American Craftsman

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Joshua
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:52 pm

American Craftsman

#1 Post by Joshua »

Thoughts on this brand? I was told that it's a lower cost option made by Anderson resulting in a substantial savings.
Since they meet the Miami/Dade hurricane guidelines, is this a good way to go? Are you just paying for the name with PGT or CGI?

Oberon
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:25 am
Location: East of the Mississippi

Re: American Craftsman

#2 Post by Oberon »

American Craftsman is a rebranded SilverLine bottom of the barrel window that I would never recommend for any purpose.

Andersen did own silverline for a relatively short time because upper management wanted to get into mass production vinyl market and silverline is profitable, if not quality.

Eventually they realized that associating silverline with their brand name was harming their overall reputation, so they sold it to ply gem, where it really belonged

Yes you are paying for name recognition when you buy a higher end window just as you are when you are buying a higher end refrigerator or car or toilet...companies who have built a reputation on manufacturing quality products absolutely value name recognition. There is value in reputation.

Just because a window can pass Miami Dade testing is in no way a testament to quality. Anyone with the right knowledge can build a window to pass that testing if they are willing to spend a few extra bucks. Of itself, it’s not a declaration of quality that a window meets MDCA standards. There are some amazingly high quality windows that do so and some frighteningly low quality windows that do so.

Joshua
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:52 pm

Re: American Craftsman

#3 Post by Joshua »

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. Do you know of any lower cost impact windows to use in Florida that you would recommend?

Oberon
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:25 am
Location: East of the Mississippi

Re: American Craftsman

#4 Post by Oberon »

Unfortunately, lower cost and impact window are simply not synonymous. As I mentioned previously, anyone can build an impact window that will pass testing IF they are willing to throw dollars at it. Doesn't necessarily make it a good window, but it does make it an expensive window. How many windows are you looking at replacing and how big are they?

And to add to my previous post on name recognition, I was thinking top end products as I wrote it, but often even mid-grade or low-grade products are sold as much on name recognition as much as better products, even when the product is anything but high quality. I didn't mean to imply that name recognition is a precursor to high quality, only that you are likely going to be paying for name recognition good or bad.

Who have you talked with so far? What have your quotes looked like?

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TheWindowNerd
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Joined: Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:05 pm
Location: SE PA & NJ; DFW/Metroplex

Re: American Craftsman

#5 Post by TheWindowNerd »

Good advice and thought above.

theWindowNerd

masterext
Posts: 1404
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 11:14 am
Location: Window Pro-Serves All of Northern New Jersey. Bergen, Morris, Union, Essex, Passaic, Sussex Counties

Re: American Craftsman

#6 Post by masterext »

American Craftsman is total garbage.

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HomeSealed
Posts: 2996
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:46 pm
Location: Milwaukee, Madison, SE Wisconsin

Re: American Craftsman

#7 Post by HomeSealed »

Oberon from the top rope!! lol... honestly though not much to add there. This is a window that is built to sell at a low cost, and as alluded to, that's almost never synonymous with quality or performance.

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