Pella + Lowe’s
aaronbeckworth
| Posted in General Questions on
Does anyone have experience with Pella Impervia fiberglass windows purchased through Lowe’s? I am only in need of a couple windows for a small backyard shed/studio. The Lowe’s is a couple hours away from my small, rural town and is where I’ll likely be shopping for framing lumber, so picking up windows then would be convenient.
The studio is a chance to try out different products and methods as we continue to plan for our future PGH build. 4B, mixed-dry, high elevation New Mexico
Thanks,
Aaron
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
Hi Aaron.
I don't have any experience with Lowes and Pella, but I did a remodel with (mostly) off the shelf Anderson windows from Home Depot and I was impressed with their balance of quality and affordability. They were vinyl-clad exterior with unfinished wood interior (400 series, if I remember right). And HD got me the special-order units I needed quickly (delivered to the site). I'm not sure if this is an option but I mention it because often where there is a Lowes, there is also a HD.
I bought (for myself) a whole house (~35 units) worth of Andersen windows and quoted them through my preferred lumberyard (a large one in NJ) and Home Depot Pro Desk. They were very close in pricing. What made the difference was that my lumberyard could quickly turn around corrections to the quote, whereas the Pro Desk contact would be radio silent for a couple days at a time.
I had an initial quote from a third source, which was way higher than the other two. What that tells me is that unless you know your lumberyard has aggressive pricing, it's worth a Home Depot Pro Desk quote as a point of reference because of the volume they do. The third quote was 10-15% higher, to be clear, so these are real potential savings.
Side Note: If Home Depot cared even a little bit, they could do so much more pro business. Here's a simple example. Why does the Home Depot website not have an email address for each Pro Desk? Calling them can be a nightmare. I have been transferred between the general number and the Pro Desk (because no one picked up) 5+ times on the same phone call.
I know nothing about the Pella Imperva windows.
My experience is that both Lowes and HD vary from store to store quite a bit in their quality. I've done special orders with both my local Lowes and HD from their websites. I stopped using Lowes because they had a 100% record of messing up my orders, and always gave me a hard time when I wanted to exchange what they sent me with what I wanted. HD is better, somewhat. I've found I am most likely to get what I'm buying if I go into the store and talk to someone and personally watch while he types my order into the computer.
You'd think online ordering would be more reliable, the information just goes from computer to computer, but that's not the case.
I also had a pretty good experience ordering Andersen 400 windows at HD as a special order.
I used the Andersen 100 Series composite window (casements and lights) on my last house and was very pleased with the bang-for-the-buck they offered. (I switched to the 400 Series for the sliding french doors because they are built with a beefier frame.) I think you can order these through HD.
Can't speak for lowes but I build a tiny house largely from a single order at the pro desk at HD. They outsourced the window portion of the order to the window Manufacturer so when one was discovered to be broken out of the box I had to go to American Craftsman by way of HD online desk who made the order. It was a lot of phone time.
I would assume Lowes does something similar. I would check the window inside the box at the location to be sure it's good since you're a few hours away. Your window will be as good a quality as the manufacturer supplying Lowes. If the windows you want are not something Lowes commonly stocks and has to be special ordered the trail of bread crumbs to get to the people who will actually help if something goes wrong becomes long.
I got all Pella Impervia at Lowe's for new build 2017-2018 - also got doors there too, including a few Pella doors. Just be sure to know all options at time of ordering and ask about sales, if you can delay until a sale, you may save 10% or more. As all doors/windows were from Lowe's, I was there often and they had incredible patience.