Your contractor is incorrect.

There is absolutely no difference between AW from Home Depot and any other source.

oberon476 - thanks.

RES2 - thanks. There are certainly independent lumber yards in my area, but for $4k I can't see myself buying windows from them instead of Home Depot if the product is identical.

I echo what Res said. Check or have someone who you trust and is knowledgeable to go trough your order many times before signing anything. Talking about my on experience.

I would agree with the above comments.

It's very unlikely that Andersen is going to mess up your order, but not as uncommon as you would hope for HD not to mess up the order.

Make sure that the order is EXACTLY what you want and don't accept it until you are 100% comfortable with all aspects of the order.

I would like some clarity on the order-of-things in this situation. Would the OP be buying the windows directly from HD himself? Who measures the windows to see what to order? Who installs the windows in that situation? An HD subcontractor? If it is an HD subcontractor, I would not do that. Too many stories about problems with HD subcontractors - after all, their name is not on the job, HD's is, and try taking any complaints to an enormous multinational company where you are just a speck to them.

If the OP is ordering the windows from HD, but not having an HD subcontractor measure and install, then how would it work? Would the OP buy the windows from HD, and then hire his own contractor to do the installation? Maybe it's regional, but in my area no independent windows contractor would agree to this.

Thanks all for the comments.

J Sk - I've actually ordered windows from Home Depot before, and agree that the sales people generally just hand over a sheet of paper and ask you to sign, instead of thoughtfully reviewing it with you.

Shannon_WI - This is for a new house, and an architect specified the rough openings for the windows. My framer will install them for me. I've also heard the horror stories about Home Depot contractors and would never use them.

All good advice above.

Same window? Yes.

With that said, I'd pay a little more to deal with a more helpful and professional supplier both to ensure that the orginal order is correct, and also for dealing with future service. Sure HD isn't going anywhere, but the person that helped you probably will and his pimple-faced replacement may order the new warranty parts wrong twice before getting it right.

Certainly everything can and does goes smoothly sometimes as well, it just decreases the odds when you are dealing with less qualified people and you are essentially just a number.

$4k is a signigicant chunk of change (must be a lot of windows), but it can also get burned up quickly when the order was entered wrong and you missed it when signing off....

Just speaking from what I've seen and experienced, take it for whatever its worth to you.

In our case, we had to provide blue prints of the house with spec for the windows in Home Depot and based on that the "Regional Designer" from Andersen who was working with Home Depot was responsible to prepare the order. Unfortunately there were mistakes which we didn't catch before signing. In second order we were smarter and check the order many times and this time we caught the mistake made by person responsible to prepare the order. Windows were installed by our framers.

Specifying and correctly ordering the windows is a SKILL. With an experienced window professional, you are much less likely to have issues with things mentioned above - incorrect sizes, sizes that are slightly off standard and thus signifcantly more expensive, incorrect / mismatched swings, glass specifications for different directions of the house (different SHGCs for example) and the details that make things "work".

With Home Depot - you are on your own for that - so review, review, review and then review again.

You may get close or exactly what you order - but it may or may not be what you NEED.

"There are certainly independent lumber yards in my area, but for $4k I can't see myself buying windows from them instead of Home Depot if the product is identical."

Depending on the size of the home and the number of casement windows, a $4,000 difference may not be much savings at all for an entire home's worth of windows. Especially with recent jumps in windows pricing. We'd need more information as to what is budgeted for the windows and how many windows. Also, is the homeowner including any sliding glass doors in his decision?

This conversation actuallly took place with a friend who is a contractor. Someone is feeding the independent contractors this misinformation.

Home Depot has a white AW 400 CN235 for $539. I need brown. The brown costs $980. So the low price is from the volume of white windows they sell.

Can you paint a white window brown?

" Can you paint a white window brown? "

No. Used to be the only window that COULD be painted was the Terratone (brown). Perhaps the other colors could be now but not the white.