The things is.. Wood windows have at least 3 distinct advantages over aluclad. The colour,no matter how fashionable it is now is going to date the house and require changing. A coat of paint on the outside will reinliven the whole house, and damages which happen(100% of the time)during build can be repaired.
Hi, Ive been reading thro all these - Ive had quotes too for alu clad and its about 35% more but its giving you a completely finished timber window with an almost maintenance free 'umbrella' added on to protect it, not surprised its more really. I was told I could get any RAL colour ! I saw a sample at a Buildstore exhibition weekend earlier this month and the quality was smashing.
I used Aluwood windows, (Irish rep for a Danish company). The quality of the windows are excellent. My considerations were for a maintenance free outside and a nice wood finish inside and they turned out great. You can get inward or outward opening, side and top hung. You can also get motors on windows which may be in high or awkward to reach places, for switched opening. The lead time was very good compared to other window companies also.
I would definitely recommend alu-clad over wooden windows. We have alu-clad installed and they look fantastic. Maintenance free on the outside which is great as we live near the coast. We got ours through an Irish agent for a Danish company also.
I would not recommend Ecolodge - had an extremely bad experience with them.
The things is.. Wood windows have at least 3 distinct advantages over aluclad. The colour,no matter how fashionable it is now is going to date the house and require changing. A coat of paint on the outside will reinliven the whole house, and damages which happen(100% of the time)during build can be repaired.
...all which you can also do with alu. I think it's important to note that alu-clad windows ARE wooden windows, so all the pros/cons of wood are still there, but you just happen to address one of those (ext weathering), with alu. It's still a wooden window from a performance and manufacturing, point of view.