Advice on replacing Windows

[Lonewolf]

My house is about 17 years old, and we have a sliding door in the kitchen that almost takes Shrek to open and close with a faulty locking mechanism so thinking about taking the hit and replacing all Windows and the sliding door. The springs are broken on two of the windows upstairs in the kids rooms and we have taken out most of the "webbing" (Used to be screens , so figured it might be a nice time to fix all issues at once.

Any advice to those who have done it and what I should expect the cost to be. I know it will mostly be determined on how many windows, etc but just looking for rough guidance. We have 10 windows of various sizes and that sliding door has been my nemesis over the past few years.

Thanks for any input.

Lonewolf

[LuxLiving]

We recently redid ours - I'd hate to say a price as they may not compare around the country.

What I will say is to remember that there are 'premium' installers and regular joe installers and quite a spread in the prices quoted. Shop around and get lots of bids.

THEN, carefully understand just exactly what you are buying. In our instance the quote man assured me the guys would replace the old wood surrounds on a few of the windows and added $$'s to the ticket to include that work but when the installers got here they wouldn't perform.

We also paid 1/2 down and 1/2 after completion. I wouldn't pay my second half until they reduced the ticket for the work they didn't perform. So, protect yourself. My installers did just that INSTALL windows. Initially, they didn't do ANY repair work to the surrounding woodwork that needed doing. So, unless you get someone who will guarantee that they'll do any repairs needed as they go, then don't let them remove your windows unless you yourself are a carpenter w/supplies on hand OR you can have a carpenter on standby. You don't want a gapping hole in the side of your house while you try to locate an available carpenter.

This was a real issue w/us as one of our windows needing additional wood work was on the second story w/sloping ground underneath. We didn't want to be weekend warriors on this particular project and risk our life and limb that's why we had it quoted into the price of the window install. So, be careful. SOME installers may be perfectly happy sticking a new window in a rotting sill. If you don't want that to happen, be aware and have alternative plans. I wish our sales/quote guy would've been more honest with us about what his guys would and wouldn't do, some of what he said may have just been to get the sale, KWIM?

We worked around this issue and got our iffy situation straight - it did involve a call to the business owner and a promise to call the Better Business Bureau. Our new window got uninstalled and woodwork done then new window reinstalled. Shouldn't of had to make that call!

They reluctantly did the one second story window and we did repairs to the other ground level ones ourselves after they left. But we did get a reduction for the work they didn't do - had to remind them to take it off the ticket - like it was such a surprise that we didn't want to be charged for work not performed! Amazing!!

The other thing they did that I didn't care for was to take off the old awnings and drove off and left them in my yard for a week or so. By contract they were to dispose of them. They did finally perform that too, but in the interim they were trashing up my yard. I'd want a guarantee that any debris be removed the very day it was removed from the house.

We also got a new sliding door at the same time. I'm very happy with the windows & door we got, the installation thereof was a bit more of a situation where the craftmanship left a bit to be desired. YMMV!

[safari]

When I saw the title, I thought you were talking about Windows Vista

[Lonewolf]

Thanks very much for the information, some good advice I'll put to good use. As for Windows Vista I'll stay clear of that right now, ok with my XP

Lonewolf

[cicy33]

my husband does this for a living. He has his own business. average cost of a window installed is $200 - $250. there are many variables. Like if you want argon gas or double hung (yes you do to both). There is local company here that offers $179 a window but they do not include either listed above. They use the price to get in the door and then talk you into a better window. at a much higher cost. He offers a better price cuz we have low overhead. He only does windows, doors and siding. The sliding door, probably about $250 installation plus cost of door. Hope this helps.

[buch69]

I just got a price of $300/window installed for (4) Paradigm bedroom windows. Does this seem like a good price?

[M-squared]

We've replaced almost all of the windows in our house. Our cost was more significantly more than $300 a window, but we had VERY specific needs. We wanted wood double hung windows (not vinyl) that kept the historic integrity of our house. (It's a 130 year old farm house.) We also had to have quite a bit of carpentry/ construction done in several places. A number of the windows (given the age of the house) had to be custom built because they were not a standard size. Keeping all that in mind, our project ran about $20,000 for 21 windows. (We got several quotes before we started the project and the company we used came in at the low end, but not the bottom, but we liked them so we decided to use their services instead of going with the least expensive bid.) We did it in two installments. The first 14 were done in 2004 and the remaining were done this past fall. We used Pella and were very pleased with the results both times. They were very upfront about the cost of the project, including the windows themselves and the extra labor to replace rotting wood, replace crank windows with double hungs, etc. I could not recommend then more.

[Spud]

Our experience was much the same as M-Squared's. We went with Marvin, and they are fantastic.

It is difficult to say if $300/window is a 'good price.' It depends on where you are (labor costs will vary all across the country) and what kind of product you're getting. Your best bet is to get 3-5 quotes from contractors in your area offering approximately the same product (unfair to compare Pella/Marvin to the random vinyl window), and compare between them.

Also, going with the Low Bidder is not always cost effective, even though it may seem like it is. Hire & purchase based on value, not price alone. You're going to be living with these windows until you move out of the house... and if you're like me, you don't want to be living with cheap crap, cause it'll only make you mad every time you open/close/look at/feel the draft from the window.