If your friends company sells Alside windows, have him show you the Sheffield. You are right about how important the installation is. I would ask what experience he has with window installations and let that be a guiding factor.

I don't know what you consider high priced, but Great Lakes makes a pretty good window and like any thing else, you usually get what you pay for. I'd check out Simonton too.

skydawggy,
thanks for the advice -- i have read many of your posts and found them very useful -- we did get a quote for the sheffield (i asked for it after perusing this forum and the replacement-windows forums on the web) -- the company has been doing windows for decades, so i think the installation will be quite good -- we have 39 windows, most of them quite big, and the quote for Excalibur was $20,000 --the Sheffield was $30,000 and Great Lakes was $40,000 (all approximate quotes -- I don't have the actual quotes in front of me) -- i have wanted to get a quote on the simonton 5500, but was hesitant as i didn't know how to find a good company that sells simonton

If you are interested in Simonton, you can go to their website and enter your zip code. That will at least get you a few dealers and a few wholesales. The wholesalers can recommend a few more dealers who aren't listed on the site.

From there, I'd check the BBB. Don't be overly concerned if a dealer has a few complaints as long as they have been resolved. Often a large volume dealer will have a few complaints just by virtue of the greater numbers of prospects they come in contact with. The key is whether they were resolved.

When setting up the appointment, ask that the salesrep bring at least 10 local references with him. You don't have to call all 10, but that will at least prevent them from stacking the deck too much with only very happy customers. Call a few of the people and go by and look at the installation if they will permit it. Pay particularly close attention to the trim coil wrapping. Is it fitted well? How does the caulk look? Is it smooth and sealed well? How about nails, are they well hidden or did they drive one right through the middle of the sill?

Ask the homeowner how long ago the windows were installed and if they have had any issues such as cold air infiltration or excessive sweating on the edges of the glass.

Other than that, trust your instincts. Does the sales rep know what he's talking about or is he trying to BS his way through your questions? I'd also throw a few unexpected questions at him. Ask about DP ratings, condensation resistance etc. See how they handle those kinds of questions. If he doesn't know, is he honest enough to admit it and offer to find out, or does he just make something up?

Good luck!!

We've got a handful of GreatLakes windows (the Uniframe line -- I think their most expensive line) and I know we probably paid too much for them if you got a quote for $40k to replace ~40 windows.. We bought 5 windows and paid around $20k -- of course one of the windows was one of their Bow windows and is huge (it takes 3-4 guys to move it). In the end, we've been exremely happy with these windows -- the build quality is VERY good in my opinion. They've been installed for about 2 years now. We even just had the same company that installed them come out about two weeks ago and remove the big giant window for a remodel we're doing and they'll re-install later again. One of the nice things I really like about the Uniframe line is the interesting options that you can get -- coatings that leave no water spots (hose the dirt off and no need to dry them -- care of PPG's Easy-Clean Glass ), UV protection for carpets, etc. I've not seen some of these sorts of options in other window systems. I'd love to have more of these windows for our remodel but the $$ are tight and I just don't think we'll be able to get them for a fair price and can't afford another $10k+ for 5-6 windows -- I can get that many windows from my local dealer (for Milgard if I recall) for perhaps $2k..

Thanks for the Simonton link by the way.. I'll be checking them out as well.. I've got a local dealer on 2.5 miles from my house.