The slimmest frame on the market against a good conventional one we fabricate ourselves. What the premium buys, what the value keeps, and how we choose.
Where we stand. We install Reynaers from the manufacturer’s fabricator — the Ocean Parkway house is SlimLine 38 throughout — and we are factory-certified to fabricate, install and service Alutech. Series names, depths and positioning below are from the manufacturers’ published system data; performance numbers for a specific series and glass come from the manufacturer’s test reports, which we file in the test reports in our Technical Library as we receive them, and from the project’s own calculation. We do not quote a U-factor or an STC here that we cannot point to a report for.
This is a premium-versus-value comparison, and both are honest at what they are. Reynaers makes the slimmest frames on the market — SlimLine 38 shows about 33 millimetres on a fixed lite — and the highest thermal numbers, at a premium price and a long lead time. Alutech makes a good conventional European window at a value price, and because we fabricate it ourselves the lead time is short and the service is ours. Choose Reynaers when the architecture demands the sightline: a limestone house with arched windows, a facade drawn as a black line around glass. Choose Alutech when the job is a program — a rental building, a storefront, a schedule — and a conventional frame is fine.
| Reynaers | Alutech | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Belgium; premium system house | Belarus / EU production; value-engineered European system |
| Our relationship | Installer; units by the manufacturer’s fabricator | Certified fabricator, installer and service provider |
| Window series | MasterLine 8 (~87 mm), SlimLine 38 steel-look (99 mm depth, ~33 mm fixed sightline), ConceptSystem | W62, W72 |
| Sliders | CP 130, CP 155 lift-slide; Hi-Finity minimal slider | ALT SL160 |
| Sightline | Slimmest available: SlimLine 38 and Hi-Finity | Conventional |
| Thermal ceiling | Very high (MasterLine 8 HI+, triple glass) | Good; code-compliant with margin |
| Price | Premium | Value |
| Lead time to New York | Long: fabricated abroad or by a specialist US fabricator | Short: fabricated here from stock |
| Repairs and parts | Ordered; specialist | From our shop |
| Where we have used it | Ocean Parkway at Avenue W — SlimLine 38 arches, triple glass | 408 Lefferts, 2 Bushwick, 461 East New York |
The sightline, first. SlimLine 38 is a steel-look system: 33.5 millimetres of visible frame on a fixed lite, 67 millimetres frame-plus-vent on an opening one, against 70-plus for a conventional frame alone. It is a 99-millimetre-deep profile, thermally broken, that carries triple glazing and a 170-kilogram vent without the face growing. The Ocean Parkway house is the argument: true arched heads in that profile, reading as a single black line inside the stone. Hi-Finity is the same idea in a slider, with the frame hidden in the wall. Second, the thermal ceiling: MasterLine 8 HI+ with triple glass is a passive-house window. Third, the finish and the hardware, which are the best in the range. See Reynaers.
A conventional European tilt-and-turn — W72 at 72 millimetres depth, polyamide breaks, multi-point hardware — that meets New York code with margin on Low-E argon double glazing and takes triple where wanted. What you get on top is us: we hold the profile, machine it and glaze it on Staten Island, and keep the parts. On a building with eighty windows that is lead time in weeks not months, and a gasket or a handle in year eight from stock. 408 Lefferts Avenue is the model. See Alutech.
If the architect has drawn a slim line, or the house is a limestone front with arches, or the target is passive-house: Reynaers, and we plan the lead time. If the job is a program, a storefront, or a building we will service for years: Alutech. If it is a facade with big sliders and a normal sightline, the answer is often Cortizo, between the two. See Reynaers vs Schüco for the premium-versus-premium question.
When the sightline or the thermal number is the point of the design, yes: nothing in the Alutech range matches SlimLine 38 or MasterLine 8 HI+. When the job is a conventional window on a schedule, no; Alutech does the work and we service it ourselves.
Alutech, by a wide margin: we fabricate it on Staten Island from stock profile. Reynaers is fabricated abroad or by a specialist US fabricator.
Reynaers’ steel-look aluminum window: about 33 mm of visible frame on a fixed lite, 99 mm deep, thermally broken, carrying triple glass. The name comes from the older CS 38-SL series.
Yes; gaskets, glass and hardware are serviceable, and system parts are ordered through the fabricator. Alutech parts come from our own stock.
Yes. We install Reynaers from the manufacturer’s fabricator and are certified to fabricate, install and service Alutech.
About this page. Written by Alex GC Inc. d/b/a Alex Glass Construction and reviewed before publication by Aleksandr Chernovolenko, Managing Partner, with our design and estimating lead and a field foreman. Our foremen hold the NYC DOB Site Safety Training supervisor card and our crews the 40-hour worker card; we are certified to fabricate, install and service Alutech and Everest aluminum systems. Facts are drawn from our own projects, manufacturer test data and the applicable codes; where we are giving an opinion, we say so. Last reviewed September 2026. Credentials
Send the drawing or a photo of the building. We will tell you which system the design needs and quote it.
