Five to seven weeks is what the supplier was quoting on the day we recorded the interview. That's why the date on the quote you get is just as important as the amount. If a builder gives you a timeframe for windows and can't tell you when they last confirmed it with the supplier, they're just guessing, that's not a number you can count on.

The other thing is, that five to seven weeks doesn't include everything that has to happen before the window order is even placed. That timeframe starts when they place the order, but before an order can be placed they have to give you a quote, which can't happen until plans are submitted.

When Should Your Builder Order Your ADU Windows?

The time to place the order is not when framing starts, it's when the contract is signed. Plainly said, as soon as you sign the contract, you should order your windows. The supplier described the same process from his side. Once the agreement is signed and the deposit is made, the order goes to the sales rep, and the rep sends it into fulfillment. Nothing else has to happen first. On our projects we order the windows the day the agreement is signed.

The reason is because of how the order of construction works. Windows are the last piece between an open shell and a closed one. Until the windows are installed, the building is not weather-tight, which means insulation can't go in, drywall can't go up, and every finish trade behind them is delayed. If you get the shell framed in a week and then have to wait six weeks for windows, you haven't made any progress. You've built an expensive tent that's just sitting there for weeks. Ordering as soon as the contract is signed means you are waiting for windows during a time you are still waiting for permits, so no time is lost. Don't wait, you'll end up with all your trades stacked up and waiting for weeks.

Not every builder does things this way. Ordering at signature means committing to a window schedule while the plan is still on paper, and that takes a disciplined design process. A builder who orders at framing isn't necessarily disorganized. Sometimes they're covering for a design that was never finished. Either way, you're still backed up for weeks.

The Order Path From Signed Contract to Confirmed Delivery Date

Before there is an order there is a quote, and before the quote there's paperwork. Your builder sends the supplier a plan set with the window schedule, which is the page of the drawings that lists every opening in the building with its size, type, and location. The rep reads it, comes back and asks you a few questions to clarify things, and then sends it to the estimating department. They come back and give you a quote with a takeoff, which means a line-by-line count of units and materials priced for exactly what you requested. Usually that step takes about 48 hours.

After the agreement is signed and the deposit is made, the order goes to the fulfillment group in Rochester, New Hampshire. They review it, send it through, and the rep then gives you an expected delivery date. The units are built at their United States factories, in Iowa, Pennsylvania, or Kentucky depending on the material. Then they ship it to the regional warehouse before it gets on a truck and taken to your lot. We get a document or an email for every one of those steps, which is exactly why it's good to understand the process. Every step below leaves a paper trail you can see and check.

The rep doesn't just go silent once the order is in, either. As Chad put it: "If anything changes, if it's coming in quicker, if it's coming in later, if there's a delay, they're calling you and letting you know." So your builder always gets told. Whether you get told or not is up to your builder, and you want to make sure you're clear on that before you sign anything.

Who Has to Be on Site When Your Windows Arrive?

Delivery of windows is always curbside. The truck belongs to the supplier of the windows, they don't hire out a 3rd party for delivery, so the people unloading your windows are the same company who made them. If there's a long driveway they will come down and get as close to the building as they can. The driver loads the windows onto the tailgate, lowers it, and leaves them right there in that spot. Once they are officially dropped off, it's up to us to take it from there.

We were blunt when we asked if someone has to be on site to be handed the windows. They said yes, but it doesn't matter who. That's the whole thing, and if you don't know to have somebody waiting, it can be a problem. If they come to deliver and nobody is there, it either goes back on the truck or gets set down wherever they feel like, and you just hope they leave it in the right driveway. On big orders the sales rep will tag along a lot of times, and Chad said he's done that when he had a big order with oversized three-unit assemblies and triple glass. That kind of load can be nerve wracking on delivery.

So we set the delivery on our schedule so we can be sure to be there. As soon as they confirm the date, we assign a crew to be there during that timeframe and we never let a delivery show up to an empty job site. If you put glass on the ground or lean it against something, it can have issues or even break, and a replacement means starting from scratch. Nobody plans for that extra time in the schedule, because nobody expects that to happen.

Is the Delay Coming From Your Builder or From Your Town?

Two clocks run on an ADU and they're very different. One is the clock on materials, and your builder controls that with the order date. The other is the permitting clock, and the town controls that one. Chad brought this up because the slowdown in parts of the state is obvious even to the suppliers. We see these permit delays on the job site all the time. We had one permit take five months, and there was no need for that.

Massachusetts allows a homeowner to build one ADU if they are in a single-family zoning district under the Affordable Homes Act. But they still have the right to review it. Municipal building code, health code, and dimensional requirements still apply, and the town still takes however long it takes to review all that. And every town works at a different speed. The current requirements are at mass.gov.

The reason to separate those two clocks is that you can only manage one of them. You can't make a town move faster no matter how bad you want to. But you can find out in a matter of seconds whether your windows were ordered on the day the contract was signed or not. If the permit is the holdup, the windows should already be on order and waiting. If the permit cleared two months ago and no window order has gone in, that's a problem with your builder, not the supply chain.

When Ordering at Contract Signing Is the Wrong Move

We order windows right when you sign your contract and we tell other builders to do the same thing, but that doesn't mean it's always better to do that. There are times it's not, and we want you to understand the exception before you push your builder to place an order.

Windows are built to your order. The supplier doesn't have windows on a shelf they sell, they're not pre-made. The order goes to a factory and the windows are built for your specific project, which means ordering early is a big commitment, it's not like putting something on reservation. If your design isn't finalized and you're still deciding things like whether the bedroom gets a slider or a pair of double windows, ordering on day one could result in a change order and take twice as long.

The best order to do things is to lock in the design first and order the windows immediately after. What we see go wrong is almost never a builder ordering too early. It is a builder ordering late just because nobody took action, and then saying the delay was a supply chain issue. Those are two different problems and only one of them is anybody's fault. Find out which one you have.

What Should You Ask Your Builder Before Framing Starts?

You don't need to be a scheduling expert to keep your own ADU timeline on schedule. You need three answers, and all three are documents in somebody's inbox.

• On what date was the window order placed?
• What confirmed delivery date came back from the supplier, and can I see it in writing?
• Who will be on site to receive the delivery, and what happens if that date moves?

A good builder can answer all of those questions in just a couple minutes, because he already has the dates. A builder who can't give you those answers is not looking out for your best interest.