Whether you are building new or renovating, windows are easy to choose for the wrong reasons, or to not really choose at all. In a new build, most people take whatever windows the builder includes as standard and never ask whether they suit the block, the climate, or how the family actually lives. In a renovation, windows tend to get replaced like for like, same type in the same spot, because it is the easy path. Either way the default is set for the builder’s cost and supply, not for you.
That matters more than it looks, because the window you accept now also decides how the house breathes through a Queensland summer, how it rates for energy, and how well it can be secured later. Most people only think about security after they have moved in, by which point the windows have already set the limits. A few decisions made early, while the windows are still being chosen, save you from second-best fixes down the track.
Here is how to think about it, in the order it actually matters.
Start with how the house sits on the block
Before you think about a single window, think about the sun and the breeze. South East Queensland is subtropical, so the job is mostly keeping heat out, not letting it in. The damage comes from the east and west, where the sun sits low in the sky morning and afternoon and drives straight through the glass. The relief comes from the south-easterly breezes that run through most of the year.
That shapes everything. You want generous, well-shaded glass facing north for controlled light, smaller and well-protected openings to the west, and windows positioned to catch a cross-breeze through the house so you lean on the aircon less.
On a new build it is also a code requirement, not just good sense. Since May 2024, every new home in Queensland has to meet a 7-star energy rating for its building shell, and windows are one of the biggest levers on that rating. The glass carries a lot of it: a lower solar heat gain figure keeps summer heat out, and the right glazing for each orientation is the difference between passing comfortably and scraping through. On a renovation the rating may not apply the same way, but new windows are still the biggest single change you can make to a room’s comfort and running costs, so the same thinking pays off. Either way, settle placement and glass early, because it is far cheaper to move a window on a drawing than to over-spend on glass to fix a poor layout later.
Plan security before the windows go in
Here is the fact that should shape the whole conversation: most break-ins do not involve broken glass. Burglars go for the part that opens. The lock gets forced, the sash is jemmied, or the window was simply left open for air. Breaking glass is loud, slow, and risky, so it is rarely the way in.
That means the opening section of a window is what needs protecting, and the window’s type and position decide whether screening it later is clean or a compromise. A louvre needs room to box a screen out past the blades. An awning needs the winder left reachable. A casement or a hopper needs an access panel built into the screen so you can still work the lock. None of that is a problem if it is planned. All of it becomes an awkward retrofit if it is not.
So while you are still choosing windows, mark the ones that matter most: ground-floor windows, bedrooms, and any window hidden from the street or the neighbours, where someone would have the time and cover to work unseen. Those are the openings worth protecting properly from day one.
The decisions that are cheap on paper and expensive on site
A handful of choices cost nothing to get right early and a fair bit to fix once the house is built.
Reveal depth is the big one. A louvre screen has to sit proud of the glass to clear the blades, and a screen on an awning has to clear the winder. If the reveal is too shallow, you are forced into clumsy build-outs later. Raising it now is a one-line note to your builder.
Fall protection is the one most people have never heard of. Where a bedroom floor sits 2 metres or more above the ground outside, the code requires the window to be protected against a child falling. A standard flyscreen does not meet it. A properly rated screen does, because it has to resist a solid outward force and not allow a 125mm gap to open up. The useful part: one rated security screen can serve as both the break-in barrier and the child fall-protection barrier on an upper-floor bedroom, if you specify it from the start rather than bolting on a separate restrictor later.
Escape windows matter too. Each bedroom should have a window you can get out of in a fire, and if that window is getting a security screen, the screen needs a quick internal release. It is simple to design in and a nuisance to add afterwards.
The thread running through all of it is the same: have the security conversation before the windows are ordered, not after the work is done.
Bring it together before you lock it in
Windows, energy, and security are not three separate decisions made at three different times. They are one decision, and the cheapest moment to get all of it right is while the windows are still being chosen. Choose for the view and the light by all means, but choose knowing how each window will breathe in the heat and how it will be secured once you are living in it.
ONESOLOMON has been making and fitting security screens and window furnishings across South East Queensland since 1987 (QBCC licence 732582). If you are planning a build or a renovation, the most useful thing you can do is talk to a security screen maker before the windows go in, not after. It is the difference between a clean result and a compromise you live with for years.