You have a few torn window screens and a short list of people who say they can fix them. A handyman, a hardware store counter, a big home-service outfit, or a shop like mine that does screens and nothing else. They are not the same, and the wrong pick costs you a wasted afternoon or a screen that sags again by August. Here is what I would ask before I handed anyone my screens, from someone who does this work every day.
Do they do screens, or is it a side job?
A handyman patches a screen between drywall and a leaky faucet. A big-box store ships your frame out and hands it back in a week or two. I do window screens and screen doors, and that is the whole business. Someone who runs screens all day carries the mesh options, keeps the spline sizes on the van, and has seen your exact window before. Ask what share of their work is screens. The answer tells you a lot.
Do they come to you, or do you haul screens around?
There are two ways this goes. You pull every screen, load the car, drive to a shop, drop them off, and come back in a few days to pick them up. Or someone comes to your house, works in the driveway, and puts the screens back before they leave. Mobile costs a service fee, and it saves you two trips and a week without screens. Decide which one fits your week. I built my business around the second one.
Will they price it before they show up?
This is the big one. A straight operator gives you a price on the phone. You tell them your window sizes and count, they give you a number, and that number holds at the door. Watch for the ones who will not talk price until they are standing in your kitchen. That is how a $200 job turns into a $600 job with you feeling stuck. My quote includes the mobile service fee, so the phone number and the door number match. The pricing page lays every rate out in the open.
What is the service fee, and what does it cover?
Most mobile shops charge a trip or service fee. Mine is a flat $150, and it covers coming to you and setting up. That part is fair. What is not fair is a fee that shows up at the end that nobody mentioned. Ask what the fee is, ask if the quote includes it, and get both before anyone drives out.
Do they carry mesh options?
Standard fiberglass is the default, and it is right for most windows. But if you have a dog, a sunny west-facing room, or gnats small enough to walk through normal mesh, you want choices. Pet-resistant, solar, and no-see-um mesh each solve a different problem. A shop that stocks them can match the mesh to your house instead of putting the same screen in every opening.
Are they local, and do they stand behind the work?
Someone who works Berks County knows the housing. Older homes in Reading and Wyomissing with arched and odd-size windows. Newer developments with sliding patio doors. Farmhouse porches out toward Kutztown. That knowledge cuts the guesswork. And ask about the guarantee. If a screen sags or a corner pops in a month, will they come back and make it right? I do.
A short list to ask
Keep it simple. Before you book anyone, ask these:
- What share of your work is window screens?
- Do you come to me, or do I drop screens off?
- Can you price it over the phone, and does that include the service fee?
- What mesh options do you carry?
- Do you guarantee the work?
Good answers to those five put you in good hands. If you want mine, the call is free.
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Ready to run those questions by me?
Call and I answer all five, then price your job over the phone for free. Serving Reading, Wyomissing, Kutztown, Hamburg, and all of Berks County.
Written by the owner of Window Screen Repair PA. Window screens are the whole business, and I do the work myself across Berks County.