Keep looking neither are worth purchasing in my opinion, Where are you building? What do you want the widows to look like on the interior? What style windows are you planning on using?

+1 with millworkman said. Also what area of the country are you in? That can determine some times what brands are available.

We are building outside of Chicago, so have cold winters and hot summers to contend with. We were planning to have Craftsman style grills in the front of the house and no grills in the back of the house. Primarily double hung windows, but a couple of large picture windows as there are nice views of woods in our backyard. Also, will have white painted trim with a traditional sill around the windows. Thank you!

What do you want the windows to look like?

If you are okay with vinyl, there are far greater choices than what you have listed right now.

Exterior color?

Glad your happy with them "bs", I would not put them in a dog house!

Interesting to note that Bsboston has signed up to GW on the day of his/her post above. That usually indicates spam.

To the OP - I don't know about Windsor, but I have had Pella windows, and I too am outside of Chicago. For our climate, my Pella windows had problems left and right. Ice dams in winter, difficulty closing properly, rotting window frames. There are other brands out there that are better. Do a search on this forum and a little reading here - since windows are such a big investment it is worth the investment in your time to read about the best choices for your budget.

Ha. Not spam. Long time reader, first time poster. Felt I had something to say on this topic.

Thanks for the feedback. We had Pella vinyl on the our last house (not sure which specific line as builder selected them) and husband wasn't thrilled with them although we didn't have any major issues. The Pella rep had indicated that our complaints were due to installation (which was also done by our builder) and not the product. We're trying to be more educated buyers this time around.

It seems that Marvin is the preferred brand in the Chicago area on this forum?

Sounds familiar.

Liesl123 - that is what Pella always says - that it's never their product's issue, it's the installation. That excuse works on occasion, except that the Pella problems are so widespread, they can't all be installation problems. I know the Pella windows in my house have problems cause of how they are constructed and the materials used by Pella. In another thread where I was asking about Marvin wood-clad vs. Pella, HomeSealed wrote "[Pella] still has a roll formed clad sash, which is inferior to an extruded exterior that you get on the Marvin".

I also am not a fan of Pella's practice of denial - I would respect them more if they just admitted to the issues and asked what they could do to help. I have been replacing my Pella Prolines with Marvin Ultimates (a few at a time as I can afford it), and the experience with Marvin has been excellent.

You mentioned vinyl - from my reading on this forum there are some really good manufacturers of vinyl windows, and I think for vinyl Marvin is not one of the best, though they are the best for wood-clad. Do a search on this Forum and you will find a lot of info and recommendations.

This post was edited by Mrs_Nyefnyef on Tue, Aug 12, 14 at 8:34

Mrs N, just as a point of clarification and to avoid confusion Marvin does not make a vinyl product. Ultrex which is a fiberglass product yes in both the Integrity (all Ultrex and Wood/Ultrex clad) and Infinity line.

I don't see any groupthink going on, but a diverse collection of seasoned pros from around the country that have had similar experience with a given product. The fact that a bunch of guys/gals that don't even know each other have had the same experience is pretty telling about the quality and performance of the product IMO. I can't speak for everyone, but I would probably sell a lot more jobs if I went in with a cheaper product, however I'd rather install a product that I believe in and stand behind. Marvin and Kolbe are my preferred wood choices.

On wood vs vinyl, there are great and poor examples of each. If the look and feel of the window is of paramount importance, wood can't be beat. For performance, warranty, price, etc, the value proposition that high quality vinyl presents is hard to beat. As the other pros mentioned, neither of these would be at or near the top of my list in either material.