Named profiles, named hardware, named glass — the line a specifier can write by part number and the one most of our portfolio is built from. Brand by brand, what it is and where it fits.
Standard windows are branded windows: a named system profile, named hardware, named glass. Reynaers, Cortizo, Alutech and Everest aluminium; Pella’s Lifestyle and 350 lines; Andersen 400; Marvin Elevate; Crystal 5500; Aluplast’s deeper uPVC. This is the line most of our work is in, the line the portfolio is full of, and the line a specifier can write into a drawing by part number. Premium is this line with upgrades; budget is this line with the brands removed.
Product lines: Budget windows · Standard windows · Premium windows | Budget doors · Standard doors · Premium doors
The word does not mean plain. It means the window is built from components with a name on them: a system house designed and tested the profile and publishes its data; the hardware maker — Roto, Fapim, Siegenia, Truth, Amesbury — rates the hinge or the multipoint for a load; the glass carries a coating you can look up, Solarban 60 or Guardian SunGuard or Vitro, on a spacer with a name. Because every part is documented, the whole window can be documented, which is what an architect, a co-op board or the Landmarks Preservation Commission asks for.
We fabricate the aluminium systems in this line ourselves — we buy the extrusions and the hardware from the system house and machine, assemble and glaze them in our shop — and we order the wood, clad and vinyl lines to survey from the manufacturer. Either way the components are named and the window is the one in the catalogue.
| Brand | Standard line | What it is | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reynaers | SlimLine 38 · CS 77 | Belgian aluminium: SlimLine for steel-look casements and divided lites, CS 77 as the workhorse tilt-and-turn | Townhouses, custom houses, landmark replacements |
| Cortizo | COR 70 Industrial | Spanish 70 mm thermally broken tilt-and-turn and fixed; large sash capacity | Apartment buildings, LIC and Brooklyn new construction, townhouses |
| Alutech | W72 / ALT W72 | Thermally broken aluminium window system fabricated in our shop; AW-rated | Multifamily new construction (408 Lefferts, 461 East New York) |
| Everest | Residential and commercial series | American aluminium windows and balcony doors we fabricate; Solarban glass standard | Condos and rentals across Brooklyn and Manhattan |
| Crystal | Series 5500 double-hung · 1460 terrace door | New York-made aluminium, AAMA H-HC60, 1″ IGU with named spacer | Co-ops, loft conversions, buildings with a Crystal standard |
| Pella | Lifestyle Series (wood) · 350 Series (vinyl) | Lifestyle: wood interior, aluminium-clad exterior, named hardware; 350: Pella’s better vinyl | Houses and brownstones; Coleridge Street, 343 Hoyt |
| Andersen | 400 Series | Andersen’s mainstream wood-core clad window; the most specified residential window in the country | Houses, rear elevations of townhouses, additions |
| Marvin | Elevate | Fibreglass exterior, wood interior; Marvin’s middle line | Modern and traditional houses alike |
| Aluplast (uPVC) | Ideal 7000 / 8000 | Deeper German uPVC profiles with steel reinforcement and named hardware | Multifamily where uPVC is chosen for cost and thermal performance (The Elston, Woodycrest) |
Sightlines. European aluminium in this line shows 1¾ to 2¼ inches of frame and sash; a budget vinyl shows 3 to 4. On a facade the difference is the whole look.
Size. A Cortizo or Reynaers tilt-and-turn sash carries up to about 130 kg of glass in its standard hardware — a 4 × 7 foot operable sash is routine. Budget frames stop well short of that.
Named glass. Solarban 60 or an equivalent Guardian coating on a warm-edge spacer, argon-filled, with the U-factor and SHGC published; laminated or acoustic lites as an option in the same frame.
Colour. Any RAL powder coat, anodised finishes, two-tone (one colour outside, another inside), textured and matte blacks.
Hardware you can replace. Named hardware is stocked for decades; a generic multipoint from a budget line may not be available when it fails.
Documentation. Test reports, NFRC labels, system drawings — what a board, an architect or the Commission asks for, and what a budget line often cannot supply.
Almost every house someone intends to live in. Every apartment building whose developer wants the facade to read as designed. Every co-op and condo replacement where the board has a specification. Every landmark facade, where the standard line is the floor and the premium line adds the period hardware and the custom arches. Every window on a loud street, because the glass options live here. The 165 East 64th Street townhouse (Cortizo), the Anable in Long Island City (Cortizo curtain wall and windows), 2518 Ocean Avenue (Everest) and Coleridge Street (Pella) are all standard-line jobs.
When the design asks for something the catalogue does not list: a true arch rolled to a template, a lift-slide four metres wide, a brass cremone bolt on a modern multipoint, a steel-look casement with a 1-inch sightline, a triple unit in a Passive House frame, a colour or a hardware finish made for one house. Those are the same systems with upgrades and custom work on top — the premium line.
Because everything in this line is documented, two standard windows can be compared on paper before either is priced. Ask for five numbers: the frame and sash sightline in inches; the maximum sash weight the hardware is rated for; the whole-window U-factor and SHGC from the NFRC label; the air and water infiltration ratings from the test report; and the maximum sash size the system lists. Then ask for three names: the hardware maker, the glass coating, the spacer. A window that cannot supply those is a budget window with a standard price. A window that supplies them all is comparable to any other on the list, and the choice comes down to look, colour and lead time rather than trust.
The material underneath the tier still matters — aluminium, uPVC or wood-clad behave differently in a New York winter and on a landmark facade — and the aluminium vs uPVC vs wood comparison covers that; the casement vs double-hung vs tilt-and-turn comparison covers the operating type.
By system and part number. A standard-line proposal names the profile series, the hardware set, the glass make-up with its coating and spacer, the finish, and the tested performance. We keep the budget alternative on the page where it exists, and we flag where a premium upgrade — laminated glass, a concealed hinge, a custom colour — would change the result. Fabricated systems run six to twelve weeks from approved shop drawings; the American wood and clad lines three to eight. See custom fabrication for the shop, and the Reynaers comparison for how the series within one brand differ.
A window built on a branded system with named components: a system-house profile (Reynaers, Cortizo, Alutech, Everest, Crystal, Pella, Andersen, Marvin, Aluplast), named hardware (Roto, Fapim, Siegenia, Truth) and named glass (Solarban, Guardian, Vitro). Every part can be specified and documented.
Reynaers SlimLine 38 and CS 77; Cortizo COR 70; Alutech W72; Everest residential and commercial series; Crystal 5500; Pella Lifestyle and 350; Andersen 400; Marvin Elevate; Aluplast Ideal 7000/8000.
Roughly, but the defining feature is branded components, not price. A standard Cortizo tilt-and-turn costs more than a budget vinyl and less than a premium Reynaers MasterLine with custom hardware.
Yes — Reynaers, Cortizo, Alutech and Everest are cut, machined, assembled and glazed in our own shop from the system houses’ extrusions and hardware. Wood, clad and vinyl lines are ordered to survey from the manufacturer.
Usually, with the right profile and divided-lite option. Period hardware, rolled arches and custom colours push it into the premium line.
Fabricated European systems six to twelve weeks from approved shop drawings; Pella, Andersen and Marvin lines three to eight weeks.
A low-E coated insulated unit (Solarban 60 or an equivalent Guardian or Vitro coating), argon-filled, on a warm-edge spacer; laminated, acoustic and triple options in the same frame.
Budget Windows Premium Windows Standard Doors Aluminium Windows Tilt-and-Turn Windows Reynaers Series Compared All Products
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 window schedule or photos with sizes. We will propose the system, name every component, and price it with the budget and premium alternatives beside it.
