Most residential glass railing projects take 2 to 4 weeks total from first call to finished install. About a week of that is the measure-and-quote stage, 7 to 10 business days is glass fabrication, and the install itself is usually one day on site for a typical deck or balcony. Commercial work runs longer because of permits, engineering stamps, and building coordination — usually 4 to 8 weeks. The honest answer is that lead time has more to do with glass tempering than with our schedule, and there are no real shortcuts on tempered glass.
What happens in the first week?
We come out, measure the run, talk through options (spigot vs standoff vs top-rail, glass thickness, hardware finish), and email a fixed quote within a day or two. If you say go, we book a site template — that’s a more precise measurement, often using a laser and corner finders, so the glass is cut to within a couple of millimetres. The template is what gets sent to the tempering plant.
Why does the glass itself take 7 to 10 days?
Tempered glass can’t be cut after it’s tempered — it shatters. So every piece is cut to your exact size first, edges polished, holes drilled if needed, then heated to roughly 620 °C and quenched. Local plants in Mississauga and Brampton run that cycle on a queue, and a typical home job sits in the queue 5 to 8 business days plus shipping. Rush slots exist but cost noticeably more and we don’t always trust the result.
How long is install day itself?
For a straight deck run of 20 to 30 linear feet with spigots or a base shoe, one crew of two installers usually finishes in 6 to 8 hours. Stair railings take longer because every panel is slightly different — plan on a full day, sometimes a day and a half. Balcony work where the substrate is concrete is faster than wood deck mounting because there’s no flashing to deal with.
What slows things down?
Out-of-square deck rims, posts that aren’t structurally adequate, hidden rot under deck boards, or a homeowner deciding mid-stream to switch from spigot to standoff hardware after the glass is already cut. We try to catch these on the template visit, but sometimes a board has to come up to know for sure.
Are condo and commercial timelines different?
Yes. Condos add elevator booking, building protection (corner guards, floor protection), and sometimes a property-management approval letter. Commercial storefront railings often need an engineer’s stamp on the load calculations, which adds 1 to 2 weeks. Plan on 4 to 8 weeks total for anything beyond a private home.
What’s the fastest realistic turnaround?
We’ve turned around emergencies — a railing damaged by movers, a shattered panel before a closing — in 5 to 7 days when the size matches stock-tempered inventory we keep for common panel sizes. It’s the exception, not the rule, and we don’t promise it on first contact.
Can you install in winter?
Yes, year-round across the GTA. We avoid silicone work below about -5 °C unless we tent and heat the area, but mechanical fastening (spigots, standoffs) is fine in cold weather. Snow on the substrate just gets cleared. The bigger winter constraint is the homeowner’s comfort — opening doors to a working crew when it’s -15 °C.
Have a project you’re sizing up?
We do free in-home consults across the GTA. Call 416-897-0767 or message luxglass.com.
Internal links worth following
- Glass railings
- Glass railing code compliance Ontario
- Standoff vs spigot glass railings