Charlie: Mary in Spring says, “My question’s about the cost and value of replacement windows.” She says she got a quote of $1,800 a window from one company, and when she compared that to others, it was much higher, and she wants to know can a product really be that much better than others, aluminum versus composite or composite versus framed, and I think one of the things we need to cover with Mary here is the difference between one company’s composite and another company’s so-called composite.
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Tom: There’s so many different things, and I know set prices with anybody’s company, some people just charge outrageous prices, so it’s really going to be you, the smart consumer. Everybody has a budget they have to live with, and you got to set that budget in your head or on a piece of paper in front of you so you don’t forget it, but any window you buy that’s a replacement window today is going to be better than what you have, but it all still has to do with the house and stuff, but is there a difference in price? There could be, depending on what you’re looking at. You can get special order hardware on it. You can get the wood look on the inside, the special order color powder coating on the outside. You can get triple pane, as opposed to double pane glass. You can get low E. You can get argon. You can have a lot of bells and whistles with windows. You have to compare them very closely.
Charlie: Installation’s important. It’s one of the reasons we recommend-
Tom: And warranty.
Charlie: Gulf Coast Windows.
Tom: Absolutely, and warranty. Who installs it? Is it just some guy they hire from a box store that they get a bunch of contractors, they don’t really back up the work, or are you dealing with a company that’s going to take care of the whole thing for you? The buck stops there, so to speak. You don’t have to worry about who said, they said, we said if something goes wrong.
Charlie: True that, and just get more than one bid.
Tom: I’ll tell you what. There are some composite windows out there that aren’t very good that are the highest price window in Houston.
Charlie: I’m going to tell you without mentioning-
Charlie: Without revealing the name of the company, that is the one she’s talking to. It is that one that we don’t recommend.
Tom: I know. I wouldn’t buy it.
Charlie: It is made … I think they use wood stuff in or something.
Tom: From what I know, they use wood chips and vinyl chips and a lot of glue.
Charlie: yessss
Tom: glue.
Charlie: That’s why we don’t recommend that one.
Tom: Be careful.
Charlie: If you’re going to renew your house, that may not be the route to take if you know what I’m saying.
Tom: You know what’s good about Gulf Coast?
Charlie: Yeah.
Tom: They have a lot of choices. I always like to say they have a window for everybody. Would they like to sell their best of the best to everybody? Who wouldn’t want to do that, but sometimes you have to make compromises and fit in your budget.