# Window & Door Warranty Costs: What the 10-K Filings Show > Public filings show what warranty costs window and door makers: PGT Innovations booked 2.4% of sales in 2023, most of it servicing claims rather than parts. Source: https://utsservicepros.com/blog/why-manufacturers-lose-millions-to-warranty-claims --- Warranty Strategy 6 min read # What Warranty Claims Cost Window and Door Manufacturers, According to Their Own Filings Warranty is a measurable cost for window and door manufacturers, and the public filings put a number on it. PGT Innovations recorded warranty expense of 2.4% of sales in 2023, and $32.8 million of it was the cost of servicing claims, against $3.2 million for the product issued. JELD-WEN paid out $31.5 million in warranty claims in 2024. For both, the expensive part of a claim is the visit to the home, not the part. Matthew Christner Division President, UTS ServicePros mchristner@utsservicepros.com972-633-6803 Published February 16, 2026 Updated October 9, 2026 Share this article: ## The Short Answer For the two public window and door manufacturers whose filings we checked, warranty costs tens of millions of dollars a year. PGT Innovations recorded warranty expense at an average of 2.4% of sales in 2023, up from 2.1% in 2022 and 2.0% in 2021. JELD-WEN paid $31.5 million in warranty claims in 2024, $30.8 million in 2023 and $29.8 million in 2022. The more useful finding is where the money goes. In PGT Innovations’ 2023 filing, the cost of servicing warranty claims, including its service department personnel, was $32.8 million. Warranty expense for product issued was $3.2 million. Most of the cost of a warranty claim is the work of getting it resolved at the home. ## What the Filings Say Public companies report warranty because it is an estimated liability: the cost is booked when the product is sold and adjusted as claims come in. JELD-WEN’s Form 10-K for 2024 describes it this way: “Estimated warranty costs based on historical experience are recorded as a provision at the time of sale. The provision is adjusted periodically to reflect actual experience.” Its warranty terms “range from one year to lifetime on certain window and door components.” Its warranty liability stood at $47.3 million at the end of 2024, against net revenues of $3.78 billion for the year. PGT Innovations’ Form 10-K for 2023 says its warranty periods “generally range from 1 to 10 years,” with lifetime coverage on a limited number of components, and that the majority of products carry component warranties of 1 to 3 years. It charged $36.3 million to warranty expense in 2023 and settled $36.1 million of claims. Two companies are not an industry average, and the figures are not comparable line for line: one reports expense as a share of sales, the other reports claim payments and a liability balance. What they share is scale. For a manufacturer of any size, warranty is a recurring operating cost, not an occasional one. ## Why the Visit Costs More Than the Part A replacement glass unit, balance or weatherstrip is usually the cheap part of a claim. The cost sits in everything around it: validating the claim, reaching the homeowner, scheduling, sending someone qualified to the address, often a second trip once a part arrives, and recording what was done. UTS ServicePros’ own work order history shows how much of that is unavoidable. Of the work orders with a written request, 29% asked for an inspection or diagnosis before any repair. From 2008 to 2023, 54% of work orders needed a manufacturer parts order, and when a part had to ship, the homeowner waited a median of 12 days for it. That wait is the manufacturer’s parts lead time, not field service time, but every day of it is a day the homeowner is waiting on the brand. PGT Innovations’ filing adds a caution in the other direction. It attributes part of its lower 2022 warranty rate to “a decrease in the use of higher-cost contract labor.” Outsourcing field work is not automatically cheaper. What matters is what each visit costs, how many visits a claim takes, and whether the first visit produces enough information to close it. ## Where a Third-Party Service Network Fits A manufacturer can carry the field side of warranty itself, with employed technicians, or contract it to a third-party network. The trade-offs are structural. Employed technicians are a fixed cost wherever claims are sparse. Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer is generally liable for an employee’s wrongful acts within the scope of employment, and the doctrine applies to employees but not to independent contractors. And records are only as consistent as each team that keeps them. UTS ServicePros is the third-party option. A manufacturer sends a service request; UTS validates it, schedules with the homeowner, and assigns an independent contractor matched by proximity, performance record and qualification for the product. Contractors run their own insured businesses, work under signed indemnity agreements naming UTS and the manufacturer, and cannot close a job until its photographs, diagnostic notes and homeowner sign-off are in. A Territory Manager reviews the file before it closes, and the manufacturer receives a time-stamped PDF of the visit. The standing service area is the lower 48 states and western Canada. [How coverage and contractor assignment work](https://utsservicepros.com/coverage), and [what the work orders show about which components fail](https://utsservicepros.com/field-record). ## Technical references - [PGT Innovations, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023 (Warranty expense)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1354327/000095017024019325/pgti-20231230.htm) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR). Warranty expense of 2.4% of sales in 2023, 2.1% in 2022 and 2.0% in 2021; $36.3 million charged to expense in 2023; $32.8 million for servicing claims versus $3.2 million for product issued; warranty periods; lower 2022 rate partly from less higher-cost contract labor. - [JELD-WEN Holding, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (Note 11, Warranty Liability)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1674335/000167433525000055/jeld-20241231.htm) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR). Warranty payments of $31.5 million (2024), $30.8 million (2023) and $29.8 million (2022); liability of $47.3 million at December 31, 2024; terms from one year to lifetime; provision recorded at time of sale; net revenues of $3,776 million. - [Respondeat superior](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/respondeat_superior) — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. An employer is liable for an employee’s wrongful acts within the scope of employment; the doctrine applies to employees but not to independent contractors. - [Door & Window Warranty Field Record](https://utsservicepros.com/field-record) — UTS ServicePros. Share of work orders asking for inspection first, share needing a parts order, and the median parts wait. Table of Contents ## Frequently Asked Questions Common questions about this topic from window and door manufacturers. How much do window and door manufacturers spend on warranty? Public filings give two examples. PGT Innovations recorded warranty expense of 2.4% of sales in 2023 ($36.3 million charged to expense). JELD-WEN paid $31.5 million in warranty claims in 2024 and carried a $47.3 million warranty liability at year end. Why does servicing a warranty claim cost more than the replacement part? Because most of the work is around the part: validating the claim, contacting and scheduling the homeowner, sending a qualified person to the home, often a second trip after a part ships, and documenting the result. In PGT Innovations’ 2023 filing, servicing claims cost $32.8 million against $3.2 million for product issued. Is outsourcing warranty service always cheaper? No. PGT Innovations attributed part of a lower 2022 warranty rate to using less higher-cost contract labor. The comparison that matters is the cost per resolved claim, including repeat visits, against the fixed cost of employing technicians in every market where claims arrive. What does UTS ServicePros do for manufacturers? It carries out door and window warranty inspections, repairs and directed installations on the manufacturer’s behalf across the lower 48 states and western Canada, through vetted independent contractors under indemnity agreements, and returns a documented record of every visit. ## Related Articles Cost Analysis ### [In-House Warranty Technicians or a Third-Party Service Network: How Manufacturers Decide](https://utsservicepros.com/blog/in-house-warranty-teams-vs-third-party-service-networks) A window or door manufacturer can service warranty claims with its own technicians or contract the field work to a third-party network. Employed technicians suit high claim volume in a few markets. A third-party network suits claims spread across many states, where staffing every market is a fixed cost, travel to sparse areas is slow, and the employer carries liability for its employees’ work in the home. The manufacturer decides the remedy either way. Program Design ### [Designing a Window Warranty Program: The Decisions That Shape Every Claim](https://utsservicepros.com/blog/how-to-build-bulletproof-window-warranty-program) A window warranty is a set of decisions a manufacturer makes before the first claim arrives: whether it is a full or limited warranty under federal law, how long each component is covered, whether labor is included, what is excluded, and who goes to the home when a claim comes in. Each decision shows up later in the cost of claims and in how the homeowner experiences them. Choosing a Provider ### [Choosing a Warranty Service Provider: Ten Questions for Window and Door Manufacturers](https://utsservicepros.com/blog/partner-vs-vendor-protecting-manufacturer-brand-through-quality-service) Before a window or door manufacturer hands its warranty field work to a third-party provider, it should know who will be in the homeowner’s house, under what contract, where the provider can and cannot reach, how fast it must act, what record comes back, and what the provider will not do. These ten questions cover it, with UTS ServicePros’ own answers. ## Deliver the Manufacturer's Promise Nationwide UTS ServicePros provides the nationwide network, documentation discipline, and liability protection that transforms warranty service from a cost center into a competitive advantage. [Start a Manufacturer Consultation](https://utsservicepros.com/contact)[Explore Services](https://utsservicepros.com/services)