At that price point, I have to imagine there are some other options worthy of consideration too. Where is the home located?

In theory, a casement should have a higher level of engineering and therefore not be subject to the slings and arrows that some of the DH suffer from with quality, however, your inquiry is valid based on the comments in your last paragraph.

The same recommendations that you will get about the better replacement DHs also make good casements (i.e. Sunrise, Soft-Lite, Kensignton Quatum 2, Okna, etc.).

Thanks so much for your response!

The home is located in Pittsburgh, PA. We are extremely hesitant as we are first-time home buyers that already had an incredibly poor experience with our first GC not completing work. Most GCs that have come to the site to bid on finishings, windows, doors, etc. have actually turned around once seeing that our initial contractor left it in the current state, which just exacerbates our worries. The GC that provided the Alside quote is 1 of the 2 contractors whom indicated they would be willing to finish the work, out of several we contacted.

Just as a price comparison for materials only, I actually just called around again to a few distributors and was given a price for an exterior color Marvin Ultimate Awning window, 72x64, for $1070 vs the original Alside quote of a 3-lite casement for approx $1400 in materials, and even an average approx 30x63 casement came in at $590 for Marvin vs $500 for Alside. Not that we have researched Marvin windows extensively, but we are atleast aware that they are one of the most superior windows you can find - presumably far surpassing Alside's.

With that said, is it safe to assume we've essentially been 'taken' by sale folks and GCs whom know we do not know any better and are marking up their product significantly? Is there a rough price point for materials only that we should be expecting for casements with an exterior color, or even an approx price point per manufacturer?

The Alside price seems high and the Marvin's low.

Arn't Alside's casement's vinyl? Marvin Ultimate's are wood or wood clad aluminum, perhaps you need to look at the same material when comparing pricing.

Alside's casements are vinyl, which is why we are a bit confused and also why I didn't even initially spec out the Marvin windows - I just assumed they were out of our price range. I just confirmed that the Alside price for all of our openings with the exterior bronze color without install is $13.5k, whereas the bid the Marvin Distributor just sent me and assured was correct was $15.6k for their Ultimate wood clad aluminum, or drops to $14k if we keep the interiors unfinished pine. Considering the Marvin Distributor has assured me their prices are correct (and only come in about $1-$2k under other Marvin Distributors in the area that quoted me over the phone) is it obviously safe to assume the Alside windows are just severely overpriced for some reason? Would we be making the correct and obvious choice by going with the Marvin windows over Alside's vinyl?

Additionally, although unmentioned here initially, Alside was originally quoting mulling (is that the appropriate term?) multiple casement windows together for our larger openings, whereas Marvin can produce one large awning window to fit these holes. Has anyone ever installed or had experience with these larger marvin awning windows? Our 6 oversized openings are all going to nearly max out their 72"x64" specs, and we have two more openings we are choosing as awnings last minute that are 48"w by 64"h. Do these larger awnings produce a large amount of ventilation or crossbreeze even though the depth the angle juts out is still only about a foot and the angle of the window is significantly less than a smaller one?

The mulled units vs 1 large unit is probably the cause of the price difference. It depends on how many mulled units you have and how many they are using to make that size.More units plus mulling means more dollars.Painting vinyl exteriors is expensive as well.

Do you want wood or vinyl?

In all honesty, we are looking to come in as budget as possible while also getting some of the design elements we want. Essentially 1. Bronze exterior, 2. All casement/awnings/crank windows, 3. Maintain as many large unobstructed openings as possible. If we can jump up in quality/materials used while also hitting those points, the better - but I only really looked at vinyl quotes initially

What I guess we assumed is that while DHs with exterior color vary in price dramatically with quality, so casements would vary in price as well. But I spent most of the day on the phone with a few different distributors of different material and quality casements, and while that Alside quote is high, they don't seem to vary nearly as much in price. But I'm still not sure how that low Marvin quote makes any sense. There was no additional charge for the bronze exterior on any of the paper Marvin quotes I received today. Is that normal?

That is normal on a wood window, bronze is often a standard color on those. The cladding needs to be painted some color while a vinyl window does not. You would have to pay additional on a wood window to have the interior finished. If you're looking for the large openings the Marvins may be the ticket.

Thanks!

two potentially dumb questions then on our end:

Are the Marvin aluminum clad's the superior window? Should we worry about rotting or any issues that some folks on here have discussed?

and also has anyone installed the large Marvin awning windows and can provide any input on them? Or point in the direction of reviews or even imagines of some installs? The distributor with the lowest material cost didn't seem as though he sells many in our size.

Superior depends on what your measurement metrics are. In theory, the non-organic (i.e. vinyl) should, in theory, last longer. The Ultimate is a very nice window and I don't think you would probably ever run across a comparison when those two products are being put together in the same selection depth chart.

Thanks! If we were to merely measure lifespan (structural design/integrity vs warranty), would it be safe to assume then integrity fiberglass > alside vinyl > Marvin wood clad, or rather which is more likely to last longer in our climate? It's definitely an odd situation that we are now examining the Marvin lines. I think I may have the distributor price out the home with all-ultrex, but he did briefly indicate that we would have the same issue with cost from mulling multiple windows that inflated the alside quote.

if the all-ultrex quote does come back higher than the Marvin quote, has anyone have any experiences custom staining or painting the windows on site? Would we be doing the right or wrong thing with placing an oversized awning window in some of our openings instead of 2 or 3 lite casements?

Based on what I have seen, I would say that in terms of longevity, it is probably still: Integrity > Ultimate > Alside.

What is a general summation then of the ultimate vs all ultrex integrity argument? Just that ultimates have superior options and wood is considered a higher-end product? Would we be making a poor choice in choosing ultimates over integrity in our climate? We don't mind "some" upkeep, but it's an incredibly big house so even small chores add up. Our distributor indicated that integrity won't come in custom sizes, is that true? Does anyone have experience with the oversized (6'x6') ultimate awning windows?

They are not often used in direct comparisons to be honest. They compete in different price brackets and most folks want the ultimates, because they want the ultimate.

We can order Integrity in just about any size at our distributor but that is a newish feature from them so they may not have gotten the memo.

are the wood rot issues that some folks have on here truly representative of most ultimate windows, or as long as they are properly installed we should not have those problems? Is it safe to expect the ultimates to last 30 years or so, or will we be replacing them shortly after the warranty expires/what is an average lifespan? What would the same questions be for the all-ultrex integrity? Is the attraction to the ultimate windows just the premium attraction? For what we are looking for (minimalist/contemporary, no SDLs or grids, unobstructed view) I am having a really hard time noticing any differences between the white-interior integrity and white-painted ultimates. If we went with the ultimates, to hit a price point within our budget we would have to go bare wood and uncharge to the wood screens, at which point i'd feel inclined to have our trim stripped of paint and everything stained... which is something we weren't initially considering.

Thanks again for all of your input! It is greatly appreciated.