Using Windsor's CIP and façade grants for windows, doors and storefronts

Which Windsor programs name windows, doors and storefronts

CIP stands for Community Improvement Plan: a way for the City of Windsor to offer grants in a set area to fix up homes and main streets. The programs below have guides dated April 2026 that name window, door or storefront work. We don't list shares, minimums or caps; they're in each guide, and they change when it does.

Designated heritage properties have two more programs, covered below. Downtown has its own CIP guide; whether it covers window work wasn't clear from what we read, so check the City's development incentives page. These are all for set areas inside the city. In the County they don't apply, though Ontario's rebate still can.

Homeowners in Sandwich and Ford City: residential rehabilitation grants

Sandwich and Ford City were separate towns before joining Windsor, and both still have streets of older houses with tired windows, doors and porches. The residential grants aim squarely at that front-of-house work.

Eligible work

Both guides name "repair/replacement of front doors, windows and porches." Repair counts as much as replacement, which matters where refinishing an original window may be the better job. The grant pays part of the eligible cost, within a minimum and maximum the guide sets, and the Sandwich Town guide allows one application per property. Both ask for two contractor estimates.

Inside the Sandwich heritage district, check the heritage rules at the same time. Replacing a window in its existing opening usually doesn't need a heritage permit unless it's an original, significant street-facing window, but replacing a porch does. The Olde Sandwich Towne page covers the district.

"Visible from the road" in Ford City

The Ford City guide adds a condition: eligible works "must be visible from the road right-of-way." Think front windows, the front door and the porch. A back bedroom window likely won't count. If a side window can be seen from the street, ask the City before counting on it. The Ford City page has more on the houses there.

Business owners on the main streets: façade and storefront grants

Some Windsor storefronts had their original windows filled in over the years, and the City wants to see them reopened. The Main Streets CIP façade program encourages restoring "key features such as doors and windows that have been lost" and "reinstating doors and windows that have been filled in." The City's 2023 study for the program looked at eight business-improvement-area main streets, Drouillard Road in Ford City and Pillette Village among them. Check the current guide's map for your address.

Sandwich Town and Ford City run their own façade programs. The Sandwich Town grant names "repair or replacement of storefront, including repair or replacement of storefront doors and windows", Council can add more for side or rear façades, and the CIP also offers an interest-free loan for building improvements.

Ask for estimates that separate glass, door hardware, framing and any masonry to reopen a filled-in window; they're often different trades. Storefront glass covers the glass side.

Designated heritage properties: Community Heritage Fund and property tax reduction

These two City programs are only for designated heritage properties, a narrower group than older houses in general.

• Community Heritage Fund. For properties designated by by-law under Part IV (individual properties) or Part V (heritage districts, such as Sandwich) of the Ontario Heritage Act. It funds restoring heritage features, and architect or engineer fees. The City's page lists no amounts, so ask the heritage planning staff.
• Heritage Property Tax Reduction. A property tax reduction for eligible work that restores heritage attributes. Read the current terms before you plan around it.

Being on Windsor's heritage register isn't the same as being designated; the register also lists properties that aren't. Under Ontario's heritage law, municipalities have until January 1, 2027 to designate or remove older listed properties, so if your house is listed, ask the City where it stands before replacing original windows.

Adding the provincial HRSP rebate

Ontario's help for windows is the Home Renovation Savings Program, or HRSP, delivered by Save on Energy and Enbridge Gas with the province's support. It works differently from the City grants:

• It pays per rough opening, for ENERGY STAR certified windows and doors only.
• Windows and doors generally need a home energy assessment, as part of two or more upgrades.
• A new sealed unit in an old frame, or a repaired window, doesn't qualify.
• Homes heated by electricity, natural gas, oil, propane or wood can all take part.

Read the rules on homerenovationsavings.ca and the Save on Energy program page before you buy. Whether HRSP and a CIP grant can apply to the same windows hasn't been confirmed, so ask both programs.

What's open and what's closed

Two contractor estimates: what an itemized quote should show

The residential grants ask for two contractor estimates, and the City will compare them against what the program covers. A one-line "replace front windows" quote makes that hard. Ask each contractor to break it down:

• Each opening separately, with where it sits on the house. In Ford City, front, side or back decides eligibility.
• Repair or replacement, spelled out: a new sealed unit, a new sash, refinishing, or a full new window.
• The product, including ENERGY STAR certification if you're also after the HRSP.
• Doors and porch work as their own lines. If the front door is part of it, entry doors explains that job.
• Labour, materials, disposal, HST and permits, each shown.

We're not the City, and we don't handle applications. We connect you with independent local pros who do window, door and storefront work. Put "CIP estimate" in your quote request with photos of the front of the house, and say if you'll need a second estimate. The pro we match you with measures and writes it up; the application is yours. Still weighing a new window against fixing the old one? The repair-or-replace guide helps, and replacement windows covers the bigger job.

Order of operations: apply and get approval before work starts

1. Check your address is inside the CIP area. The guide has the map.
2. Read the program guide and talk to the City's planning staff before you spend anything.
3. Get two itemized estimates.
4. Apply and confirm eligibility before work starts. Check the guide for exactly what approval you need first. Work already done may not count.
5. Sort out permits: a building permit for new or enlarged openings and porches, and a heritage permit if the Sandwich district rules call for one.
6. If you're adding the HRSP, check its assessment steps before the windows go in.
7. Do the work, keep every invoice, and take before-and-after photos.

What to confirm with the City first

• Intake dates. The guides we read didn't list deadlines.
• Budget. We couldn't see how much funding remains this year.
• Boundaries. Go by the CIP map, not the neighbourhood name.
• What counts for your windows, especially side windows in Ford City and originals in Sandwich.
• Combining programs, if you're also planning on the HRSP, and how the grant is paid once the work is done.

Start at the City of Windsor's development incentives page, which links each CIP and its current guide. Guides get updated, so check the date on the one you download.