Lincoln Egress Windows About Lincoln Egress Windows
Lincoln Egress Windows exists to do one job well: cutting code-compliant egress windows into Lincoln basements - the permit, the concrete, the window, the well, and the drainage - with published pricing and a flat quote up front. We are an independent local company, our crews do the installs, and we do not take on siding, roofs, or kitchen remodels. Foundations and the openings in them. That’s it.
Why a specialist, not a generalist
An egress window sits at the intersection of three trades that rarely live in one company: concrete cutting, structural framing, and site drainage. A remodeler can order the right window; the question is whether the saw cut is plumb with no overcuts at the corners, whether the header over the new opening is sized for the load the wall actually carries, and whether the well drains into a gravel bed tied to the footing drain tile instead of into your basement. Those three things are the job. The window is the easy part.
Lincoln adds a layer of its own. The city adopts the International Residential Code through Municipal Code Chapter 20.12 with a long list of local amendments - including one that deletes the model code’s smaller 5.0-square-foot allowance for grade-floor openings. In Lincoln, every egress opening gets sized to the full 5.7 square feet of net clear opening. We size for that from the start; crews that don’t work this market find out at plan review. The same goes for the city’s 42-inch frost depth, which dictates how deep wells and drainage get built here.
How the process works
Free on-site measure first. Every job starts with us putting a tape measure on your actual wall - foundation type, joist direction, utility runs, grade outside, water table clues. Photos help for a ballpark; we measure concrete in person before we quote a number worth holding.
Flat quote, permit itemized. You get one number for the agreed scope, with the City of Lincoln permit fee ($150–$600 depending on the project) listed at cost. If we hit something genuinely unforeseeable mid-job, the work stops for a conversation before anything changes. The full price sheet is public on the pricing page.
Permit and inspections required. The permit is issued by Lincoln’s Building and Safety Department (or the right office in Waverly, Hickman, Eagle, or Crete - three of those four are not Lincoln jurisdiction, and one isn’t even Lancaster County), and the work has to pass that office’s inspections. Ask us at the measure who files the application and books the inspections on your job, and get the answer in writing. Nobody should promise an outcome: the permit and inspection belong to the city, and anyone who guarantees them is telling you something about themselves.
Honest scoping. If a basement window replacement in your existing opening solves your actual problem for a quarter of the price of a new cut, we will say so. Same if your well just needs drainage work and a cover instead of full replacement.
Where we work
Lincoln proper is the core - from pre-war basements in the Near South and College View to new poured walls in the subdivisions south of Yankee Hill Road - plus the ring towns: Waverly, Hickman, Eagle, and Crete. Different permit offices, same standard of work.
If you’re finishing a basement, fixing a bedroom an inspector flagged, or replacing a well that’s held water since spring, send the form. We’ll get back to you, set up a free measure, and give you a number you can plan around.