Install it yourself / Egress window
Most of the bill is labor, not the window. Here is what the code actually requires, the one thing that decides whether this is a weekend or a contractor, and what the parts really cost.
The window, bought direct
Manufacturer list price across 5 models, 3 of them code-compliant for egress.
The job, done by a contractor
Range across installer prices we verified.
Read this before anything else
If there is no opening in the foundation yet, someone has to cut reinforced concrete and temporarily carry the load above it. That is not a DIY step, whatever a video tells you. Cutting an opening is the line between a weekend project and a contractor, and it is the single question that decides your path.
International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 edition
An egress window is a legal exit, so it is dimensioned by code rather than by taste. The opening has to clear all of these at once, with the window fully open.
Hitting 5.7 square feet is where most people get caught: a window can be wide enough and tall enough on paper and still miss the area once you measure the actual opening rather than the frame. Your local jurisdiction can amend any of these, and the building department has the final word, so confirm the numbers with them before you buy anything.
The two measurements people miss
The work itself
Assuming an opening already exists and the well stays shallow, this is the sequence. Before any of it, call 811 and have your utilities located: the photo below is what a gas line looks like when you find it with a shovel. The drainage tie-in is the step do-it-yourself installs most often get wrong, and it is the one that shows up as a wet floor two winters later.
Buried gas line warning tape uncovered while excavating beside a foundation.
A digging shovel, the main tool for excavating a window well by hand.
Soil being dug out of a window well beside an existing basement window.
A post-hole digger boring the drain hole for a window well.
Shims being tapped in along the side of a window frame during installation.
A level held against an installed window frame to check that it sits square.
Expanding foam being gunned in around the edge of an installed window.
A block and stone wall built up around a window well, still under construction.
Photos: The Great Egress Co.
The questions people actually ask
Call the building department of the city or county the house sits in, not the state, and ask about a permit for a basement egress window. It is a two-minute call and they answer it every week. Ask at the same time which net clear opening they apply, because that is the number that decides which windows you can even consider.
We are not going to give you an hour count we cannot back up. What we can tell you is what the work consists of, in order: locating utilities, excavating the well, cutting or preparing the opening, setting and sealing the window, tying the drain into the footing drain, backfilling with gravel, and restoring the grade. The excavation and the drainage are the two that swallow time, and both depend on your soil and your depth.
The window is one line on the list. You also need the well itself, gravel for the backfill, the drain and its tie-in, a cover if you want one, and a permanently affixed ladder or steps if the finished well is deeper than 44 inches. None of those come with the window, and the ladder is a code requirement rather than a nicety.
Frozen ground is the problem, not the window. Excavating against a foundation in a Minnesota or Ohio January means either waiting or paying for equipment that would not be needed in September. Contractors in cold states will tell you their winter pricing; it is worth asking before you plan around a date.
The parts
The Great Egress Co publishes its prices, which makes it the easiest catalog to plan against. Only the models below meet the 5.7 sq ft of net clear opening; the rest of their range are basement windows, not legal exits.
Affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra and they do not change what we write.