Sounds too cheap to me. Two high quality casement windows alone will probably be $1,000 to 1,200.00 plus other materials and a solid day and a half for two guys and other materials. What brand window is he installing? What type "contractor" is he? Licensed and insured?

In regards to your question and comparison of the two homes I woul dlike to make a comment. Wood is the best insulator known o man, hence the effiency of a properly built log home that being said I would venture to say the difference you felt in the 2 houses was due to installation methods were the vinyl winodws professionally installed, and possibly the wood replacement windows installed by a homeowner who thought they knew what they were doing and did not get them istalled or insulated properly. meeting rails should be reinforced to provide some rigidity because vinyl by definition is a flexible product and will bow and give over time if not reinforced. There are some vinyl companies out there that do provide a triple pane but My experience with them over time is they do cause the bottom rail to sag, A triple pane while it would be nice is not really needed. the trick is to compare the u-rating of the windows you are considering, do not go by the center glass rating, ask for the whole window rating, the lower the number the better the insulating value. A good range window should be .32 to .35 for the northeast. A Pella can get their windows o the .23 to .25 in the designer series with a triple pane but are very pricy as they offer options between the glass like shades and privacy panels. Spacers an aluminum spacer will ransfer the cold if it is unprotected by the frame so if using between the grilles in a window a dark colored foam is preferable to give a more authnetic divided light look in the edge of the windows aluminum is th emost cost efective and easiest way to go becuase the frame material of the window will insulae the aluminum. An Inert gas is still a viable insulator, if you want proof look at the U-values again you can go to http://www.nfrc.org/ and check the ratings for any company that is part of the National Fenestration Council. Windows are not a place to cut corners on price. as they can cause he largest amount of nergy loss in your house. As an aside I do not like vinyl because a) as a plastic it require petrolium for the manufacture process and with the price of oil going sky high conserve as much as you can, and b) it outgasses leaking harmful vapors into the atmosphere and your home, which is why vinyl is not recommended for greenhouses Here is a link that might be useful: national fnesstration cocil webpage

The best way to modernize a bow window is to replace it with a window that is not bowed and since you already know you have some rot there this is the perfect time to do that. All sidind should match IMO, a nice entry portico would be a really nice addition to the front of the house . As for insulation that will give huge payback for as long as you own the house so IMO a must. Remove the shutters they do not belong on those windows , a new front door with no storm door and just a phantom screen for air flow.

Do you think there's any manufacturer and/or material that would really make a significant difference here? Would fiberglass or wood be that much slimmer, or should I just come to terms with the thicker frames? We're in an area that isn't serviced by the most recommended vinyl companies (Okna, Sunrise, etc), so options are limited. The big brands are here (Andersen, Pella, etc), and there's a company selling Preservations and Wincore, along with well regarded local brand (Taylor) that none of the review sites/forums have ever heard of, which makes me a bit nervous (though their reputation is really good). I could try to get someone that would travel farther, but don't want to call people out that far (if I even can) unless there's a good chance of going with them. I appreciate the input.