How to prepare a window and door schedule

Why the schedule matters more than the drawings

Elevations show intent. A schedule shows quantity, size, operation and finish, opening by opening, in a form that can be priced line by line. Most delays in pricing an aluminum package come from a project that has beautiful drawings and no schedule, or a schedule whose tags do not match the drawings.

A supplier pricing from elevations alone has to make assumptions. Every assumption is a place where the quote and the eventual order diverge, and divergences discovered after fabrication are the expensive kind.

Tag every opening, once

Give each opening a unique tag and use it everywhere: on the plan, on the elevation, in the schedule and in correspondence. W-01 through W-24 and D-01 through D-06 is enough. Do not reuse a tag for a different size because the two openings look similar, and do not renumber between revisions without saying so.

• One tag per physical opening, unique across the project.
• The same tag on plan, elevation and schedule.
• A revision number and date on the schedule itself.
• Identical openings grouped by quantity rather than merged into one ambiguous line.

What each line should carry

• Tag and quantity.
• Rough opening width and height, stated as rough opening rather than glass size or unit size, and labelled as such.
• Operation: fixed, hinged, tilt-and-turn, sliding, lift-and-slide, and the hand or swing direction.
• Interior and exterior finish, or a note that finish is undecided.
• Glass makeup if known, or the performance intent if the makeup is still open.
• Location: floor, elevation, room.
• Whether the opening is in a conditioned, semi-conditioned or unconditioned position.
• Any special requirement: safety glazing position, egress, security, acoustic intent, hardware or access control.

Dimensions: the most common source of error

State clearly whether the dimensions are rough opening, unit size or daylight opening; these are three different numbers and the difference is not trivial on a schedule of forty openings. If the structure is not built yet, say the dimensions are nominal and subject to field verification. If it is built, say whether the dimensions are surveyed or scaled.

Field verification before fabrication is standard on aluminum work. A schedule that pretends to a precision it does not have simply moves the problem later.

Handling what is still undecided

A schedule with honest gaps is far more useful than a schedule with confident guesses. Mark undecided items explicitly — finish TBC, glass TBC, hardware TBC — and the quote can be structured around them, with the open items priced as allowances or excluded and listed.

This also protects the programme. Everyone can see which decisions are on the critical path rather than discovering them when the order is placed.

Getting the schedule into a usable format

A spreadsheet is ideal: one row per opening, one column per attribute, so it can be filtered, sorted and compared against a quote line by line. A PDF of the same table is fine. A schedule embedded as text inside drawing notes is workable but slow.

Send the schedule with the elevations and plans it refers to, and with the revision that is current. If the drawings are revised, re-issue the schedule at the same time.

What happens next

With a complete schedule we can identify the appropriate system families, flag anything that needs engineering input, and prepare an estimate that is traceable to your tags. Availability, final specifications, engineering requirements, glazing, finish and delivery are then confirmed for the specific project before anything is ordered.