My wife and I purchased our home in 2014 and from day 1 we knew we had to get all of our windows and doors done. The house was built in 1971 so the windows were really just pieces of glass with little insulation value (on windy days you could sometimes feel a breeze blowing :P) All that being said, we had decided to upgrade the windows/doors this fall/early winter and set out requesting quotes from 3 different vendors.
Mike was the sales representative we met with first and I have to say, it was a little unfair to the other competition because he set an extremely high bar for the other vendors to meet. Mike was fantastic mainly because he actively listened to what we wanted rather then trying to sell us something. All the other vendors would not price out a "brick to brick"/"stud to stud" installation instead they pushed a retrofit. Mike was the only person that a) was willing to listen to what we wanted and b) also provide us with an explanation of the difference between a brick to brick, stud to stud install and a retro-fit.
What also helped Mike with the sale was his very professional, calm, down to earth and laid back demeanor. He did not push a hidden agenda with us, he listened and built the quote around what we wanted and helped guide us with our selections. Nothing was hidden in the contract, he explained everything clearly to me and as a result he was able to get some upgrades out of me through contract amendments. One upgrade my wife and I had not originally planned on including was casements for the windows. But after much thought I realize I would be happier having the professionals do that then me trying to find time to figure out how to do it myself.
The install crew for our project was headed up by a gentleman named Alex. As good as Mike was on the sales side, Alex was just as good on the installation side. Very friendly person, very professional. Alex and his crew cleaned up after themselves and while they worked as quickly as they could, they also paid great attention to details and were diligent about getting everything done right.
We did run into an issue during the install when I noticed our main living room window. It was supposed to be a three panel window with the left and right panels opening while the centre panel was fixed. The original contract had only one of the winger panels open but we had made an amendment to the contract to allow the left panel to open. Unfortunately, that amendment didn't make it to the manufacturing team. Alex recommended that I call Mike, Mike picked up right away and we both reviewed the contract against the work order that Alex had. Sure enough, there was a mistake and Mike took full responsibility.
To resolve the issue, Alex installed the window as it was delivered (we were in the middle of December at the time) and Mike had the factory build the correct window panel. We had to wait a few weeks (which was understandable given the Christmas Holidays and manufacturing time required) but Alex came back, removed the main window, changed out the fixed panel with the casement panel and re-installed everything.
The whole process of dealing with Clera from quoting, to measuring, to installing was such a head-ache free process. I feared the worst at times because of all the horror stories you hear about windows & doors companies. But with Clera, it was such a pleasant experience, I would very happily recommend them to anyone that needs new windows and doors.
The house feels much more comfortable then before, quieter then before and looks a lot better. We can't wait for the warm weather to open our windows a feel the fresh air flow through the house. Or even use our now functioning patio door to get into and out of the backyard.
Thank you Clera!
