what about Eagle? their windows look nice. are they a lot more than Jeldwen and Weathshield Signature?

Eagle is decent, and Marvin integrity is very good for the price. It should be in your ballpark.

+1 on the gentlemen's advice above.

I guess this about sums it up.

i was under the impression that marvin integrity was a good deal more expensive than jeldwyn aluminum clad and weathershield signature??

i know that integrity is not as expensive as the other marvins, but aren't they still pretty high?

Price will vary a bit from dealer to dealer, best to price it out.
Jeld-Wen does improve in quality a bit once you get into there Site-line line and even more with the Custom line.

As Todd said, you'll need to price them out because pricing will vary.

ok. thanks everyone. i will price out integrity. i just have a bad feeling about it since EVERYONE here in new construction seems to be using Jelwen's aluminum clad. The super duper duper high ends aren't, but the 500K to 800K are. surely they priced out windows. maybe they think the jeldwens look fine? the grilles aren't prominent enough for my liking, but i guess others don't mind the flat grill look OR the other aluminum clad options were too expensive

SDL profile is the least of the issues with Jeldwen. They but them because they are somewhat of an upgrade over builder grade vinyl in their minds and because they are cheap and allow them to make $$$. Aluminum clad and SDL profile does not necessarily make it a good window.

i agree that's why they buy them - they are cheap. but they must be a decent window without any problems even though they are cheap and ugly. my cookie cutter house had the cheapest windows ever, but we never had problems with them. they were ugly, but they worked.

so my dilemma is finding a window in the same price ballpark that is a decent window but not so cheap looking. i gut is telling me that there's no such window and we are going to have to bust the budget on windows.

Your gut is correct I am afraid. I also think you may be pleasantly surprised at the price of Integrity in a good way.

+1. We replace 10yr old builder grade wood windows on a regular basis. You are going to want to get a better quality product if you want them to last, and know that they will require some attention every so often as well. You can't just "set it and forget it" when dealing with an organic material.

Integrity will run you about 15% higher depending on the area you are in. Just remember....installation is key. Visit a showroom and compare brands.