Apologies for the domestic content.
We just had a quote for some vertical blinds from a local place: 3x 100cm / 200cm drop in the front bay window, and 1 approx 200x200 and 1 300x200 in the dining area. The price quoted was a grand…that was for PVC slats, though they said any ‘class 5’ blind would be roughly the same. They suggested pvc as we wanted easy to clean slats.
That seems to me to be expensive, and it looks like Hilarys offer a cheaper vertical deal where the 3 100x200s would only be 199. Seems cheap…
The question I have is twofold I guess - is the quote I got excessive, and are Hilarys worth pursuing / likely to be cheaper?
Comments
I just checked and 247 blinds also do venetian blinds. Not sure about bay windows.
The bay window is basically 3 flat sections rather than curved; currently setup with 3 individual header bars. I could just replace the slats but the hanger type seems to be an outdated design that isn't currently available.
You need to talk to @DiscoStu - he's a blind man
I used to work for Hillarys but I've been with a local company for the past 3 years.
Generally I would say that we are cheaper than Hillarys. What Hillarys do is ramp up the individual price then offer a multibuy deal. I had one job with them where two blinds individually would have been something like £200 each, but with the multibuy were £199 for the pair. It's not fair pricing and not something I particulary liked but as a customer you may actually find their multibuy deal to be very competitive. Deals only apply to certain fabrics with them though and can't remember if PVC were part of it.
When you say PVC though, what do you mean? You get PVC/fibreglass mix slats which are flexible like vinyl but are waterproof. They can come with weights and chains at the bottom like standard fabric slats. You also get solid PVC which are just that- solid. Essentially lengths of plastic with no weights at the bottom. Hard-wearing but very plasticy.
By PVC we meant the hard plastic slats - I don’t like them but the wife does
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Decent price and delivery times - blinds are good too. Very happy with them and would reccomend
We'd charge £950 fitted and that's for the 'basic' flat slats. You can get curved PVC as well but they cost even more.
Solid PVC slats are made by the supplier so we can't make them ourselves and not every supplier offers them due to limited appeal. They are more expensive than fabric slats which we would make ourselves in our factory.
If you want easy clean slats then consider the PVC/Fibreglass fabric I mentioned before. Still waterproof, still blackout, but flexible and can be made in-house by your local company (if they do their own manufacturing).
There are various finishes available but plain fabrics such as Unilux (from Decora) is an A range (the lowest price range) which we'd do for £675 fitted.
Oh, and some quotes might be ex-VAT. Ours are inclusive of VAT and we fit for free so check these details too.
With fabric (including the PVC/Fibreglass) then the slat has a pocket at the top and a plastic hanger is inserted. If the hanger breaks in the future then you simply replace the hanger.
I don't personally like the solid PVC slats and have done less than 10 jobs in the 5 years I've been doing blinds, whereas we do the PVC/Fibreglass fabrics several times a week.
I thought an update might be in order.
With the feedback and info provided above by very helpful fellow inmates, I checked the online suppliers again and came to the conclusion that the local blind place was allocating themselves a degree of value-add that I didn't agree with, so I measured up and bought direct from Blinds2go. Following their instructions to the letter, everything arrived and fitted perfectly - rollers and verticals. About 1 week from order -> delivery.
We dropped the plan for the PVC slats and went with a blackout PVC fabric for most and the cost ended up being a bit less than 1/3 of what the local place quoted. Granted, the PVC slats originally quoted were more expensive but that's not enough to offset a 2/3s price difference.
I would add that we were replacing blinds already in place, so the fitting was made a bit easier - at least for the verticals - because the fixings were already in place and so properly lined up and spaced. That made it easier to fit the new ones.
I'd also add that the runner bars / trucks on the B2G verticals are a bit more fragile looking than the old Homestyle blinds that were replaced...but they seem durable enough given the use case. Time will tell.
Overall - if I was fitting from scratch and not a DIY enthusiast, I think a well-priced pro fitment is worth seeking out. After that though, your options are more varied.