I'd have to agree that those prices are abnormally low for that product. How large are these companies? Do they have a showroom, office staff, salespeople, certifications, etc? .... Could just be a couple of companies selling at 0 profit during their slow season... Or if they are a "one man band" type of outfit with little to no overhead, that would explain things as well. It is POSSIBLE that you could be getting an outrageously good deal, but I would definitely recommend very close scrutiny to ensure that is the case.

Do all prices quoted include wrapping the exterior with aluminum?

Mmarse1,
I have only 1 quote for okna at the moment but will sure to get more than one. As I mentioned, this Okna dealer has quoted me higher prices for other small projects like doors etc. in the past so I wouldn't be shock if he is on the higher side of quotes.That said, I still need to do some due diligence price comparison etc.

And yes, a majority of the windows are less than 101united inches which Okna dealer did explain to me. however I have 4 larger windows 36"x72" which are beyond the 101 united inches and will be an up charge and that was explained to me as well but not much I can do about that.

Pjs755, I sent you a private message via email for the contact information.
Let me know if you haven't received it.
John

Toddinm
My quote per window did include wrapping the exterior.

Skeetie
You really want to get a quote through a dealer within your state. If you have an issue, you want a company located in your state. I am very skeptical about that other company and will refrain from mentioning their name.
Google a company in your state and play it safe and do it the right way.

Your point is appreciated....I will call okna in the morning for another dealer in my state.

Thats sounds like a logical decision skeetie. I also think google has so e licensed okna dealers in your atea as well. Only licensed dealers offer okna.
Good luck.

So from what I gather on pjs quote:
- it is an interior install without a full exterior wrap
- It is a dealer with low overhead (no office/showroom)
That would put the price into perspective a little bit more. While those points don't necessarily mean that you are getting a bad install, you do want to make sure that your quotes are comparing apples to apples. An exterior trim with full wrap has multiple benefits, not the least of which is the the full opening on the exterior is a nicer finish and provides less maintenance.

Skeetie: I'd give a ring to AGM if they serve your location. Very good company (okna dealer) out in NJ. :)

homesealed
Will do, appreciate the suggestion.

Skeetie - Paul @ AGM is installing our 800s next month. We're very impressed with both Paul and the product thus far.

Chris

+1

Paul and AGM are solid guys all around.

Mayhew, can you provide information regarding quote? And your window selection?

Skeetie - we went for a combination of 700s (single and double casements) at the front of the house and 800s (double hungs and pictures) and a couple of awnings at the rear - 33 windows in total w/bronze exterior, full SDL grids, deluxe and antique brass hardware. Worked out at about $650 a window.

We looked at everything from Anderson A series, Marvin Ultra & Wood-Ultrex to Okna and Energex. We decided on Okna partly due to the excellent advice from WoW/HomeSealed/mmarse1 and the first class service from Paul @ AGM. And we feel that the product ticked all the right boxes for us. It just felt quality.

Paul also arranged for us to visit with a previous client in our neighborhood prior to us placing the order.

Being an Okna dealer myself (among other products), I have to say that is some really good pricing given that you checked just about every option available on that Caddy! Nice choice on both product and installer :D

$12k 800 series,wood grain finish,SDL 15 DH, and 2 800 series white vinyl SDL.
$15k same details ,and this is a dealer.

Okna would not provide another dealer in the area,which turned me off a bit since the dealer was higher, and did not know as many feautures and benefits to the window, and have me conflicting answers about the grills between the glass,....so I will ask home sealed
Do the grills between the glass in the 800 series, come with white exterior and wood grain finish on the interior to match the entire window? My first guy said yes, the last guy said no ....any insight?

Yes. The grids between the glass come two-toned, matching the interior woodgrain and the white exterior. SDL grids would be two-toned as well. :)

Skeetie219,
I also tried to get another name from Okna. They will only give me the name of the guy who gave me far and away the highest price.

I directly asked them if the other contractors, whose names I provided, were authorized dealers. I got no response, twice.

So, Okna dealers, if I buy windows from a dealer other than the one Okna named, is everything on the up and up? Or is it like buying grey market electronics that are sold without a USA warranty, often without the buyer understanding what that means?

Paul

Skeetie - have you spoken with Paul @ AGM? Maybe worth you getting another quote

Pjs755
I actually called name you gave me, they were all set to come to my area but called me a few hours before the appt and told was outside their service area even after i explicitly made my location known and went on to tell me the Okna corp office will call me to provide a dealer, which I already knew of ....and were typically provide high quotes. I posed the same questions and pretty much the same response or lack there of.....so I wonder if my other "non dealer" buys windows through a group purchasing organization. He seemed like he has a good business, and knows his stuff, that said I wonder how he gets the window. He was very detailed about ordering from Okna , timeframes etc and i would be interested in finding out why Okna wouldn't provide other window providers.

But you pose all good questions regarding Okna and would be interested in reading the responses. Interestingly, the "dealer" gave me contradictory information regarding grill option....so go figure.

Mayhem
I did have a quote from AGM, And can tell he runs a good business...to be honest I thought his quote was a bit high.

Skeetie
I am also in a similar situation. I was quoted for vytex which I almost went with until I saw the Okna. I like the look and feel of the Okna 800 alot more. I was quoted for the exact specs as you but with only 15 windows and the price was still over 13,000 and upgraded hardware would add more.
To be completely honest, I signed a contract yesterday and feel I was quoted a fair price in my area after seeing various window companies and prices. Your deal for 12k on 17 windows seems very competitive to put it mildly.
Will they be doing any exterior capping?
I was originally going with all white but the cherry fits in nicely. My grids most certainly are cherry interior and white exterior. That was something I wanted to be 100% certain about and they do offer that.

This post was edited by jabek on Mon, Feb 4, 13 at 21:37

Jabek
Yes, the exterior capping is included, I tried to go over all the details. Another aspect to the lower of the 2 quotes, he allowed for 3 window sills to be replaced which I liked....he uses a spray form if necessary to get a firm fit to the window, he seemed extremely engaged with his business.
Thanks for the information w / the quote.

Skeetie,
1)as a fellow authorized, approved Okna dealer, I will personally vouch for the fact that AGM is an excellent company and that his pricing is actually quite reasonable, especially in your market given the entirety of the package that he offers (product, install, service before and after).
2) I don't know if that $12k number is from AGM or not, but that sounds like a steal!
3) Okna's higher "tier" of dealers are part of the HiMark network. If you have any doubt about where a given company falls in the continuum of dealers, look for a HiMark dealer as it is Okna's "elite" group of dealers.

I would have to agree with HS. To my knowledge, HiMark is the best of the best Okna dealers.

Thanks everyone....to be continued.

Okay, so, no one wants to comment on Okna's protecting dealer areas? That's okay, I do understand but it isn't the most consumer friendly idea.

Anyway, I'm going to get one more quote. The guy Okna referred me to seems too high. The guy I'm calling today also sells Sunrise. Thoughts on those?

The Okna dealer nearest me told me there is no value to foam filling. He said it adds rigidity, but who cares the wall isn't load bearing. Thoughts on that statement?

Paul

PJS:
1) I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about Okna protecting their dealers. Generally speaking, vinyl window manufacturers like Okna, Sunrise, etc rely on their dealer network to promote the product. If someone contacts them directly, they will probably give you the name of one or two of the most reputable dealers in that area.
2) That last line is VERY troubling to me. I hope that you may have misunderstood him, because if not, I would not let that guy anywhere near my house with power tools. "Foam filling not necessary because the wall is not load bearing"!!!??? Holy cow, that is a scary level of incompetence if that was actually said.
a. Foam filling can be more relevant in some products than others, and for the Okna, it does actually knock a point or two off the u-value which is significant.
b. It can add some strength and rigidity, but not much. Certainly if you are relying on your windows to support a load you have major problems, lol.

HomeSealed wrote:"1) I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about Okna protecting their dealers. Generally speaking, vinyl window manufacturers like Okna, Sunrise, etc rely on their dealer network to promote the product. If someone contacts them directly, they will probably give you the name of one or two of the most reputable dealers in that area.
2) That last line is VERY troubling to me. I hope that you may have misunderstood him, because if not, I would not let that guy anywhere near my house with power tools. "Foam filling not necessary because the wall is not load bearing"!!!??? Holy cow, that is a scary level of incompetence if that was actually said.
a. Foam filling can be more relevant in some products than others, and for the Okna, it does actually knock a point or two off the u-value which is significant.
b. It can add some strength and rigidity, but not much. Certainly if you are relying on your windows to support a load you have major problems, lol."

Okay, regarding #1, both skeetie and I have encountered this, Okna will only give ONE name. I've tried several times to get additional dealer names, they won't provide any others due to my location

On to #2: That's what he said. He told me the differences between an 400, a 500 and an 800 were just the trim on the exterior. He said that in CT the window HAS to be low E glass. Further, he claimed that when he toured a manufacturing facility, he saw the low E glass, but didn't see any regular glass. He said he was told "we don't have any". His point was that you get low e glass whether you pay for it or not. Then he went on to the foam. Said he'd never cut a window open, so how can he know whether there's foam in there or no? He was suggesting, I guess, that just like his Low E argument you get foam whether you pay for it or not. Yes he did say he didn't see the point in foam, that the window isn't load bearing, so why do you need the extra rigidity.

I SWEAR I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! This was the highest of my current quotes as well.

Paul

I understand that I should get Low E, why would I do otherwise? The anecdote was about what he told me, not what I'm going to do.

Yes, I understand why Okna does it, but it makes my life unnecessarily more complicated. Therefore, to me it's a pain.

Lastly, yes what I said he told me is true, and unless he is the greatest deadpan of all time, he was serious.

Paul

He is incorrect.

I would move on from there.

Foam is a good option in the case of the Okna window.

Thank you for the concise answer WoW. That was my feeling as well.

So, that means I need another quote. The dealer in question sells Sunrise Verde as well. Should I ask about them or stay focused on Okna?

Paul

Paul,
I was considering sunrise as well. When speaking to a dealer a few weeks ago, he mentioned his vinyl windows were somewhere around 600-800's figure. That said, I may be incline to take a look, but still leaning toward the Okna windows. And for what it is worth, what mmmarse1 said was my initial suspicion about Okna dealers infringing on each others "space". As a consumer , I agree with you and i blame it more on Okna and their arrangments with said dealers.

One would think a designated dealer would get better pricing due to volume, size etc, but it is all relative to their overhead and whether or not they pass along the savings.

Check your email.,

PJS: Are you saying that this same dealer that told you about foam filled frames supporting a load bearing wall also sells Sunrise, and that you would actually entertain another quote from him?... Or is this a different company? It may be presumptuous of me to speak for him, but when WoW said to move on, he meant to move on from this goofball guy, not the product.
That said, the Sunrise Verde is a nice window, and in the same tier of quality as the Okna 400 or 500 when equipped with sash reinforcement, foam frames, and a composite spacer.

Skeetie: Okna's dealer policies are generally no different than any other window manufacturer that maintains a dealer network, including Softlite, Sunrise, Gorell, and others. I really can't speak for them on specifics, but any of the premium vinyl products mentioned are not going to be widely available. If they sold the product to any contractor that was interested, they would start diminishing the quality of the brand due to poor installs etc. That is why, generally speaking, you will find products/manufacturers that are based more on quantity than quality when you look at box stores and lumber yards... That also means that because the dealers that sell the high end products are more established, they will have higher overhead due to showrooms, staff, marketing, etc., and therefore they really can't compete with Joe in a pickup truck on price.
...Hopefully that all makes some sense?

Sunrise, soft lite, and gorell all do the same thing with their dealers; they protect their territories.
PJS, you were quoted a low price by your dealer and what a coincidence, he doesn't know what he is doing as evidenced by your post. His pricing was an obvious red flag and your post substantiated that.

okay first, to answer mmarsel, the guy who doesn't know what he's doing was the HIGHEST price, not the low price. I repeat, he was far and away the highest price.

Now, to HomeSealed, we're talking about a completely different dealer, not the goofball. This "new" dealer carries both Verde by Sunrise and Okna. As WoW suggested I will move on from the goofball, as it were. I still expect we'll go with Okna, but since this new guy sells both, I was wondering about Verde...

Paul

Lol, sounds like you are on the right track then Paul... Just had to make sure ;)

Skeetie
I'm a bit confused here. You claim to have found a dealer that offered you excellent pricing, it's a very reputable company, and the dealer is very installation oriented. Yet you are still not satisfied???? I'm at a loss.

PJS, I apologize, I didn't properly read your post.

Can anyone recommend dealers who install Okna in New York City?

Are you actually in NYC , jersey, staten island, west chester?

I am in Brooklyn. (It has been part of NYC since 1898.)

Crown heights, bensonhurst, dyker heights?

South Midwood (East 22nd Street near Glenwood Road).

Pjs
I think i was quoted by the same company as you. After everything was said and done, the price was MUCH higher. They needed to add lowE/ argon, capping, proper insulation, and debris removal. I guess the initial cheap price is to get you hooked? The $189 per window companies are notorious for this, plus they sell complete garbage anyway.
Also, some company salesmen are clueless and make major pricing mistakes. When i saw the cheap prices you were quoted, they were almost the same as mine then of course they jumped up. i would much rather use a company that is upfront and i would be happy to pay more for quality( within reason).
I did go with another company that sold Okna, they were upfront and very professional.
I paid about 582 per window for the okna 800 series. The 500 would of been 530 per. The other prices i see quoted by others seem much more realistic and were basically in line with mine. NJ seems to have the same pricing as my state; similar demographic.

This post was edited by applex on Sat, Feb 8, 14 at 10:41

Hi. ! I would like to know if you can give me the contact for the quote you got ? I also want okna Windows. This price seems good! Is there a contact number ? Thanks. !!!

Agm windows and siding in new jersey seem to be the go to guys for okna over in jersey. Looks like they do nice work. Hope that helps.

Can anyone provide the name of an Okna Dealer in NYC. I'm in Staten Island. When i called Okna would only give me the name of one dealer. I would like to get a quote for a few dealers if possible.

How many windows are in your home? Are they double hung?

you already saw the okna? which okna series did you see ?

The dealer mentioned just above your post may serve your area. Not sure but they were mentioned before regarding staten island.

I currently have sliders. I have 7 windows and 2 patio doors. looking to get double hung. Haven't seen okna in person yet, but based on the online reviews i think i'm leaning towards the 500 or 800 series over silverline by andersen or the pella encompass lines.

Ive tried to contact AGM, but have not heard back yet.

Not 100% certain these guys travel to SI but definitely worth a call as they are a top notch outfit.