Our Brand Recommendations
What brands do we work with? What brands do we recommend?
As your installation company, we work with all brands. Our installation methods consider best practices and the strictest manufacturer standards and apply them to all of our jobs. We are happy to work with any brand that you choose. We often find ourselves a fraction of the cost of the “factory” installations with BETTER installation methods.
However, we often find working with certain suppliers and retailers is easier than others and we often find products that we would steer clear of. We try to compile a list of brands we like to do business with and brands we like to steer you away from. There are even a couple of brands we refuse to install at times.
Windows:
There are a lot of options for windows. For builder-grade vinyl windows, we like Jeldwen’s “best” windows. Menards is a good place to source these. Menards has an efficient supply chain and seems to take decent care of your product during handling and shipping. I wouldn’t recommend dropping below Jeldwen’s “best series” and wouldn’t recommend spending additional money beyond their builders series with Jeldwen.
If you’re looking for a good Value for money window you are looking for a Pella 250 series vinyl window. This is the window we install the most of and install on our own homes (I, the owner, just put these in my house a couple of months ago). They offer the best value for the money. We have few defects with them and Pella is a breeze to work with. They also come with a good factory warranty. There are a few other good vinyl window manufacturers on the market that we have enjoyed installing as well, some more local to our area (some built-in in Michigan as well). However, we find that while they might build an excellent window they are typically harder to work with on warranty work. Something that is, unfortunately, getting more and more prevalent in the last few years. We do sell Pella’s products in-house as well, although our allegiance is only to get you the best value. We teamed up with Pella because we enjoy their product and are still happy to install other brands. What that means is we can often supply these windows at a cheaper price which makes them even more appealing.
For wood (aluminum-clad windows) I would take a good look at both Pella and Andersons windows. You can get these at the big box stores or local contract suppliers (we do sell Pella’s in-house as well). They both manufacture good quality windows. Both manufacturers use a treatment process on the wood and come with good warranties. If you’re looking at wood windows I suggest you visit a showroom or supplier before us coming out to measure so you have a good idea of what you like in each window and the hardware choices.
Interior and Exterior doors:
We’ve installed tens of thousands of doors and to be fair a lot of manufacturers have quality control issues. We will work with you to make sure things get done right and to help you pick out the best products for your house.
We have less “allegiance” to interior doors than say, windows. But for our house, we typically gravitate towards Menard’s “Mastercraft” doors. Menards has a quick and painless supply chain. They own the manufacturer and Mastercraft ONLY makes doors for Menards. What this means is that you get your product oftentimes weeks faster than with other supply chains. They also have good styling choices, fair prices, and reasonable quality control.
The same goes for Entry doors. For a solid value door, I would start your journey at Menards with Mastercraft doors. They have limited selections and is hard to get custom sizing. But in the case you have a standard size they have high-quality doors for a good price with quick turnaround times. If you steer clear of their wooden door jambs in favor of their composite jambs you’ll get a long-lasting product too. We would love your repeat business, we just don’t want it installing new doors every 5 years! Do it right once is my strategy.
If you don’t find an entry door that matches what you’d like and/or a custom size prevents you from getting a Mastercraft door I would take a serious look at Thermatru’s Entry doors. You can buy these at most suppliers in our market (Lowes, Home Depot, and your building stores). Thermatru makes some beautiful doors with as many options as you can imagine. They also can put together custom sizes and entries with sidelights and transoms when other suppliers can’t. They do come with a hefty price tag though. We’ve seen entry doors with sidelights jump from $ 2K to $6-7K. But in this case, you get what you pay for.
Storm Doors:
We only recommend Larson’s storm doors. They make the best storm doors on the market but have been plagued with some quality control issues lately. But for now, we still find them the best value and quality. They also make most of the other brands’ storm doors as well for them.
Brands to steer clear from:
The following is subject to change and will be updated as we start seeing changes in the market. But there are a few brands I would simply recommend you stay away from:
Reliabuilt (this is a brand we will occasionally refuse to install due to quality control issues)
Masonite (can be hit or miss)
Jeldwen (anything but their builder-grade windows, or interior doors. We service warranty work on almost every Jeldwen French door we have installed in the past 16 months)
Pellas entry doors and storm doors are overpriced and they currently do not have good options. Their storm doors are made by Larson but have inferior hardware.
