Need Advice on Retractable Awnings

i looked into Sunset, but found another local company who installed our awing with a motorized retraction that uses a remote. We love the awning, and we got a much better price than Sunset offered. There's nothing wrong with Sunset, but I believe they subcontract the installation. I'd rather use a local company who is responsible for the whole job.

These awnings are great if you live in a windy area...you can pull it up before it gets damaged.

Okay don't laugh, but we bought and installed our own awning from Christmas tree shop. Under two hundred dollars. Good and sturdy. You have to crank it out, but it's not that bad. We've had ours for three years now, and no problems!

I also used a local company to install an awning and I've been really happy with it. The deck was never much used before the awning because it was always too sunny. I decided to save a few $$ and get a manual awning and that has been fine, though a little more work than the motorized.

You might want to look into bird netting too - not a problem for me, but a friend had big problems with birds nesting up in the awning during the spring months.

We went with a local company who manufactured the entire assembly. We purchased both stationary window awnings and a manual roll out awning. To save money we installed it all of the awnings ourselves which was easy. We didn't purchase the motorized version but we don't have any complaints with the manual version. We don't leave the roll out awning extended in very high winds or in the rain. Otherwise, all of the awnings still work and look great after 3 years. I think the key is the fabric which is Sunbrella. Good luck.