Alu clad window suppliers

[Bournbrook]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone knows much about nordvest windows? We saw some corners at a show and I’ve searched the internet for reviews, but just wondered if anyone knew much about them and how they compare to the likes of Rationel, Velfac, norrsken etc 

[Chanmenie]

Haven’t come across Nordvest, but I did look at the others and decided to go with Nordica, I believe they are made in the Viking factory in Finland, very well made and competitively priced compared to others you mention.

[Bozza]

We went for Rationel, and have been happy with them in terms of price -v- quality etc.  didn’t shop around that much TBH.  Pretty sure other members will have experience of the other brands.

[MikeSharp01]

We went with Norrsken after looking at Rationel, Nordvest and Norrsken. The problem with Nordvest was that they didn't have a local installer and only Norrsken could do a triangular tilt and turn window. We have been very happy with our Norrsken windows and Norrsken themselves. 

[Bournbrook]

13 hours ago, Chanmenie said:

Haven’t come across Nordvest, but I did look at the others and decided to go with Nordica, I believe they are made in the Viking factory in Finland, very well made and competitively priced compared to others you mention.

Thank you. Will check them out! Do you know if they install?

[Bournbrook]

9 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

We went with Norrsken after looking at Rationel, Nordvest and Norrsken. The problem with Nordvest was that they didn't have a local installer and only Norrsken could do a triangular tilt and turn window. We have been very happy with our Norrsken windows and Norrsken themselves. 

Also getting quotes from them but they are working out nearly double the quote of Nordvest! They are lovely windows though. Nordvest do also now have an installer who works nationally who we have had an install quote from 

[Chanmenie]

4 minutes ago, Bournbrook said:

Thank you. Will check them out! Do you know if they install?

Yes they do, their fitters are very good. They were very careful and used lasers and levels constantly. 
They fit properly with expanding tape, and used Illbruck FM330 air tight foam internally. 
They fitted my patio doors and some windows for an elderly relative who was very pleased.

I fitted my own windows.

If you speak to Simon Pilch the owner, mention my name (Mark Mancini)

 

https://www.nordica-uk.com/

[Bournbrook]

17 minutes ago, Chanmenie said:

Yes they do, their fitters are very good. They were very careful and used lasers and levels constantly. 
They fit properly with expanding tape, and used Illbruck FM330 air tight foam internally. 
They fitted my patio doors and some windows for an elderly relative who was very pleased.

I fitted my own windows.

If you speak to Simon Pilch the owner, mention my name (Mark Mancini)

 

https://www.nordica-uk.com/

Looks like they are timber windows not Aluclad, is that right?

[Chanmenie]

58 minutes ago, Bournbrook said:

Looks like they are timber windows not Aluclad, is that right?

They do both mine are Alu clad 

 

here 

https://www.nordica-uk.com/asp-pages/aluminium-clad-windows/outward-opening-aluminium-clad-windows.asp

Edited October 5 by Chanmenie

[ChrisInKent]

We went with Rationel Aluclad windows and doors. We like the chunky frames but I know others might prefer as thin a frame as possible.  Only thing we were dissatisfied with was the packing protection - no film on either the aluminium or the wood so very challenging to handle when fitting. But I’m not sure if any other companies protect them either, maybe they’re all like that? 

[Chanmenie]

Our Renyaers sliders came with tape all over 

[eros_poli]

I'm currently trying to decide between Nordvest and Nordan. 

 

After lots of good conversations with Nordvest and meeting them at the build it show we were all but set. Nordan comes back out of the blue and offers to beat Nordvest's price, Rationel have always been costlier for some reason... 

 

It’s frustrating that most reviews online for each supplier are either "best windows ever" or "avoid!" 😆

 

I guess it's like anything, if you're happy with the price and the customer service and you get a good product it doesn't matter. 

 

Joe

[garrymartin]

44 minutes ago, eros_poli said:

I'm currently trying to decide between Nordvest and Nordan.

In my research notes, I have a comment that Nordan are not highly rated - @Kelvin and @saveasteading have them and may be able to provide their views. They are on my "B" list of companies, as are Nordvest but I have no notes or commentary on Nordvest.

 

Rationel are on my "A" list but I would expect them to cost slightly more. Have you looked at Norrsken (also on my "A" list - made by Viking Windows)?  @Thorfun @Russell griffiths @Tosh and @MikeSharp01 have them and might provide some opinions.

 

 

[Thorfun]

34 minutes ago, garrymartin said:

Have you looked at Norrsken (also on my "A" list - made by Viking Windows)?  @Thorfun @Russell griffiths @Tosh and @MikeSharp01 have them and might provide some opinions.

thanks for the notification @garrymartin. we do indeed have Norrsken windows/doors and couldn't be happier.

 

@eros_poli here's our blog post with the window install and a quick search of the site for posts with Norrsken from me will yield a lot of what i have to say on the subject. 🙂 

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/search/?&q=norrsken&quick=1&author=Thorfun&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, garrymartin said:

@Kelvin and @saveasteading have them and may be able to provide their views.

They are beautiful.  expensive but lovely.

 

our only downside was that they wouldn't do anything other than rectangular. People say this is not correct so perhaps it was only our local agent who didn't want to.

[Kelvin]

Our Nordan 3G windows are good. They look good. Operate cleanly. Are very airtight. (Well our final airtightness score was 0.44) And we haven’t had any issues with them other than the French doors need a regular squirt of lubricant on the slider at the top of the door to keep it sliding smoothly. I went around them last night to check how airtight they were in the high winds and the only window where there was a hint of air were the French Doors and only when the gusts were hitting the house straight on. I can’t really compare them to anything else though as my only other experience of new windows were the custom built ones at our last house. It was a listed building and the windows were garbage. 

[eros_poli]

Thanks for all the comments!

 

Rationel (as of today) can't come anywhere close to Nordvest's cost, 6k vs 9k for our project. 

 

Nordan have matched Nordvest, which I was surprised at. 

 

Haven't considered Norrsken since the very beginning as they were very pricey, but I'll go back to them again and see what they come up with. 

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Kelvin said:

Nordan 3G windows are good. They look good. Operate cleanly. Are very airtight.

That is another positive of the heavy, solid  construction. The operation of doors, especially, is very crisp because nothing is bending. With aluminium doors there ca be twisting and  a less good fit.

Twice the cost of a good aluminium product. A matter of taste and budget.

[MikeSharp01]

4 hours ago, garrymartin said:

Rationel are on my "A" list but I would expect them to cost slightly more. Have you looked at Norrsken (also on my "A" list - made by Viking Windows)?  @Thorfun @Russell griffiths @Tosh and @MikeSharp01 have them and might provide some opinions.

 

Yes we have Norrsken - very happy. As I understand it not all their windows are Viking, we have two windows that are not but are close enough to looking the same to make no difference and one of them has a tilt & turn triangular casement which is what we wanted.

[eros_poli]

Something a local sales rep for Rationel has brought up, against Nordvest. Any thoughts?

 

- they have been unable to supply any testing certification to confirm compliance with PAS24:2014 or equivalent testing standard which is a requirement for Part Q. I appreciate that you don’t necessarily need to have this, and a Building Inspector may still sign-off on the windows if their construction and hardware is sufficiently robust, but it may be trickier for insurance and building warranty purposes where they often take a less nuanced view. 

[Tosh]

We have Norrsken, supply only. We found the price mid range, most things become a balance of quality v cost but we've been really happy with them, well mostly. The timber and alu clad were beautifully finished, the hinge mechanisms lovely and smooth in operation. Pre-sales were very helpful, communications up to and including delivery really good.

 

Not so good - The window handles are cheap. The moulded plastic coating has broke on one of them already. I can't remember if they offered the option but I'd go for something more robust. Installation support, typical drawings, etc were non existent. I really had to push to get information and what I got was very, very basic. This wasn't a big issue for us personally but may be for others.

 

Would I choose them again, absolutely.

[Annker]

I had a quote from Norrsken, expensive installation costs that were ~x2.5 verses all other suppliers, and that on top of more expensive supply costs, do seem like a good company to deal with though.

 

Has anyone used/had dealings with Ideal Combi? Seem competitively priced. 

 

 

[Thorfun]

10 minutes ago, Annker said:

I had a quote from Norrsken, expensive installation costs that were ~x2.5 verses all other suppliers

yes but for us the fact that it was all managed by Norrsken meant there was no finger pointing if things went wrong. sometimes you can't put a price on that peace of mind. Also (assuming it's still the same company) the guys they use for the installation were top! can't recommend them highly enough. their name is in my blog somewhere i'm sure.

[Annker]

2 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

yes but for us the fact that it was all managed by Norrsken meant there was no finger pointing if things went wrong. sometimes you can't put a price on that peace of mind. Also (assuming it's still the same company) the guys they use for the installation were top! can't recommend them highly enough. their name is in my blog somewhere i'm sure.

I believe that some of the other Norxxx suppliers also manage their entire offering; verses Velfac's and Rational's  distributor model.

 

Quotations in this package seem to be generated by a Black box, and I can only speak of my returned quotes and that is Norrsken being almost 50% more expensive than the field.      

[Thorfun]

1 minute ago, Annker said:

Quotations in this package seem to be generated by a Black box, and I can only speak of my returned quotes and that is Norrsken being almost 50% more expensive than the field.

very true. you just have to read the threads on this site to know that it seems very finger in the air! one person will have a low quote and another a high quote from the same company. it's as if they price as to whether they actually want the job or not. we had a big spread of quotes for our windows including vast differences in the same Internorm windows from different companies.