New vendor - about to take a chance in austin

[jesoonster]

Hi everyone. I've been getting a crash course and spent about 20+ hours to get to where I am today to ask this question. Long story short, I'm considering taking a risk on a small business in the Austin area. I considered Ringer windows (many of you advised against it in the forum b/c it's small, but they have a great reputation locally and they source decent to good? parts - glass from cardinal, spacers from XL edge Cardinal, seems to have many chambers, vinyl from Veka which I believe is virgin vinyl?).

I spoke with the Veka rep and I asked him a list of other small window manufacturers in the area and he mentioned https://vivawindows.com/

I still have more due diligence to do, but it seems they use cardinal glass, decent vinyl (Veka).....they don't have any stats up on the website and I'm in the process of getting them from the company. I heard they may charge 200-250$ stucco home window for an install (an unbelievable price I think in the Austin area now b/c everything is so jacked up and a lead time of 6-8 weeks). Assuming all stats check out, what are the downsides I have to watch out for?

I'm thinking warranty, install can go wrong, the product was put together poorly, etc. I'm planning on contacting previous customers, but they may not be experts so what are some recommendations you have to assess these guys? I can phase my project plan to do a few windows and wait a few months to do more but I'm not sure that will address the long-term issues that may take more time to surface. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you.

[toddinmn]

Randy is your man. They all use virgin vinyl in the main parts and many use recycled vinyl on the non structural parts. It sounds like your doing a lot of research to justify saving a few bucks. What do you expect the Veka rep to say?

[HomeSealed]

Downsides to watch for:
- poorly designed and assembled window that won't perform well and fail prematurely
- poor installation (looks like they do the manufacturer and install?)
- go out of business leaving you high and dry even if after install


I don't know anything about this company other than what the website says, but it looks to be a product designed to hit a low price point (only SH, no DH, the built in brickmold, and a host of other "features").

Just my opinion, but as Todd alluded to saving a few bucks on a several thousand dollars purchase that will affect the value and integrity of your home isn't the best place to take a chance... especially when the odds don't even appear to be promising.

[jesoonster]

"I don't know anything about this company other than what the website says, but it looks to be a product designed to hit a low price point (only SH, no DH, the built in brickmold, and a host of other "features")."

This is incredibly helpful. Not being an expert...I can't see these warning signs. Thank you very much. I will avoid this.

[jesoonster]

Hi everyone (calling Randy like everyone does?

I'm following the expert advice on the forum and leaning towards sunrise or soft-lite. Issue is that sunrise apparently cut out products in this area due to the pandemic. That leaves soft-lite with 2 dealers - both I think which were not fully supported by experts here.

What should I do lol? I don't have any options. Go with NT?

[Randy]

If you’re set on vinyl, NT would be a decent choice for a mid-grade quality window. I don’t know anything about Ringer - good or bad. Don’t get rushed into making a quick decision, better to get hit with a price increase than to make a quick bad decision.

While Soft-lite makes top-tier vinyl windows, I don’t recommend their primary dealer and their secondary dealer doesn’t get any support here because of their business model.

Contact NT Windows and ask them for two or three local dealers who service your area. Feel free to email me direct if I can help further: info@ultrawindows.net

[jesoonster]

Thank you so much Randy and I appreciate the earlier conversation on the phone!

[Randy]

You are very welcome sir, hope it was helpful as you continue your search.