New Windows: Finding the right company

For awhile now I've talked about my dislike of our windows throughout our house. Although we haven't blogged about the process, we've been having quotes for over a year done from window companies in Toronto. And, after each company would come and go,  I got more upset at the process. It is because of the bad experiences we had, I knew that once I found the right company I really wanted to blog about the process and our experience.

The common denominator throughout the quote process was that each company exercised awful sales tactics. Something I hadn't seen in any other industry in our home reno process. One company was a downright bully, rude, aggressive and sexist. (Aubrey was at work when he came to the house, and I really should have asked the salesman to leave, but he was so aggressive.) Needless to say, that was the last company that I even invited over because I was so spooked, and upset by how awful he was. (He called one night at 9pm and yelled, yes yelled at Aubrey because we chose not to go with him. Yeah, that is an awesome sales tactic) Even when some of the quotes were alright, I didn't like the people. I didn't trust them. So this brings us to today.

I somehow came across Fieldstone Windows on Twitter by seeing some tweets from the owner Ken Simpson who tweets under @Toronto_Windows. I immediately liked that they were on social media. And not just "on" social media but fully engaging with people. I started corresponding with Ken Simpson and I sent him our dimensions and asked for a quote.

Initially we wanted to see if he could even come within our budget. But since then we've realized that quotes can really vary. A lot of things play into a price - You have how many window frames you want, colours, grills/mullions. But I wanted to see if he was way out of our budget. (We have a budget.) With a few back and forth e-mails over a few weeks, a visit, and some more mixing and matching, we finally came to a quote that we financially could afford, and also, a design that we really liked.

The other fun fact - he did all of Sarah Richardsons windows in Sarah's House 1, 2, 3 and Sarah's Cottage.  Funny story - Oscar kind of loved Ken. Not sure what it was but he wanted Ken to carry him, and sit on his lap. Obviously it was a sign.


Oscar had just come back from a swim date at a neighbours! It was the hottest day of the year. Sooo hot.



And so there you have it. We found our window company! I've told Ken we're blogging about the experience (why else would I want to snap a photo of him on our roof) because of the past year of nasty people. We haven't signed on the dotted line yet because I still need to pick the colour but it should be a done deal in a few days.

So I hope you take away something valuable as I show our process of window design/picking in upcoming posts, and also take something away from hearing about our awful year of searching for a company. xo Lindsay