5-Star Success: Atlanta Windows Without Surprises

Twenty-eight years ago, Tom McCormick purchased a country-style home in Fayetteville, Georgia. The quaint house offers enchanting views of the surrounding woods.

But in recent years, the home's wooden windows had become drafty. So McCormick decided it was time to purchase maintenance-free vinyl windows. He called four contractors for bids, including Commercial Residential Services, Inc. (CRSI), a ServiceMagic contractor from Atlanta.

"CRSI had the best price on the windows I wanted," McCormick says.

That's not all.

When Joe Tichenor of CRSI told McCormick he'd arrive at 9 a.m. for the estimate, he arrived at 9 a.m. for the estimate. Other contractors showed up late or not at all. "They would call and make excuses," McCormick says.

One contractor (who was not a ServiceMagic contractor) was arrested on an outstanding warrant while driving to McCormick's house. "An officer called and told me he wouldn't be there," McCormick says.

And CRSI was more than reliable.

McCormick's two-story, four-bedroom house has 23 windows. Tichenor measured each one carefully, including the bay window near the front porch. That window, which doesn't open, had to be special-ordered. Tichenor told McCormick it would take about two weeks to manufacture the window. And just like clockwork, it took two weeks to build.

On the day Tichenor's crew was to remove the old windows and install the new ones, it drizzled. That didn't deter the men from CRSI. They kept working and installed all 23 windows in one day.

And, unlike some companies, CRSI hauled off the old windows at no charge. They also didn't charge extra for the high, difficult-to-reach windows on the back of the house. Some firms wanted to bill extra for that, too.

"A lot of companies make it more difficult than it really is," Tichenor says. "My job is to make it easy for the customer."

That philosophy resonates with Tom McCormick: "They were fantastic," he says.

Performing top-notch work is the goal at CRSI, according to owner George Varney. "It's one thing to buy a good window," he says. "What's more important is the people who are installing it. If the crew doesn't know what they're doing, it doesn't matter how good the window is."

CRSI employs just one group of window installers. "You can control quality so much better that way," Varney says. "I think that's the main difference between us and the others."

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