Windows get ordered before framing starts. Doors come right behind them, once the wall assembly and the floor plan are settled. Following that order catches problems on paper, while they still cost nothing to fix.
The question usually arrives as a timing question. How many weeks out do I need to be?
That is the second question, not the first.
The one that protects your schedule is simpler. What gets ordered first?
Windows before doors. Both before your framing crew needs them. There is a reason for that order, and it has very little to do with the calendar.
Lead times move by line and by season. You cannot build a process on a number that keeps changing. You can build one on a sequence.
This is written for the builder running several jobs at once. If you have ever had a crew standing around waiting on a truck, or a door landed wrong two weeks before a client walkthrough, the sequence below is the part that you can control.
Why does the sequence matter more than the calendar?
A date tells you when to act. A sequence tells you what you can act on.
Plenty of orders go in on time and still land wrong. Usually because something was not final when it was ordered. Or because one undecided item held the whole package behind it.
The sequence sorts your decisions by what they depend on.
Windows depend on the fewest other choices, so they go first. Doors depend on more, so they go second. Trim and hardware depend on the most, so they go last.
There is a physical reason too. Your framer sets the openings. Once the walls are up, that opening is real. If the window is still open for discussion, the framer either builds to the plan and hopes, or stops and waits.
Neither one is good for you.
What has to be settled before windows get ordered?
Six things, and none of them take long once someone sits down with the plans.
The window schedule, checked against the current plan set. Not the set from three revisions ago. Check the revision date on the sheet you are reading from.
Operation type, opening by opening. Casement, single hung, slider, fixed. This is easy to assume and easy to get wrong on a sheet with forty openings.
The glass package. Tempered where it is required. Egress where it is required. These get caught on paper or they get caught by an inspector.
Exterior color and cladding.
Mulled units. Two windows joined into one unit is a different order than two windows. It also changes the opening.
How they are getting installed. Nail fin and block frame are not interchangeable. The answer depends on the wall assembly and on who is setting them.
One more thing belongs in this step. The rough opening is not the unit size. Somebody has to do that math, on paper, before the order goes in. If nobody owns that step, it usually gets discovered by a framer with a tape measure.
Why do doors come after windows?
Doors carry more dependencies.
Jamb depth follows wall thickness. Wall thickness follows framing, sheathing, exterior finish, and interior finish. Change the siding late and you can change the jamb.
Handing and swing follow the final floor plan. A wall that moves six inches can flip a swing.
The exterior door is also the piece people take longest to choose. It is the front of the house. That decision deserves the time it takes.
None of that costs you anything if the windows are already moving.
What gets locked when the door order goes in?
On exterior doors: handing and swing, jamb depth, sill and threshold, glass, sidelites and transoms, hardware prep and bore, finish.
On interior doors: the door schedule, prehung or slab, hinge and hardware prep, finish.
Several of those are hard to change once the order is placed, especially on custom units. That is the whole argument for putting the door order after the plan settles instead of before.
Where does this usually break down?
Five patterns, and four of them are fixable in a phone call.
One undecided item holds the whole package. Order what is decided. Let the open item follow on its own.
The order goes in off an old plan set. Revisions do not announce themselves. Somebody has to check.
The rough opening gets treated as the unit size. This one shows up at delivery, which is the most expensive place to find it.
Handing gets confirmed from memory over the phone. Look at the plan. Every time.
The exterior finish changes after the doors are ordered. Now the jamb depth is wrong, and the door is already built.
None of this means the job goes sideways. It means these are the five places worth slowing down for.
How does this play out on a custom home around here?
Homes in metro Atlanta and North Georgia keep asking for more glass. Bigger sliding doors. Taller units. More west-facing openings that have to live with an afternoon sun that does not let up in August.
The custom homes Lummus Supply supplies commonly run 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. On a house that size, the window count alone makes the schedule tight before anyone makes a mistake.
Big custom units are also the ones most likely to change late, and the ones that take longest to replace. A standard size off a stocked line and a custom mulled unit do not behave the same way. Nobody can hand you one number that covers both honestly.
There is a weather reason to respect the sequence too. Dry-in gates almost every trade behind it. A window that shows up wrong does not just delay the window.
How does Lummus Supply help with this?
Send the plans. A real person picks them up.
The team walks the job in the same order this article does. Framing first, then windows, then doors.
Sales, operations, takeoffs, millwork, and logistics each have a hand in your job. You are not stuck when somebody is out.
They call you before you have to ask.
Lummus Supply carries a wide range of window and door lines, including Andersen, Pella, Quaker, Sierra Pacific, and Windsor. The recommendation is not decided before your plans get read.
The aim is fewer surprises and fewer fire drills, with a team that keeps you informed. Not a promise that nothing goes wrong. A plan for catching it early when it does.
What should you do next?
Send the plan set, even a rough one. A takeoff and a read-through can tell you which openings need a decision this week and which ones can wait.
It costs nothing, and it is the cheapest place to find a problem.
If you want real ranges for your lines and the season you are building in, ask. Lead times vary by line and by season, and your Lummus team can confirm what is true for your job right now instead of what was true last spring.
Request a Consultation, or send the plans and let someone read them.
When should windows be ordered on a custom home?
Windows should be ordered before framing starts, because the framer sets the rough openings and needs the final unit sizes to do it. Settle the window schedule, the operation type for each opening, the glass package, the exterior color, any mulled units, and the install method first. Once those are set, the openings become real numbers the crew can build to.
Should doors be ordered at the same time as windows?
No. Doors come after windows because they depend on more decisions that are still moving. Jamb depth follows the wall assembly, and handing follows the final floor plan, so ordering doors too early is how jamb depths and swings end up wrong.
How long do custom windows and doors take to arrive?
Lead times vary by line and by season, so there is no single number that covers both a stocked unit and a custom mulled one. Your Lummus Supply team can confirm current ranges for the specific lines on your job. Sequencing the order correctly matters more than the number, because a correct order placed on time still lands wrong if a decision was not final.
