Contractors, builders, & homeowners: Which brand of vinyl siding is better, Alcoa or Rollex?

Question:And don't just bash vinyl, the budget on this house just doesn't call for anything else.

Answers:
Alcoa makes many different grades of siding, I imagine Rollex does as well. I have not dealt with Rollex for several years, and then it was just with their aluminum products. I was always pleased with the quality of their aluminum products, but service left a bit to be desired sometimes. The situation there may be better or worse now.

I deal with Alcoa (under the Mastic brand) all the time. Could not be happier. They do not have what I would call a cheap siding, anything they have is as good as or better than most. All of their locking systems work very well, and that is one of the more important considerations with vinyl. If you get into one of their heavier sidings (Quest in the Mastic line), I don't think there are any others that are as good. Also, their colors tend to fade much more evenly than some of the others. All vinyl will fade, if it fades evenly you will not really notice.

The real selling point for me is ongoing service. There was a fading problem with some of the Mastic sidings several years ago. Mostly the "stained look" sidings, but also one of their blues. Every single job that I know of was replaced by Mastic, including a generous check to cover labor and disposal without much hassle. I have never seen any company take care of their problems as well in the building materials industry.

I should add, Alcoa does have a new line of "stained look" sidings that are working well, so if you are considering one of those it should be OK. There is a house just down the street from me that had the new product installed in 1995 and it still looks great.