These are a large investment for your home and should be given some special consideration. Badly placed windows and incorrect glazing can have a significant impact on the quality of your home through design and energy efficiency.
Window layouts and sizes: look at the heights of windows especially in areas such as the laundry and kitchen. If you have workbenches under a window, then the height of the sill will need to be above bench heights to allow for a splash back. Heights in bedrooms and living spaces will need to accommodate furniture placement e.g. a bed might sit under the bedroom window, so an allowance will be needed to accommodate the bedhead. Cross ventilation is important and in the warmer climates it can have a big impact on the cooling capacity of the home.
Location and climatic conditions: to ensure your home has a comfortable year-round temperature, there are different glazing options available. These include tinted glass for cooling, laminated glass for holding heat, acoustic glass to lessen noise levels, toughened glass for high fire zones, just to name a few. Many councils have requirements and regulations specific for that area that must be complied with and a great deal of consideration is given to the energy efficiency of the glazing in the home.
Design: sliding, awning, double hung, louvre and fixed glass each hold their own advantages and disadvantages, so selecting the design type is a key factor. Take into account wind and rain e.g. if breeze is required, then a louvre would be more suited that sliding, awning or double hung as the louvre will give 100% airflow whereas the other styles will only give 50%. Accessibility for the operation of the window. Its location in relation to the high traffic areas of the home e.g. an awning window would be obstructive if placed in a zone that opened on to an outdoor area, a sliding, double hung or louvre would be best suited, A sliding window would not be suited for a side of the home that has direct weather contact as rain would go inside, therefore an awning or louvre would be better suited.
Frames: powder coated aluminium or a variety of timber options. Aside of the aesthetics and frame colour, consideration should be given to zone conditions e.g. fire zones would not be suitable for timber framed windows and slat air would require a specialised treatment for longevity.
Early research with window glazing and design options will give you long-term benefits and will greatly increase the overall efficiency and performance of your home. Before committing to your windows, give some thought to these points as this could potentially save you a lot of time and money.