Looking for Replacement Windows

We just had windows replaced. We contracted with Exterior Enhancements. They were middle-of-the-road when it came to price quotes. We've been happy with the windows and their service.

Our house is about 100 years old, and we needed new windows but didn't want to lose the character of the old windows that "match" the house. Mon-Ray is a company in the Twin Cities that has worked in every state because they restore windows rather than replace them. (For example, they've restored windows in old buildings at Harvard University.) Window restoration was much cheaper than replacement, the windows look great and work great--much more energy efficient. We recommended Mon-Ray to friends, and they had a great experience with them, too.

I highly recommend North Central Builders. They have replaced nearly all of our windows and a sliding glass door. The biggest selling point for me was that I actually gained glass window space versus most window replacement companies where you lose a lot of window. Also, they offer a wood looking vinyl interior that requires no maintenance and a clad exterior that also requires no maintenance. We are very happy with the results and the price seemed fair.

You can save a lot of money by ordering windows from the big box stores and then having a local installer or handyman install them. Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards all sell replacement windows. Generally, here is no advantage in removing the entire window to the rough opening. Properly installed window will perform as the manufacturer intended. Consider "low E" and "Argon" filled windows at a minimum. Window such a these will run about $200 - $250 for custom sized windows with tax and the installation should be around $50 - $100 per window. A single installer can remove and install about 2-3 windows per hour. I know I have done it myself.

We bought our windows ourselves from Menards (Special ordered Pella windows with uva/uvb protection, etc. Our house was built in 1973). Then we paid a contractor friend to install them at a rate of $35/hour. He said that if we weren't friends, he would typically draw up a contract and it would be much more expensive than the way we were paying him. It took him about a week to install 10 windows. The problem we had was that when my husband went down to city hall to get the permit, they base the permit price on the amount it was costing the home owner to install the windows. The guy at city hall would not believe my husband. He kept saying that he sees these things every day and people don't install this amount windows for less than $15,000 so we ended up paying more for our permit that we should have because of the city hall person.

When comparing window replacement costs, be sure to look at this - some places will take out your old windows, but not the entire frame, making the glass part of your windows a bit smaller. Some will take out the entire frame - those will cost more, but in an 80 year old house, that is probably what you need to have done.

Midwest Window Company on Minnehaha Ave in Minneapolis just replaced 9 single hung windows in our house for $4100. It only took one guy about 3 hours to install them all. They have a showroom so you can check out the windows your getting first. Our experience was impeccable and I would highly recommend them. We also got a quote from Anderson Windows for $8000, which was out of our budget.
Goodluck

We've been happy with our Wellington Windows. The price you were quoted might be right -- windows are really expensive. Wellington has a sale 2-3 times a year, so we asked them to let us know when their next sale was, and they contacted us then and gave us a quote.

I am having new windows installed this week. We are putting in vinyl windows by Minnesota Rusco, a local company in business in the Twin Cities for over 40 years. I am somewhat biased because my dad and my brother own the company. However, they replaced two windows for us two years ago and I love them! The installers are independent contractors and have been very professional. The bid you got actually doesn't sound too bad, but it certainly doesn't hurt to look around. You can also take advantage of the $1500 tax credit offered this year if you have them installed by the end of the year. They are located in Hopkins, but travel all over the Twin Cities. Their number is ###-###-####. My brother, Mike Hazelwood, is the sales manager. Good luck.

Edited: Terri B. is right. Although our house is only 15 years old, because of the type of window we had they are taking out the entire frame and going down to the rough opening. In fact, they even had to cut a little extra into the house. If they didn't do this and just replaced the window we would have ended up with a much smaller window. There are a lot of variables to look at when getting window estimates--energy rating of the window, tempered glass requirements for certain windows, installation costs, premade or custom made frames, staining, potential moisture issues, etc. It really makes a difference to have a contractor who knows what they are doing. Sometimes that can cost a little extra, but is worth it in the long run.

call- A PAIN IN THE GLASS-###-###-####- we use them on our property here for all our windows-they do a great job..prices are perfect-they work with your budget...they also clean up after themselves-huge issue with most of our vendors...good luck

We did the windows on our old house and that price seems high. I think our price was around that much but we had 13 windows. I remember thinking it was around $1,000 per window on the average. We got mostly casement and some sliders (the price will depend on the type you want). We used Greyhawk Builders. They're probably on the internet. Their service was okay. The sales guy intimated that we would get some reduction of noise from the new windows (we lived about 100 yards from 494) but there was no noticable differece. Other than that, our expereince was fine and they seemed to be the lowest price. We were happy with the windows themsleves as we could clean them from the inside and they looked nice.