Anderson windows are good … damn good … top-of-the-line, the things should last the rest of your life … shop around, I kinda like the cheap-o vinyl numbers Home Depot carries … but then again I’m old enough to never buy unripe bananas.
Windows 7 or 8, or XP?
I always love that sales pitch.
Lets see my current energy costs are average out at a few hundred dollars a month, For replacing my 20 windows at a predicted cost of $1k each is $20,000. Even if I cut my energy costs in half, which would be completely unrealistic it’ll be 16 years before they’ve ‘paid for themselves’. I could invest a fraction of that money into insulation and get a much better return on investment. If I’m looking into new windows it’s never going to be for the energy savings.
To the OP. I really like high end Anderson Windows, if I could afford them I’d certainly consider them in any house I’d own. Unless I somehow become a multi-millionaire that’s never going to happen. Even then I wouldn’t be hiring company with a door to door sales rep on their payroll. Any good contractor can do the install for less than them.
If you call any other contractor that does windows or consider any other brand your estimate will probably be less.
Yeah, those Anderson stickers are a pretty good investment. 50 cents each, slap them on a window, and you can jack up the price a thousand!
OP, was your home damaged in some kind of catastrophe?
According to the OP they said they’d cut the price if he paid within 30 days.
Presumably that means they can/will start without being paid in full, but will give a discount for speedy payment?
That seems a reasonable business practice to me, and very different to saying “Tomorrow our special mega deal expires, and the price will be double…you must sign now!”.
what ever you do, stay away from American Exteriors (do they operate in California?) We had them replace some of our windows, and we didn’t do diligent enough research awful lot of complaints on their BBB listing, many of them resolved not to the customer satisfaction or not resolved at all last time I look, just ignored by them. And they can compete with Anderson on price for most expensive. We’ve been lucky so far, no problems.
With the caveat that just because a company is a “mom & pop” it doesn’t mean they’re any good. I’ve encountered too many operations where it was clear someone tried to turn their hobby into a business but forgot they had to actually run it like a business.
No its the same bullshit just a milder flavour.
Andersen are a big company and interest rates are almost nothing.
That’s too high a price. $1,000 +/- per window and about $1,800 for the slider should do it for material cost. If your windows are nonstandard size, that might bump of the cost a bit. Windows are typically sold in increments of 6", so if your openings don’t work for a stand size, you might need to pay a bit more ($100 -$200 more).
For installation, $500 per window and maybe $1500 for the slider. And then some extra for the scaffolding (not really sure what that will go for, but I would think $1000 would be more than adequate).
And, of course you’ll pay a bit more for fancy-schmnacy window and door hardware, but that’s not going to be more than $100 per. Upgrade the screens to what are considered “invisible”, and you’re looking at a bit more, too.
Andersen or very good windows. I wouldn’t say “top of the line” but certainly up there near the top. I’m assuming you’re getting the 400 series.
If Andersen are so good, why have they gone down the sleazy high commission sales route?
Disagree. Plenty of businesses go under while being owed more than enough money to pay off their creditors, and construction / renovation is an industry where a non-trivial amount of capital is tied up in every job.
I can absolutely see why some such businesses try to encourage early payment and don’t see it as something intending to pressure people into making a snap decision (how would that even work…we’re talking about fast payment, not fast sign-up)?
WRT interest rates, it’s true that if interest rates become significantly negative that businesses would care less about paying early, indeed they might start to encourage late payment. But we’re not there yet.
True for a small contractor with cashflow problems.
Absolute nonsense for a major company.
I have found a few companies that give a outrageously high estimate along with a high pressure sales person hoping you will bite. It sounds like one of them, especially with that 30 day part.
I personally had 2 over the years, a roof for 10K that cost 4K (roof quality the same), and a sewer clog that cost $100 to clear (remained clear 15 years), vs dig up and replace the pipe at about 5k IIRC. Much different salesmanship was the clue, Matter of fact sales is usually the real deal in my experience. Glorious good thing and a timed discount is usually a sign of these high priced, hook them and real them in companies.
Actually there was a third, but a bit different, went to install a high efficiency furnace, got estimates, one was quite a bit lower, started to go with that, but the estimate didn’t state the model number, and the sales rep was elusive about it. Finally cornered him about it which he gave a non-high efficiency furnace model number.
Seriously?! :eek: Man, this thread has me happier than ever that I rent instead of own.
But…SERIOUSLY?! When the windows at my last place were replaced, the crew repeated over and over again that each window would be out and the new one installed in “less than 5 minutes, max!” (Which I kept giggling in my head about. less than…max…oooooookay!) And they were right - my unit had about 20 windows, and it took them less than 2 hours, including clean up.
$500 per window for less than 5 minutes max of work? I know it’s skilled labor, but holy smokes! Brain surgeons don’t make that hourly rate.
Anderson is a brand. The guys selling windows door to door don’t actually work for Anderson. They are separate companies Anderson has licensed. Since those companies are paying a premium for the licensing, they make it up with high pressure sales.
There are better windows than Anderson. One of the things you get with Anderson is truly incredible long term support. You can call them up because your casement crank on you 1950s window stripped out, they’ll have a replacement to you in a couple days (you pay for it). Other manufacturers don’t back old products like they do. Ten years out they might not stock replacement parts so instead you could be stuck in a situation of having to replace a whole window that was otherwise good.
I’m assuming they did vinyl replacement inserts or something. The OP is looking at full replacement which requires they take out the whole frame.
Replacements can go incredibly fast, material and labor costs are considerably less.
Re: Scaffolding costs for replacement windows.
Seems weird. We had replacement windows installed in our entire house including a second story that’s at least 15+ feet from the ground. Strangely enough, all the replacement windows were installed from the inside - no scaffolding or ladders used. The only need for accessing the outside would be if you were adding new trim as well, no?
In fact, even the attic/third floor brand new window was installed from the inside.
If they never get to the outside, how can they do a weather-tight installation?
But ladders should usually suffice.
How so?
Most things are cheaper if you can pay in advance rather than in installments, partly because of interest rates, as already discussed, but partly because when people borrow money, some percentage of those people make late payments or fail to make some payments at all.
So businesses large and small prefer liquidity.
Let’s take a step back and be clear what we’re talking about here.
If the salesmen said “You have 30 days to sign-up to get the better deal” – that’s a pressure tactic. I wouldn’t call it particularly high pressure (most people would decide within 30 days anyway), but still, it’s trying to force a (possibly poorly-informed) individual to make a fast decision.
OTOH if the salesmen said “When you decide to buy, we need 30% deposit and then if you pay the rest within 30 days, there’s a discount” – this is just a business trying to encourage early payment, which is a perfectly reasonable policy, for the reasons I’ve given in this and the previous post.