Is the Provia window warranty any good? Let’s find out! Here we’ll look at how Provia plans to stand behind their products both for owner occupied houses and for rentals or commercial properties. Hint: there’s a pretty big difference.
For starters, we’ll talk about the warranty for their most popular product lines the Provia Endure and the Provia Aspect windows. Then, we’ll cover the Provia ecoLite and Aeris window warranties in a future post.
Jumping right into it, you’ll see Provia offers a pretty standard “lifetime warranty” for these windows, but there are some important limitations to be aware of. If you’re wondering how long a lifetime warranty really is, we’ll tell you here.
First, the lifetime part of the lifetime warranty refers to the time that you own and live in the house. That’s important because if you rent the house one day the warranty will change.
What parts of the Provia windows are covered for my lifetime?
Not all of them and that’s worthwhile to understand. The Provia window warranty states that the vinyl structure, the insulated glass unit and the hardware are guaranteed for life. That’s pretty good as some companies will have shorter limitations on the hardware, but most cover the frames and glass.
You do also get a lifetime warranty on glass breakage and the screens are covered too but you should note that torn screens are not covered. That’s also pretty standard. No company covers ripped or torn screens anyway.
What are the Provia window warranty limitations?
It’s a common window salesman line to say that whatever warranty they’re offering is “unlimited”. If anyone told you that you should show them the door because that’s not how warranties work.
There are many limitations to the Provia window warranty. For example, the warranty wouldn’t cover damage caused by fire, windblown objects or lightening. That’s all pretty common as your homeowners insurance would cover that stuff.
Interestingly they also don’t honor the warranty if the windows are installed in ships or vehicles. So, don’t put them in your mobile home or yacht.
Perhaps more relevant, the warranty on the blinds in the glass is only for 10 years. That’s not very long especially for an expensive option.
Also, the painted finishes are covered for 15 years on vinyl windows and 10 on wood windows.
So, there are definitely limitations. The biggest limitation is for rental houses.
What is the Provia window warranty for a rental house?
It’s not great. If you’re renting your house now or if you might rent in the future this could be a big deal. The coverage is limited to 5 years for the windows, 10 years for the insulation glass, 1 year for the hardware, and there’s no glass breakage coverage at all. There’s also no labor coverage to fix an issue.
Ultimately by offering such a short warranty for rental houses, or any house owned by a business, church or organization, they’re telling you that they don’t want that business.
This makes sense since they’re usually priced high enough that a landlord wouldn’t by these windows anyway, but it’s something to be aware of.
Do they cover labor under the warranty?
No, there’s no labor coverage at all. That means if there’s a problem down the road that is covered Provia will ship you the parts but you’re on your own to get it fixed. That might be expensive, especially if the dealer you bought the windows from has vanished. That happens more than you might expect.
You may see that the dealer offers their own labor warranty. That can be great, but you’d want to get it in writing and then you’re still taking the gamble that they’ll be around down the road.
You’d also want to confirm in writing that their labor warranty covers repairs of a manufacturing issue. They might just be talking about their installation labor which will still leave you out of luck in certain circumstances.
What’s the bottom line?
I’d say the Provia window warranty is pretty unremarkable. You’ll find the same or better warranties from most of the nicer manufacturers out there so there’s really nothing special about this one. The lack of any labor coverage and the severe limitations on rental houses mean this is probably at the back of the pack when compared to some others out there.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t buy Provia windows, but when comparing your options the warranty probably doesn’t help their case.
For more detailed window reviews including many warranty reviews check this section. You can also find info on common window sales tactics here and you can find our list of recommended window installation companies here.
Have fun!