Made to Measure Blinds - Best Practice

T

tipp2cork

Guest
Hi all,

Just wondering if i can get some people's advice. We want to get custom made blinds for a new house. Nothing fancy, but regular cream roller blinds for most rooms and venetians for the back door.

Question is, most blind companies offer to come out and measure up and give quote for free. Would it be normal to get at least two quotes like this. Would feel small bit guilty dragging somebody out, not to give them the business, but on the other hand, its impossible to get a realistic quote unless they do come out and measure up and add up all the little extras and then apply any discounts.

Just wondering what others have done.

Or even if there are any people reading this that are working in the trade. How is this seen by the companies.

thanks,
 
Hi,

I recently got all new blinds in new house, I asked around friends and family before ringing any company and then they came and measured etc. We went with that company but only because we knew that was a good deal going on other people
 
Ask one company to measure and use their measurments to get a number of quotes, if you feel really guilty you can give the first company last refusal on the work at the best price.
 
There's no need to feel guilty about getting a few companies out. They are well used to dong this.

Some even see it as free advertising even if you don't place an order, as if they have a company logo on their van your neighbours see it & when you do get your new blinds the chances are that they will think that you bought them from them.

As far as I know, quite a few of the blind companies order their blinds from the same manufacturer anyway, but charge different prices & give different discounts, so it does pay to shop around.

Also, some companies say that a particular blind might not be available for 3 weeks - others may say 3 days.
 
When I recently built a house and needed to buy 9 blinds was to measure the window apertures and get a quote by using one of many online quote systems that you can find through google. Although these companies were all in the UK it gave me an idea of the prices for typical manufacturers who sell through local blind companies.
In our case the saving was so large compared to local suppliers that I ordered my blinds from a UK company, fitted them myself (piece of cake! ) and saved a fortune.
This way you get exactly the same product and cut out the middle man
 
last month we measured the windows ourselves and after visiting one company with the measurements, found out its best to have companies call to the house as they can give the most accruate figure and then you can bargain. Id check a good few companies as some can have specials/better advice etc.

Just had my own house/sunroom fitted (went with cream too, bedrooms blackouts)which I was delighted with till I noticed a good many issues with the sunroom blinds. At moment company said they will offer a full refund (four figure sum!!!!) as they can't seem to get their act together and fix the problems. Delighted with the fabric, sewing, finish etc, just the look was all wrong in the sunroom.
 
Thanks for all your comments. Think we'll go ahead and get at least 2 reccommended suppliers out.
 
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