A career as a window fitter involves replacing or installing new doors and windows in domestic and commercial teams. Your career will be varied and challenging, with jobs varying greatly in scale and size. Let’s take a look at what a career as a window fitter involves and where a career as a window fitter can take you.
Working as a Window Fitter
A window fitter provides a vital component of the construction project lifecycle. Your role will vary considerably depending on the scale of the job, but your common duties would include.
- Measuring for fitting any new windows and doors and making any amendments necessary to ensure that the windows and doors fit properly.
- Fixing single, double and triple glazed windows and doors
- Installing conservatories and porches
- Performing minor joinery and carpentry modifications or working with carpenters and other to trades to ensure the work is done to the best possible standard
- Ensuring the area is left free of debris and hazardous glass material after work is completed.
Career Path
In your career as a window fitter, you will work alongside other tradespeople, labourers and site management to ensure that the work is done and time and to schedule. Some of the other roles you would expect to work alongside include:
- Carpenter
- Foreperson
- Glazier
- Plumber
- Construction labourer
- Site manager
- Design manager
- Dry liner
- Finishing foreman
- Health & Safety
- HSE Officer
- Site clerk
- Forklift driver
- Steel fixer
Professional Qualifications
One of the most common routes is via apprenticeships, where fitters learn the role ‘on the job’ with a window fitting firm and also study for their recognised qualification in construction technology in college over 7 phases of work and college based education. Once you have established yourself as a window fitter, you can apply for membership of bodies such as the National Guild of Master Craftsmen. Due to innovation within this sector, constant training and upskilling in new methodologies, materials and equipment is advised if you are to have a successful career in this field.
How your Career can Develop
If you think you might like to work in this area, you can choose to specialise in particular areas during your career as a glazier, so you will need to upskill and earn any necessary certifications. You can specialise in areas such as domestic or residential fitting, industrial construction fitting, exterior glass fitting or civil engineering projects. Ultimately you can build up your own client base and start your own fitting services or contracting business or work with large firms or contractors that would require your services as a window fitter.