It is not uncommon for vinyl to be 1/2 the cost of a wood window especially if it is white and you include the cost of staining or painting of a wood window.Fiberglass is usually somewhere in between.Vinyl can get expensive if you go with a wood grain interior and painted exterior.The options can make a big difference since they are not priced uniformly between the different materials. Best to start pricing them out and watch out for low quality models.

See the link below to our use of Marvin Integrity (Fiberglass outside, wood inside). We built a craftsman style, so maybe this will give you some ideas. In particular, we saved a ton of money by eliminating all transoms, going with a taller window and using "cottage" grills (they give a transom look). We've been in the house for over a year and still are very positive on the windows. As our salesman explained, adding a transom is like adding an addtional window. The cottage grills worked out nice. We did splurge a little on the grills. They have a divider inbetween the panes. They really look awesome. see link

Here is a link that might be useful: link to our Marvin Integrity Windows

Integrity wood ultrex is also a great option as mentioned by Ikbum. Turn around time is great, a few different exterior color options and very few service issues in my experience.

The Integrity wood/ultrex is probably the best blend of wood looking window in an economical package out there.

Solid company behind it as well.

Thank you so much for all this information. I had forgotten to subscribe to my own post and didn't realize anyone commented. :)

lkbum: I love your integrity windows! And getting rid of the transoms but adding the cottage lites might be a great option.

This is so helpful... Off to research the Integrity wood/ultrex now...