New-build glazing in Hobart.
Building in Kingston, Old Beach, Huntingfield or Cambridge and trying to work out what the glass actually has to be? The short version: nothing in the Code says double glazing, and in Hobart you will end up with it anyway. Here is why, plus the wind ratings that change the price and the fit-out glass nobody budgets for.
The Code never says double glazing. Hobart says it for you.
The National Construction Code does not name double glazing anywhere. What it does is set an energy performance target, the 7-star NatHERS level introduced with NCC 2022 and now in force in Tasmania, and leave it to the designer to hit it. In practice, in Hobart, you almost cannot. Hobart sits in NCC climate zone 7, cool temperate, with the longest heating season of any Australian capital, so single glazing bleeds enough heat that the rest of the building has to work implausibly hard to compensate. Double glazing is not legally mandatory here, it is just the cheapest way to a compliant house.
That distinction matters when you are reading a builder's spec. A performance-based target means there is more than one path, and in theory you could compensate for single glazing with extreme insulation, tiny window areas and a very tight envelope. In a Hobart climate zone 7 assessment that path is expensive, ugly, or both. So the thermal modelling almost always lands on double glazing, and often on low-E coated double glazing, because a heat-reflective coating that bounces warmth back into the room is exactly suited to a heating-dominated climate. The single vs double glazing guide works through why the physics falls that way here and not in Brisbane.
Worth knowing too: NCC 2022 brought in condensation management provisions alongside the energy target, which is not a coincidence. A tighter, better-insulated house holds moisture, and glass is where that moisture shows up first. Building 7-star and glazing single would give you a house that is warmer and streaming with water. The two provisions are designed to be read together.
Wind exposure changes the glass and the price.
Yes, and it is one of the more genuinely local factors here. Windows and glazed doors are designed to AS 2047 against a wind classification worked out under AS 4055, and greater Hobart covers a wide spread. A sheltered infill block in New Town might sit at N1 or N2, while an exposed ridge site above Kingston, a hill in West Hobart facing the westerlies off the mountain, or an open block near the Derwent can push to N3 or higher. A higher classification means thicker glass, stronger frames and different fixings, so the same window design costs meaningfully more on an exposed lot.
This is the item that surprises people comparing display-home pricing to their own block. The display home in the estate is on a flat, sheltered, fully built-out street. Your lot on the edge of the same estate, facing open paddock and the westerly, can be a category higher, and the window package reprices accordingly. It is not the builder inventing a variation. It is AS 4055 doing its job.
Which council signs the work off depends on the estate. Kingston, Huntingfield and Blackmans Bay sit in Kingborough Council. Old Beach, Brighton and Bridgewater are Brighton Council. Cambridge and Seven Mile Beach are Clarence City Council, and Claremont and Austins Ferry are Glenorchy City Council. They all administer the same NCC energy and condensation provisions through a building surveyor, so the 7-star target does not move between them, but planning overlays and the wind classification on your particular lot certainly do.
Breakage, handover and the fit-out glass nobody budgets.
Glass broken during construction is almost always the builder's responsibility, under their contract works insurance, and it is worth knowing this before you start arguing with anyone. Glass gets broken on site constantly: scaffold dropped against a pane, a trade putting a length of timber through a window, a stone off a mower on a landscaped lot. While the site is under the builder's control, that is a construction insurance matter rather than a homeowner one. Where owners get caught is breakage discovered after handover, so walk the house and check every pane at the final inspection.
Do that walk properly. Look across each pane at a low angle in daylight, not straight on. A scratch from a trade cleaning render off the glass with a blade, or a chipped edge under a bead, is very hard to see head-on and impossible to argue about three months later. Note anything you find on the defects list before you sign. Once it is yours, a toughened pane is 350 to 750 dollars of your money, as the pricing page sets out.
Safety glass in a new build.
Exactly the same list as an existing home, because AS 1288 does not care how old the building is. All glass in doors and the fixed panels beside them, any pane within 500mm of the floor, bathroom glass within 2 metres of the floor, all shower and bath surround glass, and low balustrade glass must be Grade A safety glass. In a new build these are specified by the window supplier and signed off through the building surveyor, so the compliance is usually handled. Where it goes wrong is later, in fit-out and owner-builder work like a mirror or splashback added after handover.
That last part is the real risk on a new home, and it catches conscientious people. The windows are compliant because a supplier and a surveyor made them so. The frameless screen or the wardrobe mirror you add yourself in year two has nobody checking it. The AS 1288 guide lists what the standard catches.
Worked example: fit-out glass on a four-bedroom in Kingston.
The windows come with the house, but the glass you choose separately at fit-out adds up. A typical new four-bedroom home in a Kingston or Old Beach estate runs roughly a frameless shower screen at 1,200 to 2,800 dollars, a second framed or semi-frameless screen at 700 to 1,900 dollars, a kitchen splashback at 600 to 1,300 dollars, and vanity and wardrobe mirrors at 300 to 700 dollars each. Call the package somewhere around 3,500 to 6,000 dollars depending on how frameless you go, and it is almost always cheaper to organise it yourself than to take it as a builder upgrade.
Take a real one, on 2026 rates: main ensuite frameless screen at 2,100 dollars, family bathroom semi-frameless at 1,250 dollars, coloured kitchen splashback at 950 dollars, two vanity mirrors at 400 dollars each and a wardrobe mirror at 550 dollars. That is 5,650 dollars, and the same package as a builder upgrade line item is routinely quoted well above it. Our splashbacks, shower screens and mirrors pages cover each of those, and the sensible time to book the measure is once the tiling and cabinetry are in and the walls have stopped moving, which on a new build means late rather than early.
Frequently asked questions.
Does a new home in Hobart have to be double glazed?
The National Construction Code does not name double glazing anywhere. What it does is set an energy performance target, the 7-star NatHERS level introduced with NCC 2022 and now in force in Tasmania, and leave it to the designer to hit it. In practice, in Hobart, you almost cannot. Hobart sits in NCC climate zone 7, cool temperate, with the longest heating season of any Australian capital, so single glazing bleeds enough heat that the rest of the building has to work implausibly hard to compensate. Double glazing is not legally mandatory here, it is just the cheapest way to a compliant house.
Who is responsible for glass broken during construction?
Almost always the builder, under their contract works insurance, and it is worth knowing this before you start arguing with anyone. Glass gets broken on site constantly: scaffold dropped against a pane, a trade putting a length of timber through a window, a stone off a mower on a landscaped lot. While the site is under the builder's control, that is a construction insurance matter rather than a homeowner one. Where owners get caught is breakage discovered after handover, so walk the house and check every pane at the final inspection.
Which windows in a new Hobart home need safety glass?
Exactly the same list as an existing home, because AS 1288 does not care how old the building is. All glass in doors and the fixed panels beside them, any pane within 500mm of the floor, bathroom glass within 2 metres of the floor, all shower and bath surround glass, and low balustrade glass must be Grade A safety glass. In a new build these are specified by the window supplier and signed off through the building surveyor, so the compliance is usually handled. Where it goes wrong is later, in fit-out and owner-builder work like a mirror or splashback added after handover.
What does the fit-out glass package cost on a new Hobart home?
The windows come with the house, but the glass you choose separately at fit-out adds up. A typical new four-bedroom home in a Kingston or Old Beach estate runs roughly a frameless shower screen at 1,200 to 2,800 dollars, a second framed or semi-frameless screen at 700 to 1,900 dollars, a kitchen splashback at 600 to 1,300 dollars, and vanity and wardrobe mirrors at 300 to 700 dollars each. Call the package somewhere around 3,500 to 6,000 dollars depending on how frameless you go, and it is almost always cheaper to organise it yourself than to take it as a builder upgrade.
Does wind exposure change the glass on a new Hobart build?
Yes, and it is one of the more genuinely local factors here. Windows and glazed doors are designed to AS 2047 against a wind classification worked out under AS 4055, and greater Hobart covers a wide spread. A sheltered infill block in New Town might sit at N1 or N2, while an exposed ridge site above Kingston, a hill in West Hobart facing the westerlies off the mountain, or an open block near the Derwent can push to N3 or higher. A higher classification means thicker glass, stronger frames and different fixings, so the same window design costs meaningfully more on an exposed lot.
Keep reading.
More plain guides for Hobart homeowners:
Building, and want the fit-out glass priced properly?
Send the quote form with your plans or a room list. We will price the screens, splashback and mirrors as a package so you can compare it against the builder upgrade line.