Just to clarify that's Marvin Ultimate casement and Kolbe Ultra series. I just want to make sure I am comparing apples to apples.

Follow-up. The good news is that the Marvin quote was acutally 42K. We went to see them and there is a clear quality difference. The Marvin ultimate casement just looks alot better that the Windsor Pinnacle. FYI, the Kolbe ultra looked pretty nice too, but their bid is higher. We will most likely go with the Marvin. Our orginal allowance was 30K. We are trying to make up some of the difference by making some of windows fixed and no SDL's in the basement.

Any other ways to lower the costs?

Good choice in windows and no there really is nothing else to make the costs lower, unless your using Brass or Oil Rubbed Hardware you could back up to the standard.

A very interesting result to your research. You have decided to exceed your budget by 40% due to something lacking in the product that is in your budget. Since you have so thoroughly explored clad window choices, please share with the board what made you abandon the lower prices. I also find it interesting that the "big two" are not on your list. Andersen & Pella must be devastated.

I know that Windsor would like to be considered worthy of your consideration, what made you move away from Windsor?

To answer your questions:

As far as I can tell Anderson does not make an extruded clad product. The dealer for Windsor also sells Anderson and that's what he told me. When I asked him about Eagle-which is an extruded clad window owned by Anderson, he had never heard of it. He was not very knowledgable about anything and I seemed to know more about his products than he did. If there are any problems, I don't want to deal with this guy.

OTOH, the Kolbe and Marvin dealers were very knowledgeable and offered great service-so far. The Windsor window felt more flimsy and the cladding did not look as good. We are still going to see the Jeld Wen Norco- but their showroom is open 9-4 M-F. Not very convinient.

My SIL has Windsor windows. They have been in their house for 5 years and so far no problems. Clearly Marvin is better, but maybe Windsor is good enough. I'm not sure this is an area I wanto to skimp on. I have no desire to be 10K over budget, but we came in 4K under budget on appliances and it might be better to be frugal in other areas. Not an easy decision.

Don't buy from a dishonest company or a dealer that would allow incompetent people represent them in a $30,000 transaction. Everyone associated with Andersen has heard of the other companies owned by Andersen, seems lame to claim otherwise just because others have the Eagle dealership.

You are on the right track by selecting knowledgable people to give your money to. Too bad a good referral by your SIL could get spoiled by an ignorant salesperson. In this current sales environment, that is unacceptable.

Good Luck.