In late 2022, I bought a house that had a patio door with wood rot so bad that I could see daylight coming through a hole at the bottom of the frame. The house also had 32 original aluminum windows. During the home inspection, the inspector identified a few windows that didn’t open whether due to age or because they were painted shut. I thought “I just won’t use those windows to ventilate - no problem.” What I didn’t know/see until after closing was that none of them had any screens…
My wife and I went a full year without opening a single window due to how many bugs/mosquitoes are in this region and it sucked so we had thought about just buying custom screens as a temporary solution.
After a cold winter in which my HVAC struggled to get to 67 degrees at times, I knew I needed to do something before the upcoming 2023 winter and figured I’d start with replacing the patio door with the hole letting cold air come in/warm air escape. Also, I said that I might as well get window estimates at the same time so I could get an idea of how much that project would be too.
I found Milcon and met the owner Matt through Thumbtack. Matt was incredibly responsive and we scheduled an appointment shortly after. The meeting was pleasant because he was extremely quick and efficient in getting measurements to provide me with an estimate while answering any questions I had. I had expected a long drawn out process/presentation that would take over 2 hours but Matt was in/out in under 45 min.
In total, I had 11 different companies come by to provide quotes.
Door brands included ProVia and ProVia only. Every single company offered ProVia doors as the go-to.
Window brands included: ProVia Endure, Provia Aspect, Apex Insignia, WindowNation/Vytex, Slocomb, and Earthwise/RJT Industries.
After comparing all options, I decided to sign a contract with Matt and Milcon for replacing all 32 windows, replacing patio door with a French door, and replacing another side entry door.
I chose Milcon because:
1) Price vs Value
2) He offered a Lifetime Labor Warranty
3) Matt seemed like a man of his word.
To dive deeper into each above:
1) My wife wanted black exterior windows instead of white - which I had no idea costs so much more than white. Adding color to Earthwise/RJT window frames cost about HALF the amount of the cost for adding color to ProVia Endure windows. When you have 32 windows, that difference adds up quickly and ultimately saved me about $5k off the total price of just adding color to windows compared to my 2nd best quote for adding black. Matt also provided a bigger discount for doing the entire door/window project together (rather than phasing them over time) than his competitors.
2) No other company offered anything close to this type of labor warranty. Most companies offered between 2 to 5 years.
3) Pre, during, and post-install, Matt has 100% followed through. As someone who admittedly who can be hard to deal with because I have very high expectations (along with having extreme water damage paranoia), I did have a few minor things that most homeowners probably wouldn’t ever notice/care about. But me being me, I called Matt back a couple times and he had no problem sending out his guys see what they could do.
Speaking of “his guys” - I can’t speak highly enough of his installation crew led by Josh who has been installing windows/doors for 20+ years. Josh and his team worked hard and diligently during the entire time and did an amazing job on a difficult project that requires cutting out nailing fins/flanges behind siding. Caulk work was exquisite with perfectly smooth lines that look like they were done by a machine.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Matt and Milcon to any of my friends and family. I’ll definitely call Matt again for another project.
NOTE: I ended up with Earthwise/RJT windows not because I thought they were the best performing or the highest quality (they’re neither) but because I thought they were above average and represented the best bang for your buck. Plus they’re local...