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What is the Difference in the Quality of Windows to Expect in Modern Homes in Tampa Bay?

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- Today we will be talking about windows. Windows in a modern home are perhaps one of the most important items that make a modern home, a modern home. Big windows where mother nature and the outside come into the inside. With us, I have Eric, from Architectural Products.

- Thanks for having me.

- Thank you for coming. Architectural Products is the, actually the company that we use when buying windows. They're specialized in modern windows and I believe is, the partnership that we have with Argent homes and Architectural Products is one of the best partnerships ever. I have Eric, and he's going to explain to us about Architectural Products. First, give me your information, tell our audience who is Architectural Products.

- Architectural Products, we've been around since '86. We carry a full line of all vinyl, aluminum, wood clad, and wood windows. We've been doing it - I've been with the company for 16 years myself now. I was an installer for 11 years. I've been in sales for five years. And it's been a great company to work for and we specialize in modern homes, contemporary homes, anything you can think of, large glass, small glass, it doesn't matter.

- Thank you, thank you. Look, talking about modern homes, you know, what type of windows is recommended? And to, you know, the listeners right now, they're thinking either to build on the land or perhaps buying out one of our products, our homes. What type of windows are you recommending when it comes to modern architecture?

- When it comes to modern, we really look at either aluminum or vinyl. 

The number one reason is that aluminum, you can go with larger spaces of glass. You can get bigger units, you can do thinner sightlines on the glass and make it more of a modern look. Vinyl, you can do it as well, but sometimes you run into issues where you want to go with aluminum instead of vinyl. But aluminum is really the key that we go with modern homes.

- And when talked about and some of my buyers ask me, you know when we mentioned that we carry impact windows and they ask me. So explain to me about impact windows, you know, I mean, the name kind of describes what kind of windows it is, but let me have more technicalities to that explanation.

- The ins and outs of impact versus non-impact: Non-impact windows you have a single piece of glass with an air gap and another single piece of glass. Really gives you very minimal security from windblown debris or theft prevention. When you go to impact layers of glass, you have a piece of glass with an air gap, with another piece of glass sandwiched between a piece of vinyl material between the two, which keeps the glass all intact during the event that it gets hit with a storm or a burglar tries to in with a hammer or whatnot. Really keeps the unit safe, it keeps your home safe from any outside elements coming in and people getting in or unwanted intruders.

- So it's kind of more security in here -

- One hundred percent.

- And not just about intruders, but you know, the potential of a storm -

- Hurricane. In hurricanes, things are flying, having impact windows is kind of having another type of insurance on your home.

- Key element to building a nice modern home.

- Key elements. Now also, when we build modern homes and talking about windows. We know that windows play a major role in any, new home construction, but also sizes of windows are playing a major role. Let's elaborate on different sizes on windows, for instance, what we have right now, but I know there's plenty of sizes, let's talk about sizes.

- Sizes-wise, square footage is what we look at for sizing. So with a lot of the manufacturers, they're rated between 30 to 40 square feet with the vinyl products. With the aluminum products, we can go up to sometimes, 60 to 70 square feet of one single piece of glass. That is giving the views that you're looking for, especially in water applications or somewhere where you have a nice view where you want to look through. That's where you get those bigger expansive glasses with an aluminum product.

- Wonderful. Now we have this big window that perhaps weighs a ton, now we need to install it on either a customer's land that is building their home or one of our builder's land. Tell me about the installation.

- We have specialized equipment that we use now. And we have equipment that our suction cups, that will go onto a lull or a forklift, whatever you need to gain access to be able to put that window in. That we carry around on all of the trucks that we have, and all of our installers are equipped with that. So they can get anywhere - anything up to about 2,000 pounds of the piece of glass up and does a whole up to five stories high.

- Wonderful. Now we installed the windows, but then what? The time goes by and we have, perhaps not, but potentially may have some issues. What about warranties?

- Warranties. Depending on the manufacturer, you have a warranty from anywhere from three years, up to 20, to a lifetime. Depending on the product, what kind of glass you have, and everything else. So it spurs off of what product line you go with. If you go with, say, an aluminum storefront unit, you're getting anywhere from five to 10 years of a warranty on that product. If it goes out, something happens within that certain amount of time. We as Architectural Products would come out and we'd take care of any of the services, maybe a slight surcharge to the customer, depending on the timeframe that it is, but the manufacturer's warranty would typically cover all materials and we would take care of the rest of that.

- Wonderful. Now we talk about manufacturers. So, we know that in windows like any other product, there's plenty of manufacturers out there now, but only a few manufacturers are basically recommended when it comes to modern construction.

- One hundred percent.

- What do you think they are?

- ES Windows is the premiere that we've been using in 80 to 90% of our homes in South Tampa right now. For all of the big modern custom homes that we've been building. They've been great, have great lead times, very good quality, very good competitive pricing, and a very good warranty. Their warranty on their units, for their paint product, is a 10-year warranty on their finish. And they also match that with a 10-year warranty on their glass. So if anything happens within that 10 years, taken care of, minus a little bit of labor charges on top of there.

- Wonderful, thank you. So you have it, folks. Not only we can provide extremely high-quality windows, impact rated. We have great installation. We've got good manufacturing. Everything you need in order to have your own modern home. If you like this video, subscribe or visit us at www.arjenhomes.com.

- Arjen Homes is Tampa Bay's luxury, modern home builder.