Not a Done Deal
The American Architectural Manufacturers Association, a window manufacturers group, opposes the new standards for several reasons. Its president, Rich Walker, calls 30/30 “somewhat arbitrary” and points out that the previous standards were arrived at only after years of idea-sharing between AAMA and the Department of Energy.
In addition, Walker objects to the “one-size-fits-all” nature of the new criteria, given that windows perform differently in different climates and are manufactured accordingly. When it comes to fenestration products, he says, “Different climates require different performance parameters to be considered energy efficient.” Other Energy Star products such as hot water heaters “perform the same, regardless of climate.” AAMA is now seeking to persuade Congress to revert to the Energy Star standards for tax credits.
For installing retailers, all that matters is whether the windows they have qualify. And if they don’t, when can they? Garcia says that his company, which manufactures its own windows, is right now swapping out the glass packs on its double-pane products to bring them into conformity with the new standards.
“All our vinyl windows qualify,” says Windowizards’ vice president David Goodman, though the company carries both wood and vinyl windows. Goodman says that his sense was that Congress “rushed” the legislation through and caught many window retailers and manufacturers unprepared.
“The range of what’s out there is anywhere from .35 to .25 U-factor, and that’s a big difference. Everybody got caught off-guard.”
Goodman says that he did a broadcast to the 20,000 e-mail addresses in the company’s database the weekend after the legislation passed and sold between $30,000 and $40,000 to existing customers or customers who didn’t buy from Windowizards the first time around.
Windowizards altered its Web site’s home page to include tax credit information. The company also launched radio and print ads emphasizing not only the federal program but a Pennsylvania state tax rebate available to eligible contractors through a program called Keystone Help, which offers rebates of $250 to $500 on energy-saving improvements that meet or exceed Energy Star standards.”I’m very specifically saying that this is a tax credit, not a tax deduction,” Goodman says. “A lot of people don’t understand the difference.”
What Does, What Doesn’t
The difference is that a tax deduction reduces the amount of income on which you owe taxes, while a tax credit reduces what you owe the government in taxes. And whether or not windows will entitle homeowners to their tax credits will depend on whether or not they meet the “30/30” criteria.
Virtually all triple-pane replacement windows with gas insulation ? that is, upper-end vinyl products ? would make homeowners eligible for tax credits under the new legislation. On the other side of the product spectrum, single-pane windows, and those without any type of low-E coating or gas insulation, are unlikely to qualify. Home improvement company owners say that it’s in the double-pane window where ambiguity enters. Installing retailers want to be sure that their customers really are eligible for tax credits, rather than risk a rash of enraged phone calls come April 15, 2010, if homeowners find out that they weren’t eligible after all.
At WeatherTite Windows, in Girard, Ohio, owner Merv Hollander noted that two manufacturers the company buys from were attending a company sales meeting that week to explain it all to sales reps “so that everybody will be up to snuff.”
One Pennsylvania manufacturer predicted that the tax credits could boost replacement window sales by “20, 30, or 40%” in 2009. A Michigan window maker says his best guess is that the tax credits will lift industry sales by “10% and possibly as much as 20%” this year. Both claimed an uptick in orders from window replacement companies since the legislation passed. But Walker of AAMA, less sanguine by far, says, “If the performance values in the stimulus package remain as is, there will be very little, if any, positive impact on window sales in 2009 and 2010. Easing credit and restoring confidence in the economy would have a much larger impact.”
Garcia of American Exteriors says that a letter certifying company compliance with “30/30” will soon be standard in the company’s leave-behind package.
