Swampwiz- Thanks so much for the info on Monarch. Will check them out. Energy rater la- Thanks again. A couple more questions if you don't mind. My DH and I had our apppointment with the building supply co that carries Windsor in our area yesterday. After seeing the windows & hearing the info on all 3 lines, the aluminum clad with wood interior & GBG sounds like the way to go for us if we do Windsor. They also had some Andersen displays in vinyl with wood interior. This is probably one of the very few vinyl exterior windows that I liked. What are your thoughts on Andersen? They recommended the 200 series & I brought up the 400 series. (Haven't done alot of research on Andersen--name is popular but just about everyone we've talked to has volunteered the info to stay away from Andersen without us even asking.) As far as the white vinyl clad wood windows vs. white aluminum clad wood windows, have you seen or heard of yellowing, sagging or warping at the level of quality we are using? The wood on the interior will be painted white as well. I plan on this being the last house (we're in our 30's) and I really want to minimize the chance that we will have to replace windows during that time. Lastly, hoping you could clarify something for me: low e2 is high solar gain (use in predominately cold climates), low e3 is moderate solar gain (use in climates that are pretty equal with hot & cold months), and low e4 is low solar gain (use in hot climates)-I know I probably have 2&4 mixed up, please correct me if I do. Considering that the front of our house (formal living room & dining room & kids rooms) faces south, rear (family room & kitchen & bonus) faces north, master and garage faces west and outlaw suite faces east, should I use a variety of low e2 & e3 or would you just triple pane the north & maybe west sides? (Keeping in mind that the rear of the house has a 16' covered porch & is almost completely windows on both levels to take advantage of the awesome views & the front of the house also has a 10'covered porch). Thanks again for all your help! Mythreesons- Our Pella Arch quote was $55K for SDL, $43K for GBG with similar # of windows. Jeld-Wen was $44K SDL & $37K GBG. We're waiting on the quote from Windsor. None of our quotes included the front door system either, but they did include 2 sets of double operating aluminum clad french doors & 1 single aluminum clad french door. We're building in northern Randolph county about an hour or so from Charlotte. We plan to break ground as soon as another property we own sells (know anyone interested in 46 acres in central NC?). I'm excited but I'm also scared to death! If you see the owner of the house like mine, please ask about the windows. If you wouldn't mind, would you please let him know I'd love to talk with him about any changes he made to the original floor plan and what he has found works really well about the house & what he would change. My email is lroberts72@triad.rr.com. Thanks for offering to talk with him if you see him! Anyone else out there with opinions on windows, please post. Thanks!

>> Are you thinking I should go with a solid and tuft it? No. I think a beautiful striped or vivid pattern would work great in your kitchen on the back. Vivid patterns also help hide stains. However, if you pick a striped pattern and then you diamond tuft it, the direction of the stripes will be all cattywampus. I saw a Houzz picture like that. It just didn't look right. One thing to consider for the bottom part of your banquette especially: very smooth wood with a stain to match your counters It's especially important with your banquette geometry to have a very very smooth seating surface for ease of entry and exit without creating a ton of static sparks from fabric or stress on knees. Smooth wood finish would look like this: https://www.houzz.com/photos/country-meets-city-traditional-kitchen-toronto-phvw-vp~70536-meets-city-traditional-kitchen-toronto I put this banquette in our kitchen 15 years ago. Everyone still loves it. People enter the house and gravitate towards sitting there. The mistake I made was with the measurements - I specified seat depth without making it clear that the seat back depth did NOT overlap this seat depth. Therefore, the seat is ~ 2" not deep enough for taller adults because of the back cushion overlap. Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz banquette with smooth wood on bottom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/country-meets-city-traditional-kitchen-toronto-phvw-vp~70536)

Tell me again what is specifically personal about "Chuck in a Truck". That is neither personal nor an unknown term in the contracting industry. It not meant to be derogatory in my estimation and is merely meant to refer to persons that are sole proprietors that have little to no overhead in comparison. If you take issue with Fridge, by all means, take it up with him/her. I would respectfully request that you deal with them by name and leave me out of the response. If you would like to discuss the cost of doing business in a more employee driven system and why those expenses may be higher, I would be happy to do so. Perhaps it will give you some more insight and a better understanding as to why and how things cost the way they do in a different type of organization. For the record, I have more than a few friends that are enormously successful and competent contractors as sole proprietors. I take no issue with that, but to make a comment with regards to "mark-up" that it is merely a company making some enormous profit on the consumer, it flatly false, uninformed, and somewhat irresponsible. You are quite right, it is and open forum and you are more than entitled to your opinion. I would only caution that if you are going to hold yourself out as a resource of information, that the information be somewhat enforceable and factually based is all. I would no more cast dispersions about sole proprietor contractors that paint them in a negative light than I would comment on any large group of persons that are as varied and different as the weather. Perhaps that would be advisable for everyone when it comes to levying negative commentary that they be based in fact rather than opinion.

Thank you for your responses. Yes, Ultra Windows and millworkman, I did get a quote for Don Young windows. It's the most affordable quote so far, but I do not love the way they look and I'm also not convinced that pure aluminum will work well in my climate. When comparing Marvin Integrity and Andersen 100 purely from a quality/performance perspective, are there BIG differences? In other words, can I expect the Integrity fiberglass option to give me a couple decades of good performance and is that same quality not expected from Andersen 100, since it's their entry-level window? OR would you say they're similar in this regard? I ask because, for the same 8 windows (no divided light grids), the quote for Integrity is $5803 and the quote from Andersen 100 is $3910. So, obviously, if there are no significant performance differences--AND because I generally like the look of both, I would go with Andersen. However, here's the catch. I am considering a different stylistic option as well. Since I'm so fond of the steel casements that were originally on my house, I'm considering paying extra for divided light grids. IF I go with divided lights, I'm thinking of going with Semco aluminum clad wood, which quote the same 8 windows above (WITH divided light grids) at $6512. The cost to add grids to the Semco windows is only about 20% more than non-grids. Mysteriously, the Andersen price jumps to 60% higher (from $3910 to $6111) with grids! What's the deal with that?? I asked the rep why the price jumps so much with grids but she didn't really have an explanation except to say that the MORE grids you have the higher the price...I'll be sending her a list of windows specifying how many grids per window. I'm not considering the Integrity grid windows because they only have grids between the glass--not on the interior and exterior, and I'm not a fan of that look. That's a LOT of information--now you all have a view of the chaos currently in my mind. I appreciate whatever insight/expertise you can share!