Glad wrap might be the one but I know that the person that suggested it is not wrapped too tight himself!

 

 

I have found Renewal by Anderson to be about 40% higher than Anderson windows installed by a contractor.

 

Because they are not constructed the same. Contractors can not buy the Renewal window. See my earlier post. My normal contractor agreed, and even remarked after it was done by Renewal that he was impressed with the difference.

 

I looked over both products and didn't see enough difference to make a difference. The kicker was, when I told the Renewal sales rep that I was going in the private contractor direction he started cutting the price. That told me all I needed to know.

 

I don't recall the price difference being as near as high as yours. I do recall talking to friends who had Renewal done and all were so pleased it convinced the wife. "That told me all I needed to know."

 

Huge price difference. I went through the same process when I did a sliding door. Renewal came down on their price and pretty much met the Anderson by private contractor price, so I went with them. On windows it was a 40% difference. They cut it to about a 20-25% difference. That wasn't enough for me.

To the OP, you have heard our opinions. I recommend you go look at the Anderson products available at the big box stores, then meet with the renewal guy, then go back and look at what is in the store again. Think about the 'differences" the salesmen talk about and ask yourself if any of them seem important to you. My house was built with the "contractor's special" windows Rob mentions above. They lasted 20 years before any of them need to be replaced. 80% of the windows in my house are still the originals. IMHO a good name-brand mid-price window will last the rest of your life if you are vintage. Heat retention has a lot to do with installation, so make sure that whoever doest the work does a good job filling the voids between the rough frame and the new window. The last issue is appearance. That's a matter of personal preference, but you will see some differences in the style between windows and that is what you will look at for the rest of the time you own the home.

 

Replacing our windows would be pretty difficult with contractor grade as the are held in with nailing flanges. This would require the removal of siding and brick to attach them to the house and increase the job cost to new heights that we don't want to explore.

 

We had a neighbor around the corner do exactly that although they didn't have brick.
Odd part is they went with a vinyl window with a much smaller glass area.
On a large new england colonial it looks kinda weird.

 

Interest free with 12 months to pay plus the tax credit helped soften my blow. Fifteen windows from start to finish in one day with zero cleanups on my part inside or out. There were two teams who really knew what they were doing. I didn’t keep any notes on the other bids but it pays to shop around and I know I did. As for our sliding door I made a total change out and put in french doors - best decision ever. I put in a cheaper matching window in my garage rather than Anderson; OMG no comparison but it looks the same from the road.