Mixed Use Building Window Replacement — Apartments Over Shops
You own a two- or three-story building downtown: a shop on the street, apartments upstairs, old windows facing the sidewalk and a back stair that lets in the cold.
Reply within one business day. Or call / text 763-204-2099.
Mixed use building window replacement means the upstairs apartment windows and the rear stair doors on a main-street building with shops below. JMB Builders measures every upper opening in person, orders them as one package and installs from inside where the window allows. The ground-floor storefront glass is not part of our bid. Priced per opening, Twin Cities to St. Cloud. Send photos for a reply within one business day, or book a free in-home estimate.
- Priced per opening, every window listed
- Upper-floor apartments and rear stair doors
- Storefront glass is not in our scope
Main streets in Elk River, Anoka, Monticello and St. Cloud are lined with buildings that have a business on the ground floor and two to six apartments above. The upstairs windows are often the original wood sash or an early replacement, and the street side faces a sidewalk, parking and traffic. The rear usually has a wood or steel door to an outside stair, and that door takes the weather the front never sees.
We quote the apartment level: each upstairs window, any windows in the shared stair, and the rear and stair doors. The ground-floor storefront (the aluminum frames and large glass at the sidewalk) is glazing-contractor work, and we do not quote it. Every opening on the quote has its own line, so you can see the street side, the alley side and the doors separately.
A building with a shop and apartments is mixed use, and the building official generally handles it under the commercial building code whatever the unit count. Before we bid, we check the city's contractor licensing and permit rules for that building. On install days we work one apartment at a time, set street-side windows from inside where the window type allows, and close every opening the same day.
Get a written quote for this job
Three photos and a sentence is enough: a reply within one business day, or ask for a free in-home estimate. Or text the photos to 763-204-2099.
What you supply
- Access to each apartment and the notice your leases and Minnesota law require, sent by you
- Which side goes first if the job is phased: street, alley or both
- The business tenant's hours, so work in the stair does not block their back door
- Any city or historic district rules you already know apply to the facade
- Your choice of frame color, glass and grilles for the whole upper floor
What JMB supplies
- An in-person measure of every upstairs window and rear door
- A line-item quote by opening, grouped by apartment and by side of the building
- Windows and doors ordered together through ABC Supply so color and glass match
- Install one apartment at a time, each opening closed the same day
- Floors and furniture near each window covered, daily clean-up and haul-away
- The city's contractor licensing and permit rules checked before we bid; permit pulled when required
- A certificate of insurance and a W-9 on request
How it is priced: per opening
Quoted in writing from your photos, with a reply within one business day. What moves the number:
- Insert vs. full frame, opening by opening
- Brick or block openings and the condition of the old wood sub-frames
- Street-side windows that cannot be set from inside and need a lift or sidewalk setup
- A city sidewalk or right-of-way permit, if the work has to stand on the public walk
- Rear stair doors: steel or fiberglass, size, and frame or sill rot
- Exterior capping and interior trim scope
- Painting, quoted as its own line, or the windows left primed and caulked
Send a photo of the front, the back and each upstairs window, labeled by apartment. The free in-home estimate firms up the number.
How long it takes
Typically one to two working days per apartment once the windows are on site; the rear doors take their own day. Lead time depends on the brand and is written on the quote.
How your project works
- 1
Send photos, get a written quote
Send three photos of the space and a sentence about what you want. You get a clear, itemized reply within one business day. Prefer a look in person? A free in-home estimate is always an option.
- 2
Pick materials, or bring your own
We help you choose profiles and materials that fit the house and the budget, or match your existing millwork exactly — or you buy the door or trim yourself and we install it. Everything is confirmed before the crew is scheduled.
- 3
Clean, precise installation
The crew shows up on time, protects floors and furniture, and installs with tight joints and consistent reveals. Photos of the finished work go in your job folder.
- 4
Walkthrough and invoice
We walk the finished work with you. If anything is not right, we fix it before we call the job done. Then one invoice, paid by check or direct deposit — no card fees, no payment links.
Situations and options
Street side only
The front windows that face the sidewalk, done first for looks and noise. The alley side is quoted on the same sheet for later, at the same spec.
Whole upper floor
Every apartment window and the stair windows in one order and one run, so the building matches from both streets.
Rear stair and apartment doors
The outside door to the back stair and any apartment doors off it, replaced with steel or fiberglass units with closers where the door needs one.
Mixed Use Building Window Replacement — Apartments Over Shops: questions, answered
Do you replace the storefront glass on the ground floor too?
No. The aluminum storefront frames and large glass at the sidewalk are glazing-contractor work, and JMB Builders does not quote them. We quote the apartment windows upstairs, the stair windows and the rear doors. If the storefront is being done the same year, we can schedule around that contractor.
Can upstairs windows facing the street be replaced from inside?
Often, yes. Most insert windows and many full-frame windows on brick buildings are set from the inside, so nothing has to stand on the sidewalk. Where the outside trim or capping has to be worked from the street, a lift may be needed, and the city may want a sidewalk or right-of-way permit; that is listed on the quote.
Is a building with a shop and apartments residential or commercial work?
A building with a business and apartments is mixed use, and the building official generally handles it under the commercial building code, not the house code. That affects the permit and sometimes which windows and doors are allowed. Before we bid, we check the city's contractor licensing and permit rules for that building.
Will the business downstairs have to close while you work?
Usually not. The work is upstairs and in the back stair, and old windows go out the back. We ask for the shop's hours so the rear door and stair are not blocked when they need them, and we keep the sidewalk clear.
Can you match the look of the old windows on a main-street building?
We can match the opening size, the window style (double-hung, picture, transom over a window) and a frame color close to what is there. Historic profile matching is not something we offer. If the building is in a historic district, the city may have its own rules for the street side; check before ordering.
What do you do about the rear stair door?
It is quoted as its own line: an insulated steel or fiberglass door in a new frame, set in a sill pan with flashing, with a closer where the door has to close on its own. Rot at the sill or jamb is fixed before the new frame goes in. A door off a shared stair can have fire-code requirements; the building official decides, and we order what the permit calls for.
Recent JMB work, from our job log
59 installs recorded across 30 Twin Cities communities since Dec 2025. Window and door installs for homeowners and the builders we work with. Counts come straight from our job log; no customer names.
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Read morePage reviewed October 9, 2026 · JMB Builders LLC, MN license BC809005 · All apartment buildings pages
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