What Hurricane Protection Costs
We do not publish prices, and neither does anybody who is being straight with you.
What we will do is tell you exactly what moves the number, so you can read a quote properly and spot
the one that is cheap for the wrong reason.
Why nobody can price this from a web page
Two houses on the same street can differ by a factor of three, and it is not the products doing
it. It is the openings. A price on a page has to assume a house, and the moment it does, it is wrong
for yours.
What we would rather give you is the ability to look at two quotes and understand why they differ,
because that is the thing that actually saves people money.
What drives the number
| Driver | What it does |
|---|---|
| How many openings | The biggest factor by far, and the one people forget when comparing houses. Count yours before you call anybody. |
| The size of each one | A wide slider is not two windows. Span drives material and drives which products are even approved. |
| Which product | The spread from storm panels to impact glass is very wide. Same protection on the form, very different numbers. |
| Design pressure at your address | Coastal and exposed sites need higher-rated assemblies for the identical opening. |
| Motorized or manual | A motor and its electrical run is a real line item. On some openings it is worth it and on others it is not. |
| What is behind the wall | Structural backing that has to be added, rotten bucks, out-of-square block. This is where surprises live. |
| Access | Second storey, over a pool, over a roof line. Labour, not material. |
| How many at once | Whole-house is cheaper per opening than four. The mobilisation is the same either way. |
Roughly how the products rank
Cheapest to most expensive, per opening, before any of the above is applied:
- Storm panels — least money, most work asked of you
- Accordion shutters — the value answer for a whole house
- Bahama shutters — window product, and you are partly buying the look and the shade
- Roll down shutters — more, and they disappear when up
- Hurricane screens — priced by span; the only thing that covers a lanai in one piece
- Impact windows — most per opening, and it replaces the window as well as protecting it
That order holds for most houses and it is not a recommendation. The cheapest product that
actually gets used beats the best product that does not.
How to compare two quotes
They are almost never quoting the same thing. Five questions that expose it:
- Is every glazed opening on both quotes? The commonest reason one quote is
lower is that it is protecting less of the house. Count the openings on each. - What is the Florida Product Approval number for each product? Not the brand
— the approval. It is public record and you can look it up. - Is it approved at your opening size? Approvals are size-and-pressure schedules.
A product approved to thirty feet is not approved to thirty feet at every height. - Is the permit in the price, and who is pulling it? An unpermitted install is
not opening protection as far as your insurer is concerned. - Motorized: is the electrical included? This is a classic gap between two
otherwise identical numbers.
The cheap quote is usually cheap for a reason, and the reason is usually scope.
Fewer openings, a lower-rated product, or the permit and the electrical left out. Occasionally it is
genuinely a better price. You cannot tell which without the five questions above.
Where the money goes furthest
If the budget will not cover everything at once — and for most people it does not —
the order that protects the most house per dollar is usually the lanai first with a screen, then the
windows and doors with accordions. The lanai is the largest opening on most Florida houses and the
one most often left bare. Doing it in that order also means you are never half-protected in the way
that matters.
Get a real number for your openings
Tell us what you are looking at and someone from our team will call you the same business day. We go through it on the phone first — your openings, the products that actually fit, what is involved — and if it is a fit we come out and put a written quote in your hand. No charge and no obligation.
Questions we get asked
How much do hurricane shutters cost in Florida?
It depends almost entirely on how many openings you have and how big they are, and any figure quoted without seeing your house is invented. What we can tell you is the order: storm panels are cheapest, then accordions, then Bahamas, then roll downs, then screens, then impact windows.
Why will you not put prices on the website?
Because a number without your openings attached is worthless, and every company that publishes one qualifies it into meaninglessness anyway. We would rather tell you what drives the number so you can read any quote properly, including ours.
One quote is much cheaper than the other. Why?
Usually scope rather than price. Check that both cover every glazed opening, that both name a Florida Product Approval, that the product is approved at your opening sizes, and that the permit and any electrical work are in the number.
What is the cheapest way to protect a whole house?
Storm panels on paper. In practice, accordion shutters, because panels only protect a house if somebody actually puts them up before the storm, and on a large or seasonal house that often does not happen.
More questions? Our full hurricane shutter & screen FAQ covers products, service, permitting and financing.
Florida Screen & Shutter, LLC · 883 NE 27th Ln #5, Cape Coral, FL 33909 · (239) 409-0426
License #SCC131152867 · Fully Licensed & Insured Florida Contractor · MagnaTrack President’s Club, #6 in the country, 2025