I went to a showroom that had Anderson & Marvin windows, and I really liked the Marvin windows MUCH better. Both from the ease-of-use features and the exterior appearance. This is for new construction (we're putting a new second floor on our house). Exterior appearance matters b/c in the future we'll replace the first floor windows with the same thing we used upstairs, and we have a porch. So I don't want to be sitting on the porch mere inches from unattractive windows.

They aren't cheap, though. For the Clad Ultimate Double Hung windows plus the PVC brickmould casing it's $6750 for 9 windows. 7 of them are 2822 (Glass size is 28" wide by 22" tall in each sash, meets local egress requirements) & 2 are 2416 (24" x 16", for the bathrooms). We're going with PVC brickmould casing because we're using vinyl siding, and the Marvin aluminum casing doesn't have the channel in it (which means you have to use j-channel which kills the illusion that we have real shingles instead of fake ones). Some of the options we chose are single screen & SDL for the upper sash.

So here's my question - if we went with Anderson 400's it would be about $2k cheaper. I really like the Marvin windows but we are killing the budget between these windows and some masonry repairs to our chimney.

Tell me I'm making the smart choice and I'll be happy after I get over the pain of writing the check. (Or tell me I'm an idiot if that's the case, just be gentle about it). Have you ever heard of someone wishing they spent LESS on their windows?

Thanks in advance!

-Echic