Let me start this by apologizing for such a long first post. I never really understood how crazy the process of replacing a door would be!

My wife and I recently purchased a home with an approx. 15'-9" Pella 4 panel door that's rotten and needs to be replaced. We plan to have the work done before the winter months arrive, preferably by October. We will be paying cash so financing isn't an issue, but we aren't rich and price is definitely a factor $10k is absolute max we'd even CONSIDER spending, but feel more comfortable around $8k since we don't know if any additional framing costs will be incurred due rot. I've had in home consultations and got quotes from RBA, Pella, and Marvin/Integrity. There are no Kolbe and Kolbe dealers in my area. I may possible contact Provia and Sunrise for quotes as well, thoughts? Please feel free to suggest any other options in the Hershey PA area. Here are my feelings on the quotes that I have received:

Pella: Their architect 4 panel door will be about $8,100 installed. The door looks nice, but upon further inspection at the showroom I wasn't too impressed with a few things.

1. Their (very thin) rolled aluminum cladding had some gaps at the miters. They assured me the problems with their "old" doors rotting has been fixed and they now dip the wood in some super magic material to prevent rot. I don't buy it. The only way to prevent wood rot is to keep water out, not treat the wood to rot slower.

2. I currently have a Pella and HATE the screens on the inside, to the point that it pretty much takes Pella off of the list. It kind of defeats the purpose when I go to close up for the night an lots of bugs get in. The current line has "spring loaded" screens which zip and slam closed if not slowly closed by hand. This seems like additional wear and tear (this isn't their roll-up screens, I'm talking the full frame rolling screen doors).

3. I don't really get a warm fuzzy feeling looking at recent Pella reviews and their customer service doesn't seem to be well reviewed to say the least. I've been around long enough to realize a warranty is only as good as who is backing it.

4. They also do not stain their threshold to match the doors on the Arhcitect which immediately stuck out to me in the showroom. Salesman said it was because the weather strip would stick to the stain as well as get scuffed up from use. Regardless, it looked like crap having dark stain and an oak threshold.

Pella also quoted me an option to have 3 stationary panels and one slider, so effectively a standard 8' sliding door in the middle with two separate stationary panels on each side. This was in their 350 vinyl series which came to $5,200. Not sold on vinyl for such a large opening, 4' L x 80" H glass panels are heavy, not sure if I trust vinyl to hold up for the next 15-20 yrs and not crazy about vinyl's thermal expansion rate. Their fiberglass door in this option (they couldn't do vinyl or fiberglass in 4 panel foors) was $7k so not worth the savings and we'd prefer the 4 panel if the price is that close.

RBA: Their two options were $13,000 and $16,000. Enough said, that's just not going to happen.

Integrity: The integrity line is currently the front runner. The integrity quote was $7,600 for a 4 panel with no fancy options. I like the idea of Ultrex vs wood.

Marvin: The two options from marvin were about $9k and $10k. I'm waiting on the detailed quote via email, so as of now I'm not 100% sure what lines the Marvin doors were.

We liked the low pressure sales pitch we got from Marvin/Integrity and she didn't lie to us about the glass like Pella did who said their standard glass block UV rays and would stop fading of furniture and our hardwoods. I wasn't buying it then and she confirmed. I also gave her every chance to bad mouth Pella and RBA and she never once bit, didn't seem desperate at all unlike Pella/RBA. I like the fact that they're being installed by a wife/husband team (with employees of course) who are certified Marvin/Integrity installers and have been in construction for the last 25 years doing historical restorations. We're fine with having the interior cladding painted white (vs stain) which we would get with the integrity line. I like the idea of fiberglass over wood or vinyl. Felt like Pella/RBA would tell me whatever I wanted to hear in order to close the sale.

I see all of these nice cutaways from the sales rep, but honestly have no idea which components are important? I understand that every mfg has horror stories and have been researching for a few weeks now. It's easy to find info on the different windows galore, but big sliders are a little more harder to research. Please ask for clarification if any of that doesn't make sense and thanks for any insight!