The American industry that will fail within 5 to 10 year reminds me of the American Car industry. That is the Replacement window industry! We can all remember the day our news channels could not get the news out fast enough of how General Motors was probably going to file bankruptcy. It sent chills down the spines of millions of people. Think about it. Millions of people would be affected if a company like General Motors went away. Everyone from the factory worker, salesperson, mechanic, parts suppliers, consumer who owns the vehicles to insurance agents and banks are affected. Millions of lives changed overnight. Thank God the worse did not come to full circle. We had the American Government ready and willing to bail out the American car industry which costs tax payers billions of dollars!
Before we tie the Replacement window industry to the American Car industry; we must look at the history of the American Car industry. Let’s go back to the 1970’s. Somehow the American car makers believed that Americans wanted to buy a car based on price and not value and quality. So, you had American car manufactures put all of their eggs into one basket. PRICE! Well folks, I am here to tell you the only way you bring down price to the levels they wanted was to use cheaper parts to manufacture the cars. As a result the “Things Gone Wrong” studies showed the American cars were skyrocketing with problems. In the process of all this they were flooding the market with more vehicles that there were people to buy them. Thus we became brainwashed into thinking that it was okay for your car to lose value. It lost value, because of the abundance of inventory and a cheaply manufactured product that needed repair before you finished paying for it. The “Things Gone Wrong” studies showed the average American car had about 30 things go wrong with them in the first year. Then comes along Honda. Honda cars were priced 20-30% higher than the average American car, but they had a “Things Gone Wrong” rating of 3 things to go wrong in the first year versus 30! They had waiting lists for people trying to get their hands on this new automobile called Honda. Till this day Honda is still recognized as one of the most reliable cars on the road.
You see before Honda, Toyota, and Nissan came about Americans did not have many choices when it came to cars. All America car manufactures were competing for what they thought people wanted, cheap cars and cheap prices. As a result it nearly bankrupted an entire country.
You see I have been in the Replacement window industry now for over 20 years and I am old enough to see what happened in the American car industry. The replacement window industry is headed down the same path. Cheap window companies that sell windows for $189, $179, and $165 each installed are killing the industry. And I guarantee the people that get hurt the most are the homeowners who buy them and the manufactures that make them. The companies selling them will be gone out of business, made their money and gone forever! You the consumer will be left holding the bag. Let me explain. When I first entered into the window business over 20 years ago we sold windows that had value, substance, and a legitimate return on your investment. That’s right they were considered investments. Then comes along these companies that believe a window should be sold and installed for $189 each. How do they get the prices so low? Well I have spoken to dozens of window manufactures that told me they have to make serious modifications in the way they manufacture their windows and the products they use. Do you honestly believe if a manufacture is being squeezed by a window company to sell them a cheaper window so they can go to market with a cheap price that the quality is going to remain the same? The manufactures use recycled vinyl as opposed to virgin vinyl. They make their sash and main frames thinner. They use single strength glass not double strength glass. They use tin or aluminum oxides for their Low E coatings and not Silver or Titanium. The window companies use the cheapest labor they can find and tell them they will make their money on volume. Well if your goal as an installer is volume; how good of an install will he perform? What it boils down to is that just because a window is white and the next window is white, does not make them the same. Look for other posts that will give you more information on how to determine the differences in replacement windows.
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