I get where you’re coming from, but I actually do check reviews—sometimes people post pics and detailed horror stories you’d never get from a neighbor or a sales pitch. I mean, I trust my neighbors, but they’re not gonna crawl around checking for drafts in my living room. Sometimes those online rants are a goldmine for spotting red flags before you hand over your cash.
I hear you on the reviews—honestly, they saved me from a nightmare last year. I almost went with a budget installer for my old ranch house, but I found a bunch of people posting about warped frames and shoddy caulking. Ended up paying more for a company that’s been around forever. Not cheap, but zero regrets. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for, especially with stuff like windows where shortcuts just bite you later.
- Seen both sides of this one. Did a job last winter where the homeowner went cheap—frames started bowing by spring.
-
“Sometimes you really do get what you pay for, especially with stuff like windows where shortcuts just bite you later.”
- Not saying every budget installer is bad, but fixing poor work costs way more than doing it right once.
- If it’s your forever house, I’d lean established... but if it’s a flip or rental, I get the temptation to save.