I am a homeowner, restoring a 130 year old house on a lake in eastern Massachusetts. We’re dealing with a high end architect who only works with Kolbe windows. He has strongly recommended the Heritage Series by Kolbe which is an all wood window. However, we have suggested an aluminum clad window on the exterior called Ultra series due to it being lower maintenance. Supposedly, you do not need to paint the exterior of the aluminum clad window ever. For the wood window, we could get the Kkron factory paint on the exterior and multiple dealers have said this window with the Kkron would last us at least 20 years, after which we would have to paint it. Our architect believes that the wood windows are more architecturally correct than the alum clad ones. I see that, but am really not as picky and don’t mind that the aluminum clad doesn’t look as correct, or detailed as the wood one. I just like the maintenance free part of the alum clad option and it’s the same price. If I push for the alum clad one, will the contractor, who also has worked with Kolbe windows and this architect for 20 years, not be as familiar installing an aluminum clad window? Or should I just go with the all wood window since that is what the architect/contractor normally install/are comfortable with? I also don’t want to spend this much on windows and have it not perform (leak air, etc).