Just finished up with the replacement-window salesman. His price:

Twenty-eight thousand dollars. For just the windows UPSTAIRS (plus the ones in my office; we had the first-floor ones except for my office replaced five years ago). Oh, and it does include the three windows in the front tower.

I suppose that's not too bad. It's for 38 windows, after all, and the ones he's selling have triple-pane glass.

It's real nice to have all those windows (and the nine skylights) on a bright, sunny day, but now that it's winter, the glass looks like more of a liability...

Redstone

:wow:

Gee, there are times I'm glad I'm not a homeowner.

Something goes wrong, you call the landlord. I've done that, and sometimes I wish I still did.

Redstone

So the down side is dealing with contractors and tweaker tenants and crap like that, but the upside is I get paid to live here.

Meh. :shrug:

Mrs R wants us to buy the house next door so we can pick our neighbors (not being discriminatory, just with the goal of finding a convenient playmate for the Little Guy), and I told her absolutely not...if we do buy it, my office goes there. And a pool table. And a pinball machine. Not to mention Robotron and foosball.

I don't want to be getting those calls at 2 AM about the furnace breaking.

Redstone

But you'd sure as heck know it if those invisible windows disappeared!

Redstone

Windows are aluminum siding for the "otts."

You'll save a fortune by contracting it yourself. Call your local carpenters union hall and see what kind of rate you can get on a residential contract.

Betcha the crew on that salesman's pitch ain't union.

we also looked into windows(LINUX NOT MS) and we were quoted at about $750 per window installed.

Cost of window at the BORG (Big Orange Retail Giant(Home Depot)) is approximately $200 + 7 hours to install @ $80/hr.

38 X ($200+$560) = $28,880.

Our home is all one floor; I imagine it would be more if it was a two story.

You might think about clear plastic. We only have two windows that are double pain.
So I got some masking tape and some clear plastic (1 mill - 4 mill thick) and covered the windows with it. Depending on what you are willing to live with you can tape this to the inside of the windows;sealing any outside air leaks,and remove it in the spring. The upside is that this works very well in reducing heat loss; the down side is that it does not look very nice and may tend to peel paint off of you walls if you are not careful.

I just finished doing some of this today. I was surprised at how much the plastic inside of the house moved around our sliding glass doors. I was like we had a window open to the outside.

If you have an office with customers I would probably use double pain windows there and plastic everywhere else.

ON EDIT:

Plastic sheeting $35.00
Masking Tape $ 5.00
Total $40.00

very warm in the winter; our big cost comes during the summer for air conditioning (even though we live in New England; it's because of my heat intolerance).

We insulate the skylights during the summer, but the plastic sheeting doesn't help too much with the air-conditioning. Though we do have the heat-shrink plastic over the patio door and picture window in my office.

But your numbers for the Home Depot windows are somewhat surprising...the guy is quoting me roughly that much per window, including installation, and his product is by far and away better than anything you could buy at Home Despot (not a typo).

Redstone

several of them are "non-standard sizes" 76"w x 56"h so I think that makes a big difference sorry I didn't include that info.

And that's only half of the front and one side that you can see there.

Redstone

Very picturesque, which of course suits you, since you're an ace photographer.

it's her decorating talent (which she didn't know she had before she really needed it) that transformed it from the dump that we bought to the way it looks now.

This one of the rooms (containing much more of me than you'll ever need to see):



Hey, does the "ace photographer" comment mean that you bought a copy of my cookbook? If not, you should. There's some really good photography there.

If so, I thank you.

Redstone

:P

I don't cook very much, but your wife did a lovely job on the interior decorating. It looks so serene in there. I love your fireplace. White mantels have always been my favorite, very classical. But it's the exterior of your home that really knocks me out. That tree adds the perfect touch.

"Ace photographer" means I've read your helpful comments to other photographers on this site and I can tell you're a professional. :)

Redstone

:D

I love your house, Redstone!!!

here if you want to see more pictures; I'll PM you the address of our family website.

Redstone

Actually that's quite an attractive home! Very New England.

10,000 (year-round). As with many New England towns, especially those on the shoreline, the Flatlanders swell our numbers in the summer.

Redstone

did you kill him?

Redstone

Just looked at the kittybondage picture and read "Just finished beating up the replacement-window salesman. His price:" I hope you get clear windows for that price.

Well, just a little bit. Nothing that won't heal in a week or two.

Redstone

for essentially the same product. The highest being 3 times what the lowest was. I found this to be true when I got estimates for air conditioning as well. Perhaps, they think I'm a sucker. :-)

competition, and promise the moon for their windows, and have all kinds of hidden discounts and pressure-sales tactics.

But these windows seem damn good, THREE panes of glass, and very high build quality.

And good windows will save us lots of heating and AC bucks, as you can see from the picture upthread (and that picture doesn't even show the secondary tower with six large windows that's hidden behind the tree).

Yeesh. Maybe it's time we move to a dome house, or one of those semi-underground ones.

Redstone

Much warmer and quieter. Not to mention easy to clean and open. Money well spent. Good luck dealing with the window guys (worst part of getting any home repairs done. uggh)

or conversely, you don't get what you don't pay for.

usually, the lowest price isn't the best value.

All other things being equal, if I have three quotes, I'll always go with the middle one. Or the most expensive. Never the cheapest. and I'm honest; I never tell the salespeople that price is my #1 concern.

Redstone

i was paying with my yearly bonus, i had $5k for furnace and a/c. the first guy told me no problem, and gave me a quote with the make and model.
the 2nd company that came out to look at it, told me it would be hard to do with space restrictions and it needed some investigation. eventually, they gave me a quote for a more compact but more expensive unit.

while the salesman was here i mentioned the other quote, to let him know he was competing. he asked what equipment the first company spec'd but never what their price was. he called me that afternoon and told me that the equipment in the competitors quote wouldn't fit my crawlspace and wouldn't cool the second floor of my house. i figured it was just contractors backstabbing each other, but he later provided me a spec sheet proving the equipment wouldn't fit. he went on to say it had nothing to do with getting work, he was tired of hacks giving his industry a bad name and i could take or leave his quote-the info was just fair warning for a guy about to spend $5k.

a few days later the first guy called back out of the blue and told me he had looked it up and confirmed everything would work out, but i had to sign a waiver acknowledging that the unit wouldn't cool the 2nd floor, a detail not mentioned in his quote. he confirmed everything the more professional company had told me without realizing it.

now, i am more than happy to reccomend the more professional company. he cost me about $1500 more, but saved me massive headaches, i'm sure.

I just got off the phone checking on glass for a vehicle - need FOUR fricking pieces!!! Windshield - eh $166, not too bad for new. Back - 363 jebus, door - 395 holy moly! and rear panel passenger side - 636 freaking dollars. The vehicle isn't worth THAT!!! Now what do I do!

...he said that windows were the most expensive thing he had to buy.

Seriously, get as many quotes as you can. Ask for references from all the companies you contact and check with the BBB and Consumer Reports.

This is a big investment, make sure you do it right.