I'll add a positive story: Not all window sales experiences are bad. We had a local company that gave us their best price up front (it was a competitive price too). The salesman literally said, "We don't do the haggling game, we give a fair price and you decide." I appreciated that honesty. I did show him another quote that was slightly lower and asked if he could do anything, and he said, "I understand, how about I throw in custom-color exterior capping at no extra charge?" That was worth a few hundred bucks.
So he didn't cut the price much (aside from a small match on one odd-sized window), but he gave us added value. The whole thing felt very above-board and no pressure. That actually made me want to go with them, and we did.
The install went great, and I recommended them to a friend who also had a good experience. Sometimes a company might win you over with professionalism rather than rock-bottom price, and it pays off for everyone.
Point is, there are decent folks in this business too. This thread has a lot of warnings (rightfully so), but I wanted to share that there are hassle-free experiences out there. You just have to find the right company.
I had a scenario where one installer (a small family-run business) basically told me upfront, “This is our best price, we don’t really negotiate because we price it fairly from the start.” Their quote was indeed already quite reasonable compared to others, so I believed him. I actually tried to negotiate and he politely held firm, maybe knocked off like $100 just to be nice.
I ended up hiring them and it was a great decision. They did fantastic work, no hidden fees, and no nonsense. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t nickel-and-dime them because they were a quality outfit and gave me a good price to start.
So, to add to the chorus: if a quote is straightforward and fair, you might not get a big discount negotiating, especially with smaller companies. And that’s okay. Sometimes those smaller guys don’t have huge margins, but they make up for it with craftsmanship and service.
I guess the trick is knowing when a price is fair — which is why getting those multiple quotes helps. You get a feel for the market rate.
This thread has been such an education! I came here not knowing anything about window quotes, and now I feel like I could practically teach a class on it 😂.
Huge thank you to everyone sharing details and advice. Seriously, every homeowner should read this before getting replacement windows. It would save a lot of headaches and money.
I have one more general question for the group: In terms of negotiation wiggle room, what’s the typical percentage one can expect to shave off? Like, are we talking 5-10% off most of the time, or have people gotten like 20-30% off initial quotes? I know it will vary, but I’m trying to gauge how hard to push when the time comes.
I'm the type who doesn't want to insult a contractor with a super low counter-offer, but also don't want to leave money on the table.
@hcarter30 It definitely varies, but from my experience and what I’ve seen:
Many companies seem to have around 10% wiggle room that they can drop pretty easily (especially if you have a competing bid to show).
Getting 15-20% off is possible if their initial price had some fluff or if they're motivated (end of quarter, quota to hit, etc).
More than 20% off is rarer and usually only if their first quote was really padded (like those situations where they expect to haggle).
In my case, I got about 15% off the first quote with negotiation (initial was
10,000,theydiditfor
10,000,theydiditfor
8,500). Another quote, the guy only budged maybe 5%.
One tactic: instead of saying a percentage, I had a target number in mind that I wanted (based on averaging all my quotes). So I told my preferred company that if they could do $X, I would sign. $X was about 12% less than their initial number. They came back and agreed.
So I'd say aim for at least 10% off if you sense the initial price is the “typical” inflated kind. If it's a small firm that already gave you a low number, there might be less room. And if it's a large company with a huge initial quote, sometimes you can get 30% off because they planned for that negotiation.
@hcarter30 To piggyback on that – there are cases of huge drops. I mentioned earlier (as did others) a certain big company that went from $45k to $30k during the sales pitch – that’s a 33% drop. So clearly they had that in their pocket.
But with more normal contractors, I found 10% was pretty standard and 15-20% if you have strong leverage (like a clearly lower competitor’s quote).
Another data point: one of my friends got 3 quotes, the highest was $20k, lowest $14k for the same work. He really liked the $20k company (best vibe), so he straight up showed them the $14k quote and they actually beat it, doing the job for $13.5k. That’s a big cut, but they said they didn’t want to lose the job. I was amazed they went that low, maybe they had a slow schedule.
So sometimes you get lucky if a company would rather take a smaller profit than no job at all.
Basically, start reasonable but don’t be afraid to ask for more. Worst case they say “we really can’t” and then you know that’s their bottom line.
I tried negotiating but only got a small concession. One local installer said their price was already as low as they could go. They only took about 3% off for me in the end. Still, a little savings is better than nothing! Not every quote will drop by 15% or more, I guess.
For those with budget constraints, did anyone consider doing only some windows now and the rest later? I’m debating doing my house in two phases (maybe 5 windows now, 5 next year) to spread out cost. I wonder if splitting it causes you to lose any volume discount. One contractor said I’d get a better price doing all at once, which makes sense.
I tried asking if I do half now, can they honor the same price for the second half next year. He was non-committal (basically “prices usually go up each year, but we’ll try to take care of you”).
Has anyone done a staggered approach and how did that impact costs or negotiations?
@carolcosplayer I did my windows in two batches (first floor vs second floor, a year apart). The initial quote had a note that if we did all, it was X total, but if split, each phase would be priced separately. The contractor was upfront that doing all at once saves on mobilization costs and such.
In my case, splitting ended up costing maybe 5-10% more overall than if I had done them all at once. Mostly because I missed out on the “bulk” discount for the second half (they gave me a discount on the first batch since it was still a decent number of windows, but for the second batch they basically treated it as a new smaller job).
I tried to negotiate the second batch price down by reminding them I was a repeat customer, and they did give a small loyalty discount as I mentioned earlier (5%). But the reality was, new year, slightly higher material costs, etc., so it was a bit more.
If you can afford to do it all now, financially it’s usually better to do so (one bigger negotiation, one installation crew setup, etc.). If you can’t, it’s not the end of the world – just try to lock in a deal for the second phase if possible. Maybe get something in writing like “we will do remaining 5 windows at $Y each if done by next year.” Some might agree to that to get your first half business.
Just a note on scheduling and timeline: if you want it done faster, sometimes you might have to pay a premium or go with a higher quote. One company I talked to was swamped and said they couldn’t install for 4 months. Another said they could do it in 4 weeks but their quote was higher.
We actually went with the slightly more expensive one because timing was important to us (we had a leaky window that couldn’t wait through another winter). We didn’t really negotiate on price with them because their availability was kind of their selling point. In fact, they knew we valued the quick turnaround, so we had less leverage there.
If you’re not in a rush, you hold more cards. If you are in a rush, maybe less negotiating power, or you might prioritize the contractor who can do it soon even if they cost a bit more. Just something to keep in mind if timeline matters to you.