Overall it was a great experience from start to finish and I felt like I was dealing with friendly professionals and experts at every step of the way. The install process was also cleaner and quieter than I expected.
Job Size
28 Windows + 1 Patio Door
Quoting/Sales Process
I quoted 9 different companies for this job.
David from Consumer Direct was among the friendliest and most honest/knowledgeable sales reps that visited in person. 7 of the 9 companies visited in person to gather information for their quote.
Several companies pressured to sign on the spot / the day of, but David from Consumer Direct assured me to take my time and that he could come back to answer questions/continue if and when I was ready.
The quote from Consumer Direct was among the top 3 with the most detail (three companies seem to use the same really nice format/system) and they ranked second for the most accurate and correct quote (fewest mistakes/deviations).
Some companies had difficulty with more complex requests like our attic round top blackout window, living round top window, and wanting a taller patio door (eliminating the transom). David from Consumer Direct spoke with confidence about being able to deliver on all of these and so they did.
Contract/Signing Process
David took his time to review and confirm the details of each line item once again and offered good solutions, concessions, or reassurances about all potential concerns.
At my request, David was willing to build out two separate contracts to split out items eligible for government rebates from items that are not eligible. (This took them some extra time, admin effort, etc. for no benefit to them)
The windows were eventually ready within the rough estimate range of weeks that they provided right at contract signing.
A few weeks after contract signing they provided an actual expected date where all the product would be ready - this also later was correct.
Scheduling/Order Process
Mike was professional and very personable during all our scheduling and order related calls. The initial install was scheduled and occurred on the expected days.
An additional install was needed for a couple of reorders and Mike was always very friendly and professional even though one item was particularly tricky and I was being quite persistent about expediting since I had personal events coming up.
Once Mike understood the two original order issues, he took them to the manufacturer and made the reorder process and new installation date extremely smooth for those last two windows. They were put on rush order and delivered/installed much sooner than the original order to help wrap the whole job up sooner.
Consumer Direct took full ownership and accountability for their two window issues on the original order and promptly helped with the reorders and a second installation date to finish those two windows just a couple weeks after the initial install of everything else.
Install Process
Alex and his team are dedicated hard workers and experts at their craft. Despite taking 3 days instead of the original estimate of 2, I was constantly amazed by how quickly they seemed to get tasks done and I attribute the overage more to their attention to detail and wanting everything to be done well rather than just done. I asked many questions throughout the install process about why things were happening a certain way, how to best maintain the windows later, etc. and the whole team were always willing to answer in a way I could understand but still without dumbing it down or making me feel inferior. It was nice to see them doing everything they could to help homeowners and really go above and beyond on the customer experience - from cleaning before/during/after each day, installing everything professionally and with an eye for detail and quality, checking whenever something might deviate or have multiple options during an install or finishing, answering questions and teaching about the new products, etc. One of our windows (half round) was not quite a perfect half circle and was very difficult to create/reinstall such an irregular shaped round jamb - Alex was so particular and spent so much time on it that he even brought his template home and continued bending the wood there in his evening because he really wanted the final install of that window to look "even better" than the original build did.
We were thrilled that Alex's team also came to install the last 2 windows that were reordered since we knew what to expect and were very happy with their work once again.