My son is replacing some basement windows.
He is looking at Home Depot (Anderson or Simonton) windows, or another installer who would use B.F. Rich.

Anyone have any opinions on use of Home Depot installers (I am sure they vary by location) or the brands of windows I mentioned?

Home Depot will generally sub-contract those jobs... so generally there's no way to know of their reliability or experience ahead of time. Thankfully, HD is pretty good about backing up the warrantee.

You should, though, consider installing them yourself. Replacement windows are pretty easy. They even come with very good installation instructions.

I'm an associte for Home Depot as an outside window & siding estimator representative. In other words I sell the jobs & I sell them honestly. Home depot does use sub-contractors for their projects which are suppose to be monitored by Home depot's project managers. But I found most of these project managers are either to lazy or don't know what they are doing which has resulted in a lot of my jobs being installed improperly. Then Home depots starts passing the buck around when it comes time to supply service to fix that customers problem. Sometimes making the customer wait 30-60 to 90 days before anything gets fixed. They handle 3 qualities of vinyl windows all made by Simoton. Their 6500 series is their best vinyl window & I absolutely recommend this window. But if it's not installed properly, you will have problems. However you can not buy this window from Home depot & you install it yourself. It is only sold on their SFI program which is; SELL,FURNISH & INSTALL. Bottom line, this window is a great product but from my experience most of the time their installtion and service is very poor. P.S. If Home depot saw these comments they would probably fire me. But I'm the type of person that expects good service when I spend my money & feel everyone else should get the same good service.

PLEASE READ!

Just an update as to the installation process, in case you still come across this post when comparing Andersen and Simonton windows - Home Depot has COMPLETELY renovated the way they install products. That last post was from '07, before they changed the process.

It's very true, they used to sell windows and then sub-contract the work out to local contractors, because they were a do-it-yourself home improvement retailer. NOW we have crews that do installations that are essentially HD employees - They're background checked before they're even considered, and then they are taught by HD EXACTLY how to install the products (which are now roofing, siding, windows, complete gutter systems, and blow-in insulation) and held to HD standards for a lifetime after the product is installed. After years of having great products installed TERRIBLY by 3rd party contractors, HD finally got smart and realized they should do it themselves. Even the BEST products will turn to crap if they're not properly installed. So, just to clear that up.

Oh and if you're still reading - the warranties are PHENOMENAL. Seriously. DOUBLE lifetime warranties on most products (so if you sell the house the next owner still has a lifetime craftsmanship and product warranties) and lifetime warranties on accidental breakage (windows) for their top of the line window systems (Simonton 6500 and 8000 stormbreaker), which incidentally are exclusive to Home Depot. Hope this helps.

PLEASE READ!

Just an update as to the installation process, in case you still come across this post when comparing Andersen and Simonton windows - Home Depot has COMPLETELY renovated the way they install products. That last post was from '07, before they changed the process.

It's very true, they used to sell windows and then sub-contract the work out to local contractors, because they were a do-it-yourself home improvement retailer. NOW we have crews that do installations that are essentially HD employees - They're background checked before they're even considered, and then they are taught by HD EXACTLY how to install the products (which are now roofing, siding, windows, complete gutter systems, and blow-in insulation) and held to HD standards for a lifetime after the product is installed. After years of having great products installed TERRIBLY by 3rd party contractors, HD finally got smart and realized they should do it themselves. Even the BEST products will turn to crap if they're not properly installed. So, just to clear that up.

Oh and if you're still reading - the warranties are PHENOMENAL. Seriously. DOUBLE lifetime warranties on most products (so if you sell the house the next owner still has a lifetime craftsmanship and product warranties) and lifetime warranties on accidental breakage (windows) for their top of the line window systems (Simonton 6500 and 8000 stormbreaker), which incidentally are exclusive to Home Depot. Hope this helps.

jbolwerk

Thanks for posting the update on HD practices. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

I've never known of anyone that was satisfied with HD practices in the past. One individual had windows installed by HD sub at about 3 times the going rate. Sub claim job did not include interior trim and then wanted another $300 for about 10 foot of trim.

Customer finally got trim that should have been included for about $150. Material cost about $30 and would have taken 30 minutes to install.

Maybe HD management will someday learn that "Your reputation precedes you".

Home Depot subcontractor installed our 6500 Series and they rock! Great energy savings, nice clean screens and easy to maintain and clean.

Double life time guarantee a big deal? You betcha - we're covered and we're going to sell in the next 1-2 years. This will be a great adder to the deal ;)

0% Financing along with tax credits - this was a great deal for us!