LOL! It's always interesting to try to deal with a contractor that won't do things the way you want them done. Casement (crank out) windows have interior screens. But - I'd say that the choice between casement vs double-hung (the slide up and down type) is a far, far bigger aesthetic consideration than the impact of having screens on the outside.

I don't think there is another solution. I personally love nanawalls and would love a large wall of bifold glass doors across the entire back of my house is it wasn't for the bug issue (well, that and the cost issue!).

Where we leave there are very few bitting insects, but lots of other large insects that I'd rather not have in my house, though I do see other houses that don't have them at all.

If you want screens, just insist on them.

I don't like the look of screens, either...so we don't have any on the front. But, I love fresh air and loathe bugs :) so we have screens on select windows in the back/sides. Luckily, this works great with our floor plan as we spend more time in the back of the house anyway.

Sure, there are removable screens. They are a fixed height and the width is adjustable. You just open the window, insert the screen, and lower the window back down.

Just one example for the removable screens.

Many results on Amazon

Lots of door screens to - you would just have to look through the options and find one that matched your type of door and what type of installation you would want.

Both Marvin and Andersen windows offer multiple different types of screens. You can probably find a screen that has minimal visual impact - either from the outside or the inside. Having screens that can keep the mosquito hordes out and let fresh air in is critical here in Alaska (where residential air conditioning is unheard of). Visual impact is tertiary to a window's function in my mind. First is to allow us to see out of the house, second is to provide fresh air. How it looks is a distant third.

aa- Just make sure you don't leave the house, with those screens in...they're easy to pop out and enter the home.

pbx- If you want screens, get screens! At some point, function has got to trump form. If your home doesn't function, no matter how 'pretty' it is, it's not going to be a very inviting place to live.

If you live in an area where people would get in through an open window, it won't matter what kind of screens you have. You just have to remember to close and lock the window.

I'm not in that kind of area - most doors are left unlocked here - and if you wanted to come in through a window, you would have to deal with a 100lb dog :). The side door is the only part of our house that isn't part of the dog's yard.

If you use the newer flat black nylon screen it all but disappears as you look though.

Wow, what market does that builder work in? LOL! If the homebuilding client wants screens, maybe he should just give them screens?

There are retractable roller type interior screens that preserve the exterior appearance of the windows.

We did not put any screens on ours. I hate screens. At some point if we want to open windows, we will get Phantom screens installed. See here: http://www.phantomscreens.com/products/window/product-details/

The Phantom ones are expensive but we'll probably only put them on a few windows) if that..

We have Phantom screens on 4 sets of French doors. They are great! (My neighbor has just had some installed because she liked ours so much.) 3 other sets of French doors open to our screened pool and are open most of the time. In addition we have an opening screened skylight at the highest point of our 2 story house, for passive ventilation. It is open most of the time as it is secure and closes automatically when it rains. Thanks to the screens we have fresh air much of the year. We live in central Gulf Coast Florida and are not yet using our A/C! Priceless!

We went with 6 over 1 windows, with simulated divided light, and screens on only the bottom half of the windows (to avoid hiding the pretty grille on the exterior of the upper sash). You can always take the screens down/out of the windows in the months you don't use them. Personally I think a house with the windows open to fresh air (and screens in place) is more attractive than a similar house with no screens and all the windows shut tight on a nice day.

But I also think it's pleasant to see sheets & towels hanging on a clothesline in the sun ... so I might be weird :)

Thank you every1 for the advice!

Lots of info for us to look over. You are all a great group @ all price points! (LOL!)

Personally I think a house with the windows open to fresh air (and screens in place) is more attractive than a similar house with no screens and all the windows shut tight on a nice day.
But I also think it's pleasant to see sheets & towels hanging on a clothesline in the sun ... so I might be weird :)

I agree with every word of that!!
its almost 9pm and my windows are open,
glass on storm door is open and ceiling
fans are turning. everyopening has screens.
or mosquitos would pick us up and fly us
away..

if you want to open your windows ..get screens.
can't imagine functioning windows with
no screens unless used for egress.

best of luck.

I must live in the boonies, because here the builder works for the buildee and wouldn't dream of telling you that you couldn't have screens.

Hard to imagine.

I don't have screens and I don't open my windows because one of my sons has allergies and asthma and can't handle the pollen and dust in the house.

I miss open windows.

Wow. We are in the military and just moved back from Italy. The "phantom screens" were standard on Italian houses everywhere. I loved them!! Of course AC was a rarity, but I learned to love having the house opened to fresh air. Never occurred to me that something like that could be a "splurge" when building our house. Yikes?!

"he said that his houses don't have mesh screens on the windows - for aesthetic reasons. "

Not even legal in some places.

BIL had his CO delayed on his own house he was building until he installed the screens siting in the garage.