Renewal by Andersen Reviews

The rep was a top-notch man. If he happened to come through the town that I live in, he made it a point to call and made sure that everything went on schedule and if there was anything that he could do. He called me a couple of times after we spoke and we decided what windows we wanted to replace in our house. He was awesome.

My wife and I were working on the days that it would be nice outside and the installers wanted to schedule it that day, and I told them that I couldn't do it that day. I apologized. And they were, "No, it's not a problem." I said, "We're free on this day." It was on a weekend. We hoped to do it on a weekday, but my wife ended up having to go into work and take some classes that day even though she was off. But they were no problem with it.

A crew of four guys showed up on a Saturday when it was chilly. They told us it would take a bit longer since it was a crew of four guys. But they knocked it out four hours earlier than what they said it would take them. They were awesome. You can measure windows, but when you take a window out, you might not get the exact measurement. But they knew what they were doing.

When they ran into a bit of a problem with the framing of the house that the window went into, they took care of it. We had one of our main windows in the front of our house that didn't want to go in, even the other two did that we had ordered, and they went above and beyond to make sure that they fit and everything looked clean when it was done. They made sure that the windows were nice and level. They laid out tarps and had vacuums. I was thoroughly impressed with them. They were super nice. We're gonna have more put in and I've already requested through RBA that I want that crew back.

What we decided to do was our front part of our house and it's completely a 180 compared to the way that it was. The main couch that my wife and I sit on is a recliner and it sits in the front of our house by big windows. I remember every year, especially in wintertime, it was so cold. Now, I had to pull the curtains back and touch the windows. The back of my head isn't cold. Even through the curtains, the old windows that we had where we could feel the cold. The front of our house faces the north. So, during the wintertime, we get that north wind and it would be super cold there. It's impressive. Everything that RBA said about their windows is 100% true. I've already recommended them to several people.

The installation went very well, too. I thought the team did a great job. They sent out a very experienced team. We did have a problem with the install. When we got done, the windows on the inside didn't look like they were very professionally finished. The team said, “Your house is always framed up one way, and we measure it and come as close as we can." There's still some gaps in the spaces, so they filled that in with caulk. They did a pretty nice job with the caulk, but it didn't look like a finished product on the inside. So, we were very unhappy with that.

I talked to the sales guy and also the technical guy, and I took pictures of it, and I talked to the team that installed it. They said, “Yeah, you need to talk, talk to these guys. We know there's things you can do.” The lead on the installation immediately said, “We can fix this pretty easy.” He had experience as a master carpenter and did a lot of trim work. He said, “It's not that hard to fix. I just can't fix it for you right now until we get approval to fix it. But I would definitely talk to the guys.” So, I talked to Renewal's team and a guy came out and he said, “Yeah, that doesn't look right." They stepped up and they fixed it, and it came out great.

We did our house in two phases, and the first phase was on the front of the house. The front of our house has very hot southern exposure. We have big trees out front that block this thing in the summer. But even in the summer, we could immediately tell the windows made a huge difference on the heat in the house. I really like that it blocks a lot of the damaging rays. In the winter, you'd be shocked at how much a southern exposure gets hot. We have these special shades when we first built the house because they didn't have this technology. We had these special thermal shades, but it blocked this beautiful view we had.

We could never open the windows because it was too hot in these southern exposure rooms. One of them was this huge, beautiful living room we have. We couldn't open the windows because it got too hot, and then it was cooking everything in there and the rays were destroying the furniture and the floors. We noticed immediately that that was not true anymore. So last year, we were able to keep the windows open most of the time, and it added so much to the ambience of the house.

The price is a lot. You pay for what you get, but we did do some other windows in our lower level, and we've been satisfied with them. Andersen was expensive, and it almost kept me from doing the deal, but I feel like I really got a quality product out of it, and I got this installation guarantee where they would come out and fix no matter what happens. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

We chose a window in one spot over the sink and we really went with that window because of the design that they offered. It had a picture window and on the two windows off to the side of that picture window, they slid instead of opened up and down. We decided to go with that because that window that's over our kitchen sink is 106 inches. We have a pretty view outside our kitchen, across our property, so we got that to get rid of the divided-light. The installation took half a day and the only thing we had to wait on was the window to come in, which took two months and a half months from the time the rep placed the order to the time the installers came out and put the window in.

The installer was very professional and protected all parts of the house. I pointed out that there was a defect on the window that came from the manufacturer from when it was built. The window was a bronze color and I could see some silver. Two pieces of trim looked like they were cut short and that installer took pictures and put it into the system. Then I got an email that they've ordered those pieces. And when they get them in, they'll call me to get the installer to come replace them.

The other thing was, when the guy who come out and did the measuring, I wasn't home. But we called and I asked them how they were going to trim out the window once it's installed because I have cedar. They said the installer will bring cedar with them but I may have to stain it because they didn't have that, to which I agreed. But when the installer came out, he didn't bring any cedar. He said he wasn't told to bring any and it wasn't on the PO. But I told him no fail because I've got extra cedar in my barn, leftover from the construction of the house. So I went and got some cedar that was already stained. He took the boards I had, fixed it, and did the trim with the wood I had. I also told the installer that if we get some more windows done, I will have some cedar here and it will be stained. Just in case something like that happens again, so they wouldn't have to have a second trip out here.

So far, we love our new window because it's makes a big difference. We had divided-light on those two side windows, but now, we don't have any divided-light. It's wide open. The other part we love about it is the screens where you cannot tell if there are screen on the side windows or not. They don't use a normal window screen anymore and they use what they call a mesh. In one of my existing windows, the screen is darker and a little bit distorted. So, your view is distorted with the screen on there versus the top of the window that has no screen. On our new window, there are screens on the two side windows that slide, but they're not distorted.

We sat down and talked about windows. I set an appointment, and then I talked to my case manager, and he explained to me about the whole process. I liked it. What my neighbor was saying was false. My windows are beautiful. They're excellent. I'm the talk of the neighborhood. I love them. I'm gonna get the top floor done probably next year. So, I told their rep I’d call him some time in November like we did last time to set up to do upstairs. The downstairs is so energy efficient. I feel the change in the temperature downstairs. It is so cool because I have a corner house and the house, around right now, would be so hot that I have to turn the air conditioner on. I haven't turned the air conditioner on, or the heater, and it's so comfortable downstairs. You can't hear anything outside, too. That's the great part I love. You can't hear a peep outside.

Renewal by Andersen got to change their advertisement. On television, it seems like it's very expensive. People are now about the prices of windows and stuff like that. They'll go for a cheaper window, and the installment will come around a little even more higher than what Andersen is charging. I should have bought Andersen windows for my rental house if I knew they were excellent. I could have saved a whole lot of money with my house and my rental house. From now on, I'm doing everything through Andersen. The installers were excellent, polite, neat and professional. These two young guys were caring. They really showed me how to operate the windows. They took their time. They didn't act like installers. They acted like salesmen. They really explained to me how the windows work and what you can do as far as this. It only took them two days, and I was really surprised.

The two guys put eight windows in two days. I was really surprised. They put the windows in and let it set for a day, and then they put the molding in. I was like, “They're awesome!” They did some special stuff because I needed some pointing in my brick by the windows. They were beyond above the job. They insulated the part where the brick is showing that grout was coming out. They didn’t really have to do that. They made it look like a really beautiful professional job. Some people will just say, “I'm just here to put a window in and then put liner around it." That's it. They've seen that I needed some brick pointing, and they filled the brick pointing in. They overstepped their boundaries and did a great job.

My husband had all the heat turned off because they were in and out and the window’s open. When they left, they left all their equipment piled up against our baseboard heater in the living room, so we couldn't even turn the heat on that night in the living room. And when my husband said something to them the next day when they came back, it didn't seem like they cared.

It was a father-son team and the son was personable. He was nice. And he would talk. The father was not. But the guy could cut a board without measuring it. He was good at what he did. He put the trim outside on the outside window but never took the old siding off underneath it. He knew that we were going to replace the siding. So my husband said, “You can't do that because now I can't run the siding underneath it.” My husband asked the salesman, “Do you want me to cut the siding back before they come?” The salesman said, “No. Our guys do that." But they didn't. They put the window over on top of it. So, my husband told him he had to take it back off and redo it, which he did, but they were not happy about.

Another thing that happened was we got a French door. We ordered a screen door with it. He was pissed because he had to put that screen door on. And we were, “We ordered what we wanted. It's not our fault that you're not happy that you have to do that part of the job.” Also, I'm not crazy about the quality of the screen door. The window in the front is one huge picture window. That one side slides nice, the side that the sash sticks out. But the other side is going to be hard to slide in because it's so heavy and there's nowhere to hold on to it. But the quality is great. All of the windows are nice.

I can notice a difference in noise. My husband drives a truck, and I can usually hear him coming when he's down the road. I can't even hear him when he's pulling in the driveway now. There was a train wreck. The whole town had to be evacuated. I didn't even know it was happening until somebody texted me, because I couldn't hear it. They texted me and said, “Is there a train wreck?” I looked out the window, and I could see planes coming up over the trees on the other side of town. There was never any smell that came in the house from the smoke and fire. So, they're doing a great job.

The meticulous attention to detail on the outside- properly installing the window, explaining the steps and then sealing it from wind & rain is impressive. Renewal By Andersen is by far the best window contractor I have ever worked with (and I did installs with other vendors at my prior condo). I strongly recommend them. They are worth the extra cost & the long term savings you'll get from a great window with a great warranty.