• Lafayette Glass Company Inc.

  715 Sixth Ave., at 24th St., Park Slope; 212-829-0300

  Lafayette is best known for working on storefronts and office buildings (those giant display windows at Bloomingdale’s Soho, among many others), but 20 percent of the company’s work is residential. Unlike many glass businesses—essentially dealers that also install—Lafayette makes its own windows, fabricating them in a large factory in Park Slope, even forging custom hardware if it’s needed. Then its team (members of which are twenty-year veterans of the business) heads out to do the installation. ­Extra-large or unusual dimensions, as are often seen in older or high-profile buildings, won’t faze these folks, and neither will persnickety co-op board or Landmarks Preservation Commission regulations. Hillary Hulteen, who bought and freshened up the century-old business two years ago, proudly notes that 90 percent of her customers are repeats. Prices depend on lots of site-specific details, but a very basic single-­window replacement is likely to start around $500.

From the 2013 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine