Insight

My sister’s bathroom window faces her neighbor’s driveway with maybe 10 feet between them. Every time she showered, she worried about someone walking by and potentially seeing in. She kept the blinds closed constantly which made the bathroom dark and kind of depressing. No natural light, felt claustrophobic, not what you want in a bathroom.…

My buddy Steve runs a startup in a ground-floor office space on The Alameda. Big windows facing the street, looked great, lots of natural light. Problem was everyone walking by could see right into the office. Potential clients, competitors, random people – everyone got a full view of their workspace, computer screens, everything. They tried…

My home office faces west with this massive window that seemed like a great idea when I moved in. Natural light, nice view of the neighborhood, perfect setup. Except every afternoon from about 2pm until sunset, I couldn’t see my computer screen at all. The glare was so bad I had to either close the…

My friend owns a small business in East San Jose and got broken into twice in six months. Both times they smashed the front door glass, grabbed whatever they could reach quickly, and ran. Cost him thousands in stolen merchandise plus replacing the glass both times. Insurance covered some of it but his rates went…

My buddy Carlos got pulled over three times in two months for illegal tint. Each ticket was around $200 plus the hassle of going to court and proving he fixed it. By the third time, the cop told him if he got stopped again they’d impound his car. He finally went to a shop that…

Last summer my neighbor Tom was spending close to $500 a month on electricity just trying to keep his house comfortable. His AC ran constantly, the upstairs was still hot enough to cook in, and his family basically lived in the basement from June through September. He tried everything – new thermostat, better insulation, sealing…

My sister lives in one of those newer townhomes off Bernal Road where the houses are basically stacked on top of each other. Her living room window faces her neighbor’s living room window with maybe 15 feet between them. She couldn’t walk around her own house without feeling like she was on display. Curtains helped…

I was grabbing coffee at this place on First Street downtown last summer and the owner was standing by the thermostat looking stressed. Guy told me his AC bill was over $800 that month and customers kept complaining about how hot it was by the windows. Half his seating was basically unusable after 2pm because…

My friend Lisa bought this beautiful house in Rose Garden last year. Big windows, tons of natural light, exactly what she wanted. By July, she was basically living in a sauna. Her electric bill hit $400 because the AC ran nonstop, her hardwood floors were fading in weird stripes where the sun hit them, and…

I’ll never forget the summer my buddy Marco picked me up in his new sedan. The moment I opened the door, it felt like climbing into an oven. The steering wheel was so hot he had to use a towel just to drive. “Dude, you need tint,” I told him. Two weeks later, same car,…