Your contractor should have probably explained his "educational" advise a bit better than that. In his defense, he's not telling you he's coming over with Chinese food, a box of chocolates and a rose in his mouth to tango on the patio (I Hope). There are so many different options to consider when choosing windows, it's almost like teaching a class in most cases. Educating the customer on all these choices is the best way for us to get you what you want or need. Even if you don't use this contractor, hopefully he'll teach you many of the things you'll need to make a wise decision. I use the same theory with my customers as well. I just don't throw it at them as he did to you. I also use these forums to help others get the education they need to make the right choices. I know it can be a frustrating battle when you hear one person say something completely opposite from the last person you talked to. Let's try and give you some answers to your questions. First off I'm sorry to hear your existing windows have failed you so miserably without warranty. It seems to be the norm lately. You can't imagine how many multi-million dollar homes I've been in that are under 10 years old that have junk windows. There are so many contractors out there who really cut their costs by throwing garbage windows into their high end homes. There are a lot of unhappy people out there and a lot more to follow ounce they figure it out. The difference between wood & vinyl is really maintenance and appearance. The vinyl window tests out better than the wood window, but is really limited to interior and exterior color. The aluminum clad window brings you a rainbow of exterior colors and interior stains (or paint). Vetter has a vinyl window, the Pro V Wood Window, that has a real wood interior for your choice of staining and a vinyl exterior. They also have their aluminum clad units with 8 choices of interior woods. Schuco vinyl windows carry the best testing scores (by the NFRC linked below) of all windows. Their vinyl window has a much better appearance than any other vinyl on the market today IMO. They also have the price tag to go with it. Marvin would also be a very good choice to make. They have one of the best aluminum clad wood windows out there. Eagle Windows (recently purchased by Andersen) is also another very nice aluminum clad wood window. The bottom line is the vinyl window on average carries a smaller price than the clad units. The vinyl windows also carry less maintenance issues than a wood interior does. It's really how you want your windows to look on the inside and how deep that checkbook will let you go. The most important thing of all is the installation of your new windows. You can buy the best windows on the market and if they're not installed right, they're nothing but junk! Finding a good installer is the key to your entire project. Good Luck & I hope this helped!!! Here is a link that might be useful: National Fenestration Rating Council

Hi dtschuster, Sorry this response is so late. Only just saw your post now as I was searching for some one w/comments or complaints about new windows. Lo and behold, came on yours and it just happens to be about the very window by the manufacturer we just had installed. Sunrise. And...you're from New Jersey as am I! Very happy w/them so far. Haven't gone through a winter season yet so if they save a bit on gas heat bills this year, then I'll know better re their efficiency. Yes, they were more expensive than some others, but supposedly better features and better built. HOWEVER....big however...I would strongly advise you rethink the blinds in the windows. We wanted that originally, but I also wanted grids in my windows. Can't have both, so we opted for the grids and only agreed to have the blinds put into our small bathroom windows. Boy oh boy, am I ever glad we didn't go with blinds in ALL the windows! Sunrise jobs out the installation of the blinds to another company and the quality control at that company and when it comes back to Sunrise, their quality control too both in a word: stink! Even when our local store installer, Toms River Door and Window, didn't do much better in checking to see that the blinds in both top and bottom sashes of both windows each had one thing or another wrong with them: Too many slats in two ÂMissing slats in another ÂTwo others hung crooked, possibliy because string on one side was too slack causing blinds to hang cockeyed. Plus these blinds in the windows add an extra 6-8 weeks for delivery and installation. We had all other windows (12) installed in March. Waited till June for blinds-in-windows in bathroom till June. Cockeyed as mentioned above. Rep comes to examine, takes pics and agrees. Ordering new ones. Wait, wait. New replacements finally arrive in September. More cockeyed than originals! Even rep said I'd be better off keeping my original crooked ones and wait - yet agan - for -yet another - replacement duo. It's November now and yesterday the local rep, the owner of TRWindows and two reps from Sunrise in Michigan show up at my house to "examine" windows themselves. It's dark outside this time of year so it's harder to see the gaps and crooked hanging w/o light shining through. But,figured the previous pictures and the previous at least 6 month runaround and wait already proved my point. Now, too, the little lever on top of one sash that flips the blinds is sticking badly. Sunrise rep from Michigan says: What can we do to make you happy about these? I say, "I want them to hang right! That's all I wanted from the beginning. That's what I paid the extra $363 per window just for the blinds alone!" "How about glazed glass"?, he asks. "No way!", I said, "If I wanted a blurred vision out to my garden, I would have gotten that. I don't want that milky glass, I want what I ordered." "How about we take off the price of the blinds and you accept the windows as is?" Gotta tell you this always makes me uncomfortable cause I feel like I'm whoring my principles. But, when both reps say: (and I quote) "This is the way they're made. This is the standard of our quality control and most people don't complain about them hanging a little 'off'"." Suddenly, now, I'm getting the feeling it's MY fault cause they don't hang right and suddenly I'm realizing that even they admit (not in so many words) that their product is flawed but that's just the way it is. So, reluctantly, cause I want the blinds even if they are kaflooey a little, I tell them I'm not happy, but I have no recourse but to accept your offer of taking an allowance on the windows. Refund me the money for just the blinds alone. Now, I'm waiting to hear back from them. Which I shouldn't be because as far as the company rep was concerned when he left my house it was all but a done deal and the check, so to speak, would be in the mail. But the next morning when DH called to tell them our decision, the store manager is suddenly backpeddling on giving us an anwer. Will know by the end of the week what the story is. Sorry for going on so long. This just happened on top of other contractor/installer snafus. The cherry on the cake so to speak. Bottom line: DON'T GET BLINDS IN THE WINDOWS. If my little bathroom windows were screwed - both times - I shiver to think how their kaflooey blinds would have looked in all the other much larger windows in my house and don't know how I would have reacted to a Sunrise rep telling me "Oh, that's the way they're made." Sad day when we are all supposed to accept mediocrity as standard procedure. Yet that seems to be what this and so many other manufacturers expect of us. And they don't even apologize anymore. They're even almot proud of their inefficiency. Sad.

I am in the Chicago area, and I just wanted to say that I called Dave from Strong Windows, and he was really nice, and the most informative and helpful contractor I spoke with. I ended up not using him cause I chose wood-clad which he doesn't do. If I wanted vinyl, I would have definitely gone with Dave. Keep in mind that no matter what window you choose, the contractor you use will be key to whether your windows work well or not. Not to mention the stress/aggravation factor if you end up not liking your contractor which you can't put a price on.

Hello again, folks. I've read Houzz for a couple of hours this morning trying to find out how to post my photo of the subject window frame. I've not understood what Houzz customer service wording was trying to explain. I've given up. I'm old, old. I get worn out rather quickly. It might be several days before I post again. Thanks very much.