Milgards Fife Wa. operations is only 20 miles from our build. Our homes window package was substantial. Thier latest way of dealing with things after a year is to simply not return calls and fall back on thier vendor agreement to make the vendor eat it, who are seeing through this and tired of it. They (Milgard) no longer deal direct with the consumer except for large outside sales jobs. They no longer do residential installation either. They would be dealing with attorneys and bad publicity on the large jobs if they do not put a better foot forward. Our windows came with very bad anodizing. It was as if the alloy was never prepped. Holes for the casement mechanism mounts were drilled completey through the windows frame and directly through the nailing flange. Nailing flanges were specced and not delivered. Custom glass styles came scratched. When delivered No notice was given (though noted) and they weres simply left on the job site twice. Once they even lost a door in transit! Structure was damaged because of delivery guys not paying attention. Hardware was loose and missing screws on casement windows. They bocked at everything. They have been horrible with the vendor as well and hide behind thier new vendor agreements. They have eluded and hid from this for over a year. Boy how I would love to list some names and p.o. numbers!

I am not sure that Fiberglass is "greener" or more efficient and that also depends on what you are comparing it to. Fiberglass with have better thermal numbers than even a thermally broken aluminum. I would not eliminate a Aluminum clad wood (I think that is what you Weathershield option is) window from your selection options if you decide you want to another option. All things considered, you are going to have a hard time matching the aesthetics or build quality of that Marvin Integrity. Biggest issue with that window is the stock size program. That is a moot point in a new construction application because you can build it to whatever you need it to fit. That would be my choice if I were building right now.

I worked at Milgard Woodclad for 2 years making the fiberglass painted and woodclad product line. I made the fiberglass portion of the window as well as I know little bit about fabrication of the window. I am also familiar with the Vinyl windows since I dealt with the product with coworkers and had them in my old house. I will just list a bunch of points about Milgard Woodclad and Vinyl windows and doors. Some of my comments are true about any manufacture. 1. Milgard is a very good manufacture of windows in general 2. Milgard like other manufactures have poorer quality line of windows so you can't look at it as a whole. You have to look at every line individually. Here are my thoughts 3. Woodclad Picture window 4. Woodclad single hung 5. Woodclad casement 6. Avoid Woodclad Double Hung, until the perfect the assembly 7. Woodclad is very good looking window, I would go with Bronze for the outside color 8. Vinyl sliders are OK, but the are perfect all other lines are OK, but I am not a fan of double hung windows, too many chances of failure 9. Milgard Woodclad Doors are very nice, but have water infiltration issues, not recommended for north west locations on the house. Sliders are better than French 10. Their Vinyl window and doors are Gold labeled AAMA certified, they Woodclad window and doors are Silver labeld AAMA certified and fully guaranteed. Not much difference from silver to gold except more quality control in the raw materials. 11. Milgard installers are better than certified contracted installers, there is a difference in training. 12. Probably the worse thing about Milgard windows is that they have a very high turnover rate of employees, like 50% overall. That means their quality can be unstable. 13. Personally I would consider Milgard Windows, but you have to look at the construction of each style of window and door you want and look at it very closely. Ask and look at weeping design of water. How a window is glazed and sealed. Look at spots were air can come in. Look at how much weather striping is used, it is a clue on how sound the construction is. Bottom line, look at the quality of the windows you get once they are installed and be picky. 14. Milgard will stand behind their window and doors, maybe not the contractor but Milgard will so talk to them directly if you can. 15. Another tidbit, the majority of the Woodclad windows are made in Tacoma WA, a few in Simi Valley, CA. But there are 14 sites that make Vinyl windows. The Vinyl window manufactures distribute the Woodclad windows, so alot the locations that sell the windows don't know a whole lot about the Woodclad windows. I am currently making product for a bunch of small WI window and door companies. I have one those companies windows in my new house that I am buying, they are Kolbe and Koble double hung wood with aluminum clading. I didn't pick them. but they look pretty well built and good looking. We will see how they work out. Buyer beware when picking out windows.

@millworkman thank you for the thoughtful post. Couple questions / comment: - Between Lincoln and SP, how would you rank these? - Any suggestions of all aluminum (needs to be thermally broken)? - Any suggestions for steel replica aluminum? - I’m seeing Renewal in a couple days. Good to know. In response to your comment re our goal of steel aesthetic, that’s just the inspiration. I’ve seen & felt Lincoln and SP and do like the aesthetic. So it’s really more a question of performance and warranty reliability for those two. We currently have 90 year old single pane wood windows, so anything that fits aesthetically should be an improvement. @Ultra Windows Los Angeles