Considering Buying Replacement Windows from a San Diego Home Depot?

If you’ve ever been in a Home Depot (and who hasn’t?), you’ve likely noticed that they sell windows. They have beautiful displays and friendly salespeople poised to sell you the windows and doors you need to upgrade your home and make it more energy efficient.

Before you sign a contract with your local San Diego Home Depot for replacement windows and doors, here are a few things to consider.

You’re Dealing with a Middle Man

When you go with Home Depot for replacement windows and installation, you should know that you’re paying Home Depot to essentially act as a “middle man” between you and the replacement window installer. Once they make the sale, Home Depot contracts out the installation of their windows to an individual or a company that is not employed by Home Depot. Whenever you deal with a middle man like this, it typically causes the price to go up since both the middle man and the people doing the installation need to make money. In addition, the subcontractor may have little incentive to perform high-quality service since it is Home Depot’s reputation on the line, not their own.

Going with a local replacement window company in San Diego can help keep down the cost of your project since you are dealing directly with the company who will install your windows rather than paying extra for a middle man. Not to mention, you’re keeping dollars in the community and supporting local businesses instead of a huge corporation. You’re also more likely to get better customer service when you deal with a local company. You can speak directly to the owner if needed, and get timely responses to your questions.

Home Depot Employees Are Not Usually Window Specialists

When you go shopping for replacement windows at Home Depot, you may get lucky and come across an employee with good knowledge about replacement windows, but this is by no means guaranteed. Most of the employees at Home Depot have general knowledge on topics of home improvement, but are likely not experts in windows and doors. Just because they are sitting in the section that sells these products does not mean they are well versed in the window industry. They probably know what the sales brochures tell them (and not much more), and will likely know even less about the installation process.

On the other hand, when you work with a San Diego replacement window company like BM Windows, we know the industry inside and out. We know everything there is to know about the products we sell, and are even well versed in the products our competitors sell. We can help you select the best replacement window products based on the specific needs of your home and the features that are important to you.

Getting Repairs on Your Replacement Windows Could Be a Challenge

Some consumers like the peace of mind they get from going with a large, established company like Home Depot for things like replacement window installations. They reason that Home Depot will not go out of business anytime soon, whereas a small, independent window replacement company might, and leave them with no recourse should they need repairs down the road that are covered by their replacement window warranty.

While it may be true that big box stores like Home Depot are likely to still be in business many years down the road, consider the type of customer service you typically receive from large companies like this when something goes wrong. You will rarely be able to get the same person on the phone twice, and the person you speak to may not be someone who has any authority to get anything done for you. Your repair request will likely have to go through several different layers of management before it gets to the person who will actually be performing the repairs (again, an outside contractor). This could take weeks, if not months.

Dealing with a small, locally owned window replacement company is much simpler. For example, when we get calls from former customers who need repair work done on the windows we installed, we are able to send out someone from our own team to perform the work in a timely manner. In addition, we only work with window manufacturers who stand behind their warranties. We have great relationships with our manufacturing partners and can call them up anytime and get replacement products. We take care of our customers—no matter what!

If you have concerns about working with a smaller company, make sure you go with one that has been in business for a good amount of time and one that has a reputation for standing behind their work and responding to customer concerns, even after the work has been done.

This write-up is not meant to disparage Home Depot—we love Home Depot for what it is: a store that has virtually everything needed for the DIY-inclined homeowner. But we want homeowners to know what they’re getting into when they consider big box stores like Home Depot for specialty services like window replacement. There are other options, and we hope you’ll consider our San Diego replacement window company as one of them.

If you are ready to get a quote on replacement windows for your San Diego home, contact us today.