Your front door sets the tone for your entire home—it’s the first thing people see and one of the last details you interact with every day. In this conversation, Scott Dorrell shares why entry door projects are so unique, how homeowners can fully customize their door, and the technology that helps you visualize the perfect fit before you make a final decision.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Scott, thanks as always. I really appreciate it.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Glad to be here.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis, FuelVM)
Let's talk a little bit about doors. How do I know that I'm going to love my door project?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Well, for entry doors in particular, they're one of my favorite appointments to run. I do windows and patio doors all the time, but entry doors are special because they're never alike. I may do 2,000 doors in a year, and not one of them is the same as another. It’s really cool.

We come into your house, sit down with an iPad or a laptop, and use a visualizer tool. We go through photos of different doors we’ve installed, and you start by picking one you kind of like. I’ll click on that, and then we go into a custom building module where we can design that door any way you want. You’ll actually see the door change in real time on the iPad, along with the price.

You might love a certain glass style, but then decide it’s too expensive—and that’s okay. We can swap out hardware, glass, frame styles, even change how the bevels look on the door.

Once you land on a design you love, I can go outside and take a picture of your home. Then I’ll superimpose your selected door onto the photo so you can see exactly how it’ll look on your house before you buy it.

When it comes to replacement windows, it's not just about efficiency or fixing damage—it's also about design. In this conversation, Scott Dorrell shares real-world trends and creative ideas that homeowners are embracing to enhance both form and function. From maximizing views to upgrading curb appeal, window design has come a long way from the one-size-fits-all builder-grade options.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Let's talk about design trends, what's going on, what's actually happening in the real world?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Yeah, you know, it's pretty cool doing a replacement window project for a homeowner because when the house is built, they really don't get to pick their windows. They don't get to pick their view. The builders have a set of windows that they always work with. They have set sizes that they can use, and that's what you get in the home when it's built.

But when you go to do a replacement project, you can really do some cool stuff. Maybe you live on a lake and you have four casement windows all in a row, but you have this beautiful view. You never need those windows to open or shut, but you love to see that view. We'll replace that entire unit with a big picture window, and you'll be able to bring the outside in—and it's gorgeous.

What’s really cool is that one giant picture window is going to cost less than the four windows that were there before, if we replaced it as is. So you not only increase the look of your home and enjoy your view better, but you're also going to save a little money on the project. That’s a really popular option.

Another trend is going from double-hung windows to casements—I do that a lot in homes. Casements are generally associated with higher-value homes. So we'll go into a house that has double-hung windows on the front and replace them with casements, and it just looks a little bit different. You can see the upgrade right away. The screens are now on the inside instead of the outside, so the exterior of the home has a cleaner look.

We’ll also change the grid patterns around. Maybe take the grids off the back of the home. In my opinion, grids in a window are made to be looked at, not through. So on the front of the home, grids look great—but on the back, we’ll take them off so you can really enjoy your landscaping or the views that you have outside.

Window replacement can feel like a big investment, but knowing when it’s the right time makes the decision much easier. In this conversation, Scott Dorrell outlines the most common signs homeowners should watch for—ranging from comfort issues to visual damage—to determine if it’s time to consider replacing some or all of their windows.

Transcript starts here:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Scott, thanks again. Always appreciate the time. So let's actually think about the homeowner—what should they be looking for in their own home to consider a replacement window project?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Well, for replacement windows, there are a few different things you should consider. One is the comfort of your house. If your house is really cold all the time, or really hot in the summer, or you can't keep the rooms in your home the same temperature, that's generally because the windows are leaking.

That's something you feel. Then there are things you can see. You may have glass that is fogged up, which means the glass packs have begun to fail. That happens because the frame has warped. So if you replace the glass, it's very likely that the new glass pack will fail again. Instead of just replacing the glass, you probably have an issue with the window and should look at replacing the entire unit.

There's also wood rot, which is pretty obvious. If you go outside your home and the wood around your window is soft or rotted, it’s probably time to replace the windows.

Then there’s operability. If you lift your window and it doesn’t stay open and falls back down, or if you crank your window open but have to go outside to push it shut, it’s time to replace it.

The average life of a builder-grade window is generally about 7 to 10 years. So if your home is more than 10 to 15 years old, it's very likely that it's time to consider a window project. That doesn’t mean you have to do the whole home. Sometimes the windows on the second story or on the south side of the house are more damaged due to exposure. In that case, maybe you just start with a partial project and plan to do the rest down the road.

When it comes to home maintenance, few decisions are as tricky as knowing whether to repair or replace your windows. In this conversation, Scott Dorrell shares honest insights based on years of experience, helping homeowners understand when a full window replacement is truly worth it—and when a simple repair will do the trick.

Transcript starts here:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Repair versus replace.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
I get a lot of phone calls from customers all the time asking, “Hey, I want to replace my windows,” xand after talking to them on the phone, I often end up directing them somewhere else just to get some repair work done. Because replacement is not always the right choice for a consumer.

We only want to replace windows in homes where that’s the right thing to do. I think the biggest difference between repair and replace is that when you repair a window, that’s an expense. When you replace a window, that’s an investment. You’re going to see savings from the new windows on your energy bills, you’re going to extend the life of your furnace and air conditioner, preserve the materials inside your home from fading, and you’re going to increase the value of your home.

If you plan on staying in your house for any length of time—I'd say about three to five years at minimum—then you should really consider doing a replacement project. But if you plan on selling the house, you need to get it ready to put on the market, and you're worried about the inspectors saying, “Hey, this glass pack is foggy.” Then there's a really big argument that maybe you should repair that window and go on about your way and let the next homeowner make the investment.

Also, if you have just a broken pack of glass in your home, that doesn’t mean the window’s bad. You can call another company that could potentially come out and just put new glass in the window. The frame is fine, you’re good to go. You don’t have to worry about the windows matching—you just fix that pack of glass.

In this excerpt from our interview with Co-Founder Scott Dorrell, we dive into the important elements of energy efficiency when it comes to windows. Scott breaks down what really matters—from glass types to gas fills to the importance of proper installation—and offers insight into the materials and techniques that deliver the best performance, especially in a climate like Indianapolis.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
So, Scott, let's talk about energy efficiency. Teeing it up, what can you offer in energy efficiency?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Well, when you're thinking about energy efficiency with a window, the biggest part of a window is glass. So well over 90% of the window is made out of the glass. So the glass is where you're going to get the most bang for your buck on energy efficiency. You have all kinds of different stuff out there. You have double pane, triple pane, laminated tempered glass. You have argon, nitrogen, xenon, Low-E—all of these different things that are going to affect the efficiency of the window.

My preference, especially in Indianapolis, is Andersen's SmartSun or SmartSun with HeatLock glass pack. It's a double-pane pack of glass and it has Low-E. Low-E stands for low emissivity coating. It's a type of tinting, but it's tinted in the ultraviolet or the infrared spectrum of light. So visibly, you don't see the tint, but it stops heat from radiating in from the sun, and it stops ultraviolet light from radiating in from the sun.

So while it's energy efficient, it's also going to maintain wood, furniture, paintings—things in your home—from fading. That film is specific to reflecting heat back at the source.

The other piece on a double-pane window is what's inside of the glass. We use a special gas mixture. It's not just argon—it's an argon and nitrogen gas mixture, which allows the gas to continually mix. You get a full fill, where if you use just a dense gas, it'll sink to the bottom.

We also fill the glass packs differently. We don't use a needle that we plug in the side to pump gas in. We actually make the windows inside of a chamber, so they're formed in an inert atmosphere. And the atmosphere is the gas fill we want in between the windows. So every window has the same fill. We're not trying to pump the gas in and cause pressure on the glass pack.

The importance of that gas is stopping conduction. So if it's hot in your home and cold outside, the heat won’t leave the house as quickly because of that gas inside.

Then you also have the frame—what the frame is made of. And really, one of the biggest factors is how it’s installed. If it’s not installed right, you can have the most efficient window in the world, but if the installation isn’t correct, you’re going to get air infiltration all around the side of the frames.

That’s why we only use certified installation teams—people who have done this for a long time—because we want it to look nice and work right when we're done with the project.

In this informative conversation, Scott breaks down the pros and cons of various window framing materials. Whether you're replacing your windows or building new, understanding the differences between vinyl, composite, fiberglass, and wood frames can help you make a better decision for your home. Let's dive into the benefits, challenges, and unique characteristics of each type.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Let’s talk about framing materials. What do you got?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Okay, so framing materials on windows. You can do vinyl, composite, fiberglass, wood or a mix of the two. Vinyl windows you're going to see everywhere. It's the most popular replacement window, because it's really cheap to buy. You can mark it up a lot, but unfortunately those windows don't last a super long time, because they have a tendency to warp when you have changes in temperature.

The composite windows you're going to see carried by Andersen. It's a fibrex material. So Renewal by Andersen and Andersen will carry the composite. It gives you the benefits of a plastic—so you're not going to have to worry about rot. You don't have to paint or stain it. They're maintenance-free but they're not going to warp or change shape and size like a vinyl.

Then you have the fiberglass product lines. Fiberglass is a really good material, because it has a high tensile strength, so it's not going to warp either. And you can make the windows much, much larger. For instance, the Andersen A-Series product line, we can make an operable casement that's 4.5 feet wide by 8 feet tall, and it opens up out of your home.

They can make it that big because the frame made out of fiberglass allows you to hold 400 pounds of glass without having any issues. You just have to reinforce the hardware.

And then you have wood windows. We've been making windows out of wood for a very, very long time. Wood is susceptible to water damage, so you want to use treated lumber when you make a wood window. They have outlawed a lot of the good treatments for wood—in the 90's especially, they got rid of a lot of arsenic-based wood preservatives, which caused a lot of wood to rot out of homes. So the window industry is trying to find ways to fix that.

The most popular way that you'll see is a vinyl or an aluminum clad, where they take a wood window and wrap it in a metal or a plastic to try to protect it from the elements outside. The issue with that, though, is you’re still going to get water that can potentially get trapped behind the cladding and end up with rotting anyways.

So Andersen has a couple other options. They have the extruded aluminum E-Series window, which is really cool. The frame itself is aluminum—it's an extruded aluminum, it's really strong. And then they take a piece of wood about that thick and put it on the inside of the window. So it looks like wood from the inside, but it’s actually an extruded aluminum frame.

The E-Series is also one of my favorites, because with an aluminum frame, you can do all kinds of colors. The standard colors for the E-Series window include 52 standard colors, and any custom color you want, they can put on there.

Then there's the A-Series, which is a fiberglass frame with a wood interior. That one is very, very good if you want to stack windows on top or build a wall out of windows. The sight lines will be perfectly lined up, because they can make the frames thinner, and that material lasts forever. It’s also maintenance-free.

When it comes to replacing windows in your home, the names Andersen and Renewal by Andersen often come up. While they are both associated with high-quality window products, it's important to understand the distinction between the two. In this interview, we’ll break down the differences between Renewal by Andersen, a replacement window franchise, and Andersen Windows, the manufacturer of a wide range of window lines.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
So, Scott, question that we hear often. Andersen versus Renewal by Andersen. What is it? What's the difference? Can you help us out?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Yeah, it's confusing because, you know, it's Andersen. It's both. Andersen. So Renewal by Andersen. Great company. There's nothing wrong with the company. You'll be happy if you do a replacement window project with them. But what they are is a replacement window franchise that was created by Andersen where Andersen Windows and Doors is the core company.

They're the factory that manufactures a variety of product lines. And in the late 80s, Andersen developed a material called Fibrex. It's a composite. It's a composite frame. And the special thing about fibrex is it can be cut down and made into any size you want. So it's custom sizing to fit into the home. So you can do insert style replacement windows or full frame replacement windows, and you can make it in all different sizes to fit.

So they developed this material that works really, really well to do a replacement window. And instead of just launching it into the market, they create their own replacement window company, which was Renewal by Andersen. So that company turned into a franchise that they then sell into different markets. And those markets have one in each market.

And they do a ton of marketing. Great company, big company, but Andersen Windows and Doors has a lot of other products. So they have the 100 series which is an all fibrex composite window just like Renewal's. But it's their lowest cost product because it's actually not super expensive to manufacture that window. So the 100 series fibrex window from Andersen, which we carry, is going to be significantly less expensive than what you would see at Renewal.

But then we also have the 200 series, the 400 series, the A and the E series, Andersen window lines, all of which fit different style projects. So, in a nutshell, Renewal by Andersen is a replacement window franchise. And Andersen Windows and Doors is the factory. We carry all of Andersen's product lines at Modern Day Window & Door.

And then we do the install.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Nice. Hey, thanks for your time. Really appreciate.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Yes, absolutely.

In any service-oriented business, delivering exceptional customer experiences is key to building lasting relationships. A true testament to this is when companies go above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction, even when it means making changes after the installation is complete. In this customer success story, Scott shares a memorable experience with a client that highlights how flexibility and attention to detail can turn a potentially disappointing situation into a positive one.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Scott, let's talk about customer success story. What have you heard out there working with customers? What's the real world experience?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Yeah, you know, I will say I have one that's on the top of my mind. I just saw this customer this week, so I stopped by her house to drop off some touch up paint for the door we installed so they'd have some touch up paint to match both sides of the entry system that we put in. She lives right by Prairie View golf course in Carmel, beautiful home.

And I went to her house and we designed a really nice entry system for her. It was beautiful and we discussed it. We talked about it and we installed it. And on install day, my customer said, hey, Scott, I don't like how this door swings open. So it was hinged on a different side than we had originally discussed, and that was what was signed off on. That's what we had agreed on. And at the end of the day, contractually that's what she purchased. 

But I went back out to her house during the install. I sat down with her on the couch and I asked her. I said, Angie, you know, are you going to be happy in your home if the door opens like this? And she thought about it and she said, I don't think so and that didn't sit well with me. So I talked to my partner, Andy, and we decided to order a brand new door for her, come out and install it. We did not charge her anything for that door. Her original door that we put in is now a display model that we use at the shows. 

But when I stopped back by to see her, she was just over the moon excited about her new entry system and, you know, couldn't stop raving about the experience that she had with the installation side of us putting in the entry door, the workers that came out to the home and just the overall customer service. So that's that's on the top of my mind. I just saw her this week.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Well, that's what the customer service experience is really all about.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
It was pretty cool. Yeah.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Very nice.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Absolutely.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Hey, thanks, Scott.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
No problem.

In this conversation, Scott sits down to share the story behind Modern Day Window and Door. He talks about the company's origin, mission, and what sets them apart in the home improvement industry—particularly in how they approach product selection and customer service.

Transcript:

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Nice to see you today.

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Good to see you. Yeah.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Really want to talk about Modern Day Window & Door today?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Yeah.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Who is Modern Day?

Interviewee (Scott Dorrell, Co-Founder of Modern Day Window & Door)
Okay, so, Modern Day Window & Door. We're a locally owned and operated full-service window and door installation company. My partner Andy and I founded this company. We worked together in windows and doors for a long time—we worked at Renewal by Andersen together. And we just saw a need in the market. We would go to a lot of these homes in Carmel, Zionsville, areas on the north side of Indy, down in Center Grove—we’d go into the house, and Renewal is a great company. They have a great product. It’s an all Fibrex window. But there were a lot of times I’d go into a home and I didn’t have the right product for the customer, because I only had one line to sell.

Where Andersen Windows and Doors has all these other lines available that sometimes fit the home better.

So Andy and I decided to form our own company where we carried multiple lines. So instead of walking into a home with one window or one door that we had to force into that house and make it work, we go into a home, identify what would work best for the consumer and for their house, and then we pick product lines and go from there.

And that’s the purpose of the company. So we have great installation, great design teams. And I think at the end of the day, that’s why we have all five-star reviews and a five-star experience.

Interviewer (Andrew Curtis)
Nice, nice. Thank you.