When cost is not a problem (sort of)

11 years ago

I have proposals for 12 stationary awning windows and 4 operating awning windows (about 36" x 36") from Marvin for their Ultimate type and Anderson for their 400 Series. It is very important to me to maintain a certain look for the windows so it is a 2 down by 3 across colonial type grill. The windows are white on the outside and pine on the inside which will be stained approriately. Also I wanted the muntins to be 1 3/4 wide with a certain typical historical profile. It was easy to get a Marvin proposal which included a bright young carpenter experienced in proper installs. The local Anderson dealer finally got me his proposal, and we added in the install cost from a good young local carpenter. However, The Anderson 400 is Fibrex on the outside and the maximum muntin width is 1 1/8 with their odd profile. The Anderson cost just for the windows is less than the Marvin cost, but both including the installs are slightly greater than $1,000 per window.

I would not go for the Anderson proposal in its current form due to not matching my requirements. However, I wanted at least one other proposal that would compete with Marvin without regard to cost. Just by chance today in another posting in the Windows forum someone talked about the Anderson Eagle products (Anderson E-series/Eagle Architectural Collection). How would we know? The dealers appear to be different than the regular Anderson dealers and no Anderson dealer said to me "Hey, there may be an Anderson Division that meets your needs better." Is this so? Are there other companies hidden out there?

So far I had four proposals developed for me. One was from another Marvin dealer, but the cost was much higher for the same product than the one mentioned above. Another was from a Weathershield dealer, but his costs were equivalent to the first two I mentioned above, and he did not note any of the difficulties of the install including preserving the interior trim.

Now I see why homeowners get big headaches on window installs.

Comments (8)

toddinmn
11 years ago
Try Kolbe and Kolbe or Loewen.
millworkman
11 years ago
Stay away from Weathershield as they are crap and the 400 series Andersen is a decent product not great but the exterior is Permashield not Fibrex and not in the same league as Marvin, Kolbe, or Loewen.
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richard904
Original Author
11 years ago
Is the Anderson Eagle in the same class as the Marvin, Kolbe, and Loewen that you cite?
millworkman
11 years ago
Not 100% certain as I have not been in the residential window business since Andersen purchased Eagle, but before they were purchased I would say emphatically no. Now I am not certain.
HomeSealed
11 years ago
Seriously MWM, tell us what you really think of Weathershield! lol
I'd put Marvin, Kolbe, and Loewen in that top tier, with Andersen eagle a step down (although still pretty solid). Weathershield is probably in the 2nd or 3rd tier as well in my own experience. They have had a lot of changes there in the past couple years, so that could be good or bad.
millworkman
11 years ago
Yeah a few years back I had a bunch of problems right from the beginning on some jobs and the company as a whole put a bad taste in my mouth. Probably should have gone a little easier because there is definitely worse wood windows out there!
liveinseattle
11 years ago
we had one loewen put in 3 years back. We are not happy with it. In just 2 years the window mechanism broke and can not be opened. The company we bought windows from fix it after more than 10 calls to Loewen and the dealer. Even it was still in warranty period when it broke, the dealer wanted $$$ to fixed it. We called Loewen to complain, loewen said we can fix it easyly and would send us instruction in e-mail. but every time the e-mail came in, the instruction was totally wrong, either window type wrong or hardware type wrong. Finally my DH said we would call BBB, so the dealer came and fixed it in less than 30 Minutes. We need to replace other windows, so we will try Mavin this time. We had hard time to get someone willing to install windows on stucco siding though
pcweary
11 years ago
I was just told that Marvin Windows will have a price increase starting February 11, 2013. You might want to check on that and lock in your price.
I am impressed with the quality and look of my Marvin Ultimates.