Anyone install windows or have "a guy"?

[DenverGP]

Stronger in what way?

Haven't seen it first hand, but what I've been told (by installers on some home improvement websites, not the ones bidding my project) the frames of the soft-lite are more rigid, less flex, more reinforced, etc. Also tighter tolerances / tighter seals on the soft-lite compared to the mezzo.

[Wulf202]

While I don't have any experience with that model from alside I'll tell you how the last 3 orders have been screwed up. 1 was shorted twice. 1 showed up in the wrong color. The previous order the installers no showed 3 times but I'm pretty sure there was never an installer assigned by the dispatcher.

Now I'm stuck installing whenever the windows actually show up and we shop stock them well ahead of time if possible.

[DenverGP]

Ended up with the Zen Windows quote for the Soft-Lite Classic window. Ended up around $3500 for 6 windows. Window World was $2800 for the Alside Mezzo window. Pretty much the same glass options on both, same lifetime warranty, glass breakage warranty, etc. But after comparing the soft-life window to the mezzo, it was a little more solid.

Champion windows quote ended up at $5500 for the 6 windows.. nothing in their package was any better than the other two. And their sales person was the most pushy / insistent on trying to get us to sign the deal right away. When we started, their price was over $6000, and after telling the sales person it was too high, suddenly came up with a "5% off for veterans", and "5% off if you put up our sign in your yard", and some other random 5% discount if we signed right away. I think they knew once we compared several others, they'd be too high. I have no doubt they had more room built into their quote but I didn't feel like playing their game any more.

Zen Windows of Denver gets awesome ratings on angies list as well as on all the standard google/yelp/etc reviews. And I like the way they do business, they can give you a quote without needing the in-home process. I gave them the window measurements and the type of window, and they sent me a quote by email. Obviously if the measurements were way off, they'd have to adjust, but otherwise, the quote is their number, no games, etc. All the others claimed they needed to do the in-home thing, but in the end, the only thing that could affected the bid price is the number/size/type of windows.

Window world was good, very straight forward sales pitch, very good price on the quote, no pressure. Just thought in the end that the soft-lite windows were worth the extra $700.

Final measurements next week, and supposedly we're looking at about 6 weeks until install.

[callerys]

I know this is an older thread but wanted to know.

We are now looking at window replacements in our 17 year old house (makes me sick). Are you still happy with the Zen Windows? We were going to talk to Champion but I noticed on their website that they need
to have all "decision makers" present and that sounds like sales hell.

[DenverGP]

We are now looking at window replacements in our 17 year old house (makes me sick). Are you still happy with the Zen Windows? We were going to talk to Champion but I noticed on their website that they need
to have all "decision makers" present and that sounds like sales hell.

Still very happy with my purchase from Zen. They did a nice job, very quick, windows have been great.

Champion is definitely a hard-sell sales hell. Super pushy, and very "used car salesman" like.

[Ramsker]

We replaced 9 windows last summer through Vivax (Milgard Tuscany windows) and have been happy with them so far. We also had them paint. But the windows performed well over the winter. The rooms we got them for because the old ones were pure crap were noticeably warmer.

We had gotten bids from Gravina's (on Evans--who we have used previously for a few replacements based on necessity at the time) and Gravina's on Littleton. The guys on Evans are good and they could have gotten us what we wanted for a decent price. The Littleton guys are different and they were pushing Marvin fiberglass, which was ridiculously expensive by comparison.

Ended up going with Vivax because they had a good price for what seemed like good windows and we were working with them on painting at the same time. So it was something they could coordinate/project-manage together and we had one neck to choke if there were issues. We had a few things they had to address but they were VERY good about handling them and we didn't have to pay a thing til they were done and we were satisfied.

[callerys]

Thanks, doing the Zen window thing now.