3 aluminium replacement windows

all_greek_to_me

We had all of the windows in our house replaced last year, with the exception of the three kitchen ones. (We weren't sure what we were doing with the room at the time.) The other windows are Andersens. I love the fact that they're wood inside and low-maintenance uPVC-wrapped outside, and that they have a very slim profile, but they were a bit of a nightmare to have put in. Our builder didn't make clear (or perhaps we just didn't ask the right questions) that the windows weren't made-to-measure, so we had to have some apertures knocked out and made bigger and some filled in. It was all very messy and frustrating, both for us and for our builder (who I suspect wouldn't want to put in replacement Andersen windows ever again!).

We can't face having more Andersen windows put in in the kitchen (plus the apertures would be very tricky to alter in that room), so we need to find something that'll look similar enough to the existing windows. That rules uPVC, with its chunky profile, out and aluminium in. The new windows won't be identical, externally, to the Andersens, but only one of them will be seen alongside the others (two are tucked away at the side), and I think the house is big enough and ugly enough for it not to be noticeable.

Anyway, I now have four quotations for the aluminium windows, ranging in price from £1549 to £3000+. The lowest quote is from a specialist aluminium window manufacturer, based locally. It seems that they mainly do commercial jobs.

The quotation is for:

· Supply of 3 aluminium framed units (1580mm x 1550mm, including top opener; 2020mm x 1135mm, fixed; 550mm x 1135mm, opening), standard white powder coating, white ironmongery
· Removal of existing units
· Installation of aluminium framed units
· Mastic work externally to a maximum of 5mm around the aluminium frames in a standard colour
· Clean down of aluminium frames and glass after installation

I'd normally be a bit wary of the lowest quotation (although it's not dramatically lower than at least one other), but I suspect the fact that they mainly do big contracts, and manufacture the windows themselves, is what's keeping the price down.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
all_greek

all_greek_to_me

Anyone have any thoughts, positive or negative?

Thanks,
all_greek