Ask the Sunrise salesperson if the reinforcement is included in the Sunrise quote. If it is, that's your best option by a mile.

+1. You should probably expect your two incoming quotes to be on the higher end of your spectrum. At that point you will have:

4) quotes likely above $25-30k , none of which are even top performers

1)(or more?) quotes on an economy grade product that's pretty low

1) quote on a pretty good product and what seems to be a fair price.

I think that porridge is just right.... assuming of course that these guys can answer your questions and you feel that they are trustworthy. If there is any red flag to me its that they would want you to source that door. Most companies try to stay away from homeowner sourced products at all costs, as they are most often wrong, poor quality, or both, which creates real headaches in installing...

I'll add that the alterations on multiple openings is likely driving the costs up pretty significantly here. Some guys will quote it high in that case just because they don't want the job.

Thank you both for responding!

I also forgot to add that we are adding a craftsman style insert to the double hung windows on the front of the house as well. 5 total.

If reinforced sashes are not included, should we ask to have them to be added? Is it a deal breaker if they aren't added or they can't do it?

Before we started talking about the extras we wanted, the Sunrise salesman said it would be right around $12k for the slider door and 17 double hung windows. So $17,500 sounded fair to me for the extra work, but I really have nothing to compare it to because no one has given a break down of prices.

The reason behind us buying the door was because we only casually mentioned it was something we wanted to do in the future and didn't know if it would be in the budget to do now & didn't know what kind of door we'd want. He suggested we go look at Home Depot and Lowes and pick the door. He was very clear about not buying a door at Menards. If we pick one and have it here they will do all the work, otherwise they will put in a window. I didn't get a bad feeling about the guy at all, I actually liked him a lot.

Sounds solid... and btw, if anything, the pricing from this dealer is on the low end. If its a reputable company with good reviews, etc, then you should be in good hands... I definitely would not expect to find that product or another on or above that level at a better price though.

I looked up their BBB rating and checked out their facebook page. Their work looks really good. It seems that they do a lot of 4 season rooms & a lot of small details to add character to houses, along with siding and windows. They have a showroom, we'll have to go visit, but looks really nice online. There are a few complaints about speed, but the guy that came out was upfront about it. Before we asked he said the lead time is 4-5 weeks for the windows and his guys work slow, so it would take about a week, maybe more to get it done, but that they do good work. I'm thinking for just $3000 more than the Alside windows, with an added door we should take the chance.

Sounds like you are on the right track...

Thanks, HomeSealed! Do you think the Sunrise windows will be ok even if they can't reinforce the sashes? This is something that I see mentioned on a lot of posts. Our windows are 31" wide.

31” should be fine either way.

Personally I'd insist on reinforced on that product. Some others are not a big deal, but if it were me, I'd go reinforced regardless of width on that particular line.

I would hope that they could, there are numerous ways to get that done depending on which line they have the "license" to carry.... Softlite Elements/LS, and almost any line from Okna are very highly regarded as well, in fact those two are probably held even in slightly higher regard than Sunrise. The former seems to be available everywhere, where the latter may or may not be in your neck of the woods... Polaris is another good performer. Ultraweld is their flagship.

The limited options for dealers around you can be a little problematic, but again, they should be able to get the reinforcement for you which makes it a moot point.

...I'd pass on those last two btw. You could do worse than Plygem's higher end (Great Lakes) models, and in fact, they share some ancestry with Sunrise (same family started both companies). That said, Great Lakes has been run by conglomerate corporate "cost-cutting" types for several years now since being purchased by Plygem. What was once a pretty highly regarded window got stuck in time like grandma's basement rec room...probably even diluted from that point IMO.

Simonton is not better than the Sunrise, assuming that we are talking about the reinforced option.

As much as I want to continue to tell you to stay with the Sunrise, the guys you are talking to sound a bit like clownshoes. If they don't know what the reinforcement and can't give you a straight answer...I'm not sure why I would trust them with the home to be honest.

Discounts are fine and nearly every sales company in the world employs them in one capacity or another. That said, a $6K discount that is supposedly going to expire while they can't answer a simple question feels a bit greasy in my opinion.

The Marvin might be worth it to your husband depending on what he wants. If he is convinced that he wants thermal and efficiency performance, he is going to be disappointed in that comparison. If he is looking for a more wood-like looking window, the Infinity does meet that criteria better than the Sunrise.

Just depends on what the "IS" is for the consumer at the end of the day.

Katie, have you checked recent references for the company you are considering? I mean actually spoken to the customer(s) of a job that has been recently completed. It is a common tactic for a sales rep to suddenly say there was a $6k discount applied that expires on X date. Was it on your written quotation? If you don't have a written itemized quote, how are you able to adequately compare windows and prices? Don't rush into a major purchase. Do your research. Remember, the sales rep doesn't install the windows. You want to know all about their customer service which doesn't include the sales process.

Good advice from windows on wash. Before ditching the sunrise guys, call in and see if you can speak to someone else more knowledgeable on product like a sales manager or owner. This might just be one jabroni sales guy that doesn’t know much. If it’s a high level guy that you are talking to then I’d probably ditch these guys. Like windows said, Infinity is nice, but not the most efficient or airtight.

Thank you, Windows on Washington. I really did like the Sunrise guy when he came to the house & he is very quick to respond to our questions, but I don't feel comfortable not knowing exactly what I'm getting. We are having such a hard time because we just don't have many options in this area. Seems everyone goes with Alside, Hanson's, Wallside, Window World...& we aren't interested in any those.

Denita, I haven't spoken to any actual customers. I honestly don't even know how to go about doing that.

The discount was supposedly from their Home Show in Muskegon. We didn't attend it, but we did go to the Grand Rapids Home Show, so he added it. We know its not an actual discount. This is probably what he would have charged us if there hadn't been a Home Show & it was listed on the quote as a home show discount of $6,200.

We absolutely will not sign this contract just because there is a time limit. We didn't even know there would be a time limit until we got the revised quote yesterday. We just don't want to discount them yet because we don't have many options.

Ask for referrals from the sales rep. That is one way to speak to customers. Get as many as you can get and randomly select a few or contact many to get a good idea of the work performed. Also check the review websites like yelp and ripoffreport and other complaint websites for the company name.

My parents are in the UP of Michigan and ordered their log home from Holland, MI. They used Loewen Windows manufactured in Canada I believe, and they are fantastic windows. I don't mean to throw another wrench into the works, but you might try them. We just did a remodel and I'm using Pella Windows. Were they more expensive, yes. BUT, I wanted the blinds within my windows and they were the only ones who had the mechanism the way I wanted it (no strings outside). Anyway, just wanted to throw in Loewen as an option. I have NO IDEA whether they are able to get them to you or not, but my folks' windows and doors are wonderful and my dad is the pickiest person I know.

fridge2020, Thank you. We might have to let go of the idea of Sunrise windows. The Marvin sales rep said he'd have the quote to us by Saturday, Sunday at the latest... it's Tuesday now and no quote.

We absolutely want/need the extra work done to the windows, like enlarging the 3 upstairs windows, for safety reason. So, maybe our best bet is to go with the Alside 8000 windows just to get the actual construction work done by a company that comes highly recommended in our area. If they last 10 years it would be fine for that price, I suppose.

Thank you, colbran! I'll have to do more searching. We are right in the middle of Grand Rapids and Holland, so when I search I don't get results for either town.

I've heard Loewen and Lindsey are good, but its finding them & a good company to install them I'm having trouble with. I also reached out to Okna and found one dealer in our area, but they have only 1 star reviews online. I don't want to pick a good window, then have it installed poorly.

Pella is out for us. Even if the price was in line, we did not love the salesmen that came. They were here for 3.5 hours and we basically had to kick them out. They wanted us to sign right then. I understand that's common, but we got a bad feeling from them.

I loved the Andersen guy, but I was shocked by the quote. I know what my mom was quoted for full tear outs in her house by both Marvin & Andersen with more complicated window sizes and our Andersen quote was more than double for just replacements.

Here in my midwest (Iowa, eastern portion), they like to use Marvin and Andersen as well, but my builder preferred Marvin. The issue I had was a string hanging outside the window through a hole to be able to operate the blinds, or we would've probably gone with them (and their top of the line model if possible). That said, our Pella guy was young, and frankly, one of the better guys we worked with. I can't say enough about him. He has been about the only one though!!!! I won't even get into my stories about the remodel. Hope you can at least research Loewen and see what comes up for you. I've never heard of Okna, so that's a new one for me. Again, my dad basically built his log home from Holland and those were the windows and doors he went with. There is no one pickier on earth than him. Old school, you know!!

From everything I've seen about Marvin, it's a quality window and the $25K price is probably fair. It's good you're not rushing the decision as it's not one that can be fixed easily or cheaply if you made the wrong decision. It's troubling that the Marvin rep is late on the quote but for me, it wouldn't be a dealbreaker. If I were building a home I'd stretch the budget as far as I could to include Marvin windows.

I hope you don't mind a kitchen guy commenting about windows, but I've seen a lot of different kinds of windows go into houses and I've talked to many homeowners about their building experiences.

Katie, it seems like this deal is all over the place as far as options. I might suggest a step back to assess your priorities, choose a material that fits them, and then pick a great window in that material. You have not narrowed that down yet if you are considering vinyl, wood, and fiberglass. Here's a quick rundown:

Wood: The brands mentioned (particularly Marvin and Loewen) are very good. Andersen (non-Renewal) is decent as well. Pella?... I'd do some more research on the "viewed " to be the best window. The reason to go with a wood window is 99.9% aesthetics and to fit the character of your home if needed or desired. The rich look and feel of a stained wood windows cannot be matched by any other material. That said, they will generally be pretty costly, have the worst warranties, worst energy efficiency, require the most maintenance (the interior finish) and shortest life span. If properly maintained a good wood window can last a very long time, but in our microwave society where people want it now and don't want to worry about future maintenance, that can be problematic.

Vinyl: Typically the bang for the buck champ. The caveat with vinyl is that you MUST pick a quality window. Vinyl gets a bad rep from some, but that due to the economy grade junk that is used in newer construction and/or sold by Window - world, depot, etc types of bargain companies. Think Walmart of windows for those lower price options. A high end vinyl window will offer performance that bests most other materials, and with low maintenance, a reasonable cost (typically), and best warranty. Some people will tell you that "plastic windows" aren't as strong or efficient as wood, but thermal and structural ratings (actual data) says otherwise. The downside of vinyl is appearance compared particularly to wood, and the reputation among some circles which again is due to exposure to lower end products.

Fiberglass and composites: This is where things get a little funky. First, throw all of the sales propaganda out the window. The tensile strength of a 16' piece of solid fiberglass vs a 16' piece of solid vinyl has precisely zero to do with the strength of a window assembly. Design pressure (DP) is a great rating to consult for that purpose. Fiberglass and composites try to be the best of both worlds by offering great performance, looks, and low maintenance/good warranty, but rarely achieve all of those goals. Typically they are priced very high (as you've already seen), offer marginally better looks than some of the nicer vinyl lines, and marginally better performance than wood if at all. There are some Canadian fiberglass windows that have excellent performance, as well as a composite like the Starmark that would fit that as well, but the big ones (Infinity and Renewal) are not killer performers. Neither are bad windows don't get me wrong, but neither offer great performance (u value, air leakage, DP, condensation resistance, etc) nor do they offer that same richness as real wood. They are really more of a compromise in my opinion in just about every regard except price. As an anecdotal reference, I've pulled out 9 year old RBA windows that had the wood laminate degrading due to condensation moisture, and I've pulled out 9 month Infinities due to air leakage.... And I offer Marvin's as an option to my clients so I'm not trying to bash them by any means, I just want to help you find a product that meets your expectations.

All that said, all three materials can be the "right" choice in a given set of circumstances. Given your comments on performance, budget, and the fact that you have already seemingly approved of the appearance of a nice vinyl window like Sunrise, I tend to think that is the direction that would best suit you.

On vinyl, I'd suggest three things:

1) I like the advice from fridge. Maybe you got a bummer of a sales guy. Try to speak with someone else there about the sunrise option.

2) Dig a little more on the Okna dealer. Excellent product, and they are typically picky about who carries that line in terms of quality dealers. There could be exceptions to every rule of course, but maybe you just happened to see one site that had a tough customer review? If you check multiple (BBB, Google, Angies, Home Advisor, etc) and all are not good, then nevermind that.

3) Did you contact Softlite for dealers? They have the largest network of dealers of all three of these products to mu knowledge, it seems crazy that they would have none in your area... Same goes for Polaris which has a pretty wide network of dealers.

Why wouldn't you get your hopes up? That sounds like exactly what you want, someone that has the quality reputation and product to fit high end homes... I suspect that the price will come in under the Infinity, and you will have a great performing product to boot. If anything that sounds like a promising option to me.

Have you considered Andersen products that are not RBA? We can usually beat them on price and only handle non-RBA Andersen.

Katie, see what the Softlite guy says, I think you will probably be pleasantly surprised. Quasiexpert: the op specified no wood windows. Unless Andersen has a new and improved vinyl window that is not Silverline or American Craftsman, those are not great options.

Ron, Andersen has the 100 Series, which is by no means a wood window.

At first glance I thought you said the 100 series was by no means a good window. I'd agree. But I digress. The op did not specifically say that she did not want want a vinyl window that had saw dust mixed into the formulation, was extremely bulky, and performance that struggled to best wood windows which is not a compliment.

We haven't considered Andersen 100's because we haven't heard good things...if they are better than the Alside 8000's, maybe we should.

The final quote for Alside is going to be closer to $11,500. That's pretty appealing, but we went to look at them today and I'm not impressed with the quality at all. I think the Pella's we ordered from Home Depot and put in ourselves at our old house were much nicer.

I don't think we are going to pursue a quote on Softlite. The company that sells them will only come out for a quote if both my husband and I are here. That's a huge turn off. Maybe there is a reason behind it?

We absolutely have to get the sliding door replaced ASAP(carpenter ants), so we're going to discuss the best option for that tonight. Hopefully we can figure something out with the windows, too.

Interesting observation, Ron. And your opinion. I'd take the 100 Series over most vinyl windows any day-and I have good quality vinyl windows in my house. So tell me exactly why the 100 Series with the Fibrex material(in use since the mid 90s in their 400 Series TW line) is by no means a good window?

Katie: What do the reviews about this company say? ... Its true that the "both parties present" thing could be a red flag for high pressure sales, but it could also mean that this is a well organized company that operates efficiently. We generally ask for the same, as do most companies that do a certain level of volume. Its just much more efficient to go over everything once, get all of the colors and options chosen once, etc. if everyone that is part of the process is present. If not, it often takes a second or third trip, 3, 4, 5 different quotes with different options etc. Again, that's fine, comes with the territory, but at the same time its much nicer when everyone is able to get together and work through these things so that an accurate price can be presented. We don't insist on this, but again, definitely helps streamline things which is really best for everyone...

all that said, I asked about reviews because they will probably tell the story that you are looking for. Are there comments stating that "the guy was here for 3 hrs and wouldn't leave", and things of that nature? If so, I agree, steer clear. If not, if its mostly sunshine and roses, once again I'd suggest to give them a chance. In summary, they carry a great product, work on high end homes, and seem to run an efficient organization. These are good signs on the surface IMO, not reasons to cancel. Just my $.02

I'dtake Homesealed's advice , but keep them on a short leash, this is you're party.

I seen no problem with the Fibrex material , but the 100 series is a single hung window that utilizes a pocket sill and is side loaded, 3 strikes! I do like there casement window though.

Fair enough Katie. If the preponderance of reviews are negative as opposed to positive, I can see where you are coming from. Ideally, you’d find a local company with a great reputation that carries a great product, and at a fair price. If that doesn’t exist in your market, you will have to continue digging to determine the least of all evils. The fact that these high pressure guys offer a good product line tells me that they at least care somewhat about quality, but if you can find a smaller guy that offers a great window that may be compelling as well.... Sometimes you just have to trust your gut once you get past the product and company qualifiers.

Katie,

I am having the same problem in selecting in michigan as well. May I ask what window you went with? and what are your thoughts?

Katie, I am also in GR and having the same dilemma with picking windows. What company did you ended up going with?