Alside vs republic

I had a contractor out who installs both alside and republic. He didn't have very strong opinions on one over the other. He said he leans a little towards Republic only because they are local, I'm in the Chicago area, and easier to get parts/supplies if needed. I've read the previous posts/comments about Republic but now that the company is under new management for the past year, what are peoples opinions. My understanding was that some people had concerns with their business practices but what about the quality of the windows?

It would help if you were more specific as to the models you were looking at. Most factories make a line of windows. As an example, Alside makes several low end windows ie. Geneva and Centurian, and a better quality such as the Sheffield and Ultra Maxx. Then you have Excalibur (arguably), in the middle.

The alside line I'm looking at is the Sheffield. I don't have a specific line on the republic brand as yet, but would be interested in whichever model is comparable to the sheffield. I don't know much about the Republic brand yet except for the little bits I've gotten off this site. The contractor will be coming back with specifics as far as prices and such next week and we will be looking into the details of the two lines at that time. He came out to get some preliminary pictures and measurements as we are also doing a "face lift" for the exterior with new shutters, a new entryway, and other details.
Thanks in advance. This site has been a wealth of info over the past 2-3 months that I've been researching windows.

You can check out both companies on the nfrc.org site to compare their numbers. You will need to have the model numbers (not names) in order to conduct a search. I know that Alside offers a lifetime warranty on their windows, I am not sure about the other company.

Your contractor should know the stats on the brands that he sells.