June 26, 2012 by Kevin McCann

Marvin: The Solid Citizen of Replacement Windows

Marvin Windows & Doors

For the past several years, Marvin has been leveraging new approaches to creative problem solving and solution design, called human-centered innovation. The goal is to foster both a space of innovation and to create new muscles that allow us to tackle strategic challenges most aptly.

Marvin builds good, solid, substantial windows. With Marvin Windows & Doors you get a classic look that will last. Marvin windows tend to be the choice of architects because of their solid wood construction and the company’s precision customization.

We also tend to specify Marvin windows for dark exterior colors in deep sunlight. Marvin windows hold color better than others, though Marvin does not have premium colors.

Take a look at the pictures in Marvin’s idea gallery, and you’ll see solid windows, from traditional to modern. Just what the citizens of Chicago’s North Shore want in replacement windows.

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Our McCann Window & Exteriors team has been proud to install energy-efficient windows all over Chicagoland and its north suburbs for many years now. We can recommend an energy-efficient solution that best fits your home and budget. If this is something that you’re considering for your home, give us a call today or fill out the online form for your free consultation.

June 14, 2012 by Kevin McCann

The Pros and Cons of Pella Replacement Windows

Pella Replacement Windows

Throughout my 25-plus years in the replacement window and door business in the Chicago area, I have worked with a lot of window manufacturers. We have always selected manufacturers that provide the service, style, and cost options suited for our clientele.

Replacement windows must fit your home décor, lifestyle preferences, and cost needs. Over several blog posts, I will tell you about the manufacturers we use and under what conditions we recommend one or another.

First up, Pella replacement windows.

Of all the window manufacturers, Pella is the most innovative. They are always coming out with new products that improve appearance, function, or energy savings.

The Pella snap-in, between-the-glass Slimshade®, for instance, is a patented design in which the shades are between the panes of glass. The shades block the sun without a separate unit in the home, and they’re available in a wide variety of colors. It’s an extremely clever design.

Pella window replacement also provides the most options for cost and finish. Although Pella can be the most costly windows we sell, they also have the most cost points in their product line.

I have Pella windows in my house. They look and really feel great. The hardware has a clean modern look. The double-hung windows feel solid and, to me, have the same reassuring sound as a door closing on a Mercedes-Benz.

Just as with a high-end car, some colors work for Pella, and others don’t. Pella windows have a wide variety of beautiful colors and finishes—with three prefinished shades of interior white, for instance. You can’t go wrong with any of them. However, dark vinyl exterior colors have had a tendency to fade over the years.

If we see a home with a south-facing wall in bright sunlight, with a dark color, we are more likely to specify Marvin windows over Pella. Look for our next post on manufacturers we use, in which I’ll tell you more about what makes Marvin’s replacement windows unique.

Let’s talk about the best choice for your home. Schedule a free consultation, by filling out our form.

May 18, 2012 by Kevin McCann

A Window into Serving Generations

Customer service across the generations

From time to time, I take the opportunity to write about my business philosophy as we have developed it at McCann Window and Exteriors throughout our more than 20 years in business. Working with multiple generations in our network of North Shore customers matters deeply to me, as does the reciprocal nature of the relationships we have developed among our customers in Deerfield, Northbrook, and other North Shore Chicago communities.

I have written about the importance of community to our business, and we recently completed a job that reinforced our community commitment even more.

Serving Generations We have worked with a Deerfield real-estate agent twice over the years when we bought and sold our homes here. She has become a good friend, and we’ve done work on her home and, more recently, the homes of two of her daughters.

Treat your customers like they’re family.

A few weeks ago, we replaced windows for one of her daughters. She and her husband are expecting their first child. Given the importance of such a life event, we made sure the job was completed to the couple’s satisfaction well before birth. They had enough things to worry about, and windows didn’t have to be one of them. We took extra care to make sure that the mother-to-be was not exposed to any harmful fumes. And I related my experience in becoming a father to a nervous first-time dad.

Our efficiency, attention to detail, and strict concern for customer safety are always inherent in our work. But the deep feeling of satisfaction I felt from helping that couple prepare for life as a family makes this project stand out to me. I know the father appreciated my advice, and I know our long-time friend liked the care we gave to her daughter and new grandchild. And who knows, the child may one day become a third-generation customer!

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March 18, 2012 by Kevin McCann

Selecting a North Shore Windows Contractor

How to Choose the Best Window Replacement Company

Almost every blog on replacement windows, doors, or siding writes about how to select a window installation contractor. It’s an important decision, and errors can be costly.

Articles on how to select a replacement windows contractor stress the importance of:

getting at least three bids,
checking contractor references,
making sure they are insured, and
looking at reviews on Yelp, Angie’s List, and other consumer rating services.

Those are all important, and you want to do them. (I have listed two such articles at the end of this post.)

In thinking about how I make important purchases and how I run McCann Window and Exteriors, however, I realized that there is another, more critical concern that comes down to one word: “trust.”

Selecting a Window Installation Contractor

Do you trust the person sitting across the table from you? Did they explain everything to your satisfaction?

I met a man last year who had needed new windows for years. He looked now and then and never found anyone he trusted. He didn’t think he ever would and just put up with the old windows.

The man finally selected us because he saw one of our crews working on a neighbor’s home and liked how they approached the job. They worked diligently, and deliberately, and seemed courteous. Those were all hallmarks of trust to him.

You have to do the basics of cost, license, insurance, and reference. But in addition to that, make sure you are dealing with a person who feels right to you, who you intuitively trust.

What criteria make you trust a home repair contractor? What do you look for that causes you to trust a service provider? Pella gives some good advice, read Pella’s: How to Choose the Best Window Replacement Company

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March 9, 2012 by Kevin McCann

Becoming the North Shore Replacement “Window Guy”

Getting to Know My Neighbors

Kevin McCann Becoming the North Shore Replacement "Window Guy" I heard an interview on the radio the other day with author Peter Lovenheim, who has written a book about getting to know his neighbors. Called In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time, it reports on his experience of realizing that he did not know the people on his street very well and his determination to change that.

The story behind the book and Lovenheim’s experience in meeting people he’s lived on the street with for years but has never really known is fascinating, and it reminded me of why I started McCann Window and Exteriors and started selling replacement windows in the North Shore in the first place.

I wanted to know people in the community, and I wanted to have a positive influence on neighborhoods.

I remembered, in particular, one customer, Linda Lewison. We replaced her windows on the 3900 block of Fargo St. in south Skokie about 10 years ago.

Linda loved the work we did. She was the hub of the block and told all her neighbors about her new windows.

Not only that, she got six or eight of them to have us install new windows. And she went around to all of the homes after we had finished making sure they were satisfied.

I started in business to be the area’s “window guy” on the North Shore, and Linda helped me see how that was indeed possible. I liked hearing about Peter Lovenheim’s book because I’m glad to know that people like Linda are still out there keeping neighborhoods together one conversation at a time.

Read a transcript of an interview with Peter Lovenheim on NPR.

So give us a call neighbor to schedule a free consultation

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