Zillow Advice: Finding a home Improvement Professional - Can someone suggest a good window provider in the Seattle / Eastside area. Any thoughts on Evans?

part 2:What are you upgrading ...

Sun, 03 May 2009 18:57:00 GMT

part 2:

What are you upgrading from? Do you already have double pane windows? What year is your house? How large? I've heard window bids ALL over the board. A client of mine just got a bid to "upgrade" his home from one of these high pressure companies. His house is just under 4000 sq ft and they wanted over $100k. This was one of those companies who insists that both the husband and wife be present when they do their sales presentation. The thing is that my client already had double pane wood windows! I personally know his house could have been easily done for under $40k (in wood!!) and at that, I don't think it's worth it. If he dropped his energy bill from $700/mo down to $500/mo with new windows, how long would that take to pay back $100k? Even considering rising energy costs, it would take an incredibly long time and if you have to take a loan out to pay for the windows, this just compounds the situation. Then these salesmen try to play the "adds value to your house" card. Spend $100k and add $20k of value? Sorry, no thanks.

Send me a PM if you want to know of a good window company that the builders work who is right in Kirkland.

Wow... Windows are a tough ...

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:19:00 GMT

Wow... Windows are a tough one and one of the few things that we don't do. The fact is that dealing with the majority of window salesmen is as bad or worse than going to a car lot.

I was on a job working in the background as the homeowner was looking at windows and the price started out at about $8,000 and by the time he got done trying to get her closed, about and hour later, they had come down by half. That tells me that a lot of people get hosed!

If anyone out there finds an honest window company that actually knows their stuff and doesn't over sell the customer, I would love to hear about them!

There are an overwhelming ...

Sun, 03 May 2009 18:57:00 GMT

There are an overwhelming amount of options out there as you probably know. As I googled Penguin windows to see what they were all about, "penguin window complaints" came up via google suggest. Take a look for yourself:

http://www.google.com/search?q=penguin+window+complaints&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I tried this with Evans and it did not happen. Penguin appears to be retail only. I don't see anywhere on the site where they sell to builders or have information specifically relevant to architects who want to spec these windows. I personally think that is a good sign to steer clear.

Penguin windows are very ...

Sat, 02 May 2009 22:19:00 GMT

Penguin windows are very good for soundproofing, overall insulation, more so than most other brands (triple panes). However, from everything I've heard they are also very pricey.