Guide · Blinds

How to quote blinds from a window schedule

Many builders ask their flooring contractor to quote the window furnishings too. The plan gives you every window size you need, and supplier price grids do most of the work. The traps are in the sizes that sit just over a grid step.

Start with the selections

The selections or colour schedule says what the builder has included. Look for a section headed window treatments, window furnishings or blinds. It usually tells you:

• the style: roller blinds, venetians, verticals, or a dual system with a blockout and a light filtering blind on one bracket;
• the fabric or range and colour, sometimes only as a builder's standard range;
• where they go: often all windows excluding wet areas, sometimes bedrooms and living only, sometimes including sliding doors.

If the selections name a builder's standard range rather than a product, find out what that range is for that builder and record it. It will come up on every one of their jobs.

Read the window sizes

Windows on a builder plan carry a code, and the window schedule or the code itself gives the size in millimetres. Builders and window makers write these differently: some give height first, some width first. Check one window you can measure against a dimension string on the plan before you trust the order.

List one row per window that gets a blind, with the room, the width and the drop. Leave out windows in wet areas when the selections exclude them, and check whether highlight windows and garage windows are included.

Plan sizes are nominal

The size printed on the plan is the window's nominal size. The blind that is finally ordered depends on whether it is fitted inside the window reveal (recess fit) or across the face of the frame (face fit), and on the check measure done on site once the house is built. Quote from the plan sizes, then order from the check measure.

Plan sizes and measured sizes are often a few millimetres apart. That matters when a window sits just over a grid step, as the example below shows.

How supplier grids work

Most blind suppliers price each style and fabric group from a grid of widths and drops. To price a blind, take the first width column at or above the blind's width, and the first drop row at or above its drop. The cell where they meet is the supplier's cost.

A worked example

Roller blinds in one fabric group to five windows, from the plan sizes (width × drop, in mm):

Now apply your own pricing. With an example markup of 1.8 times cost, $35 to install each blind and a $150 check measure for the job:

Watch the windows just over a step

Look at Bed 1 and Bed 2. At 1810 mm wide, Bed 1 is 10 mm over the 1800 column and costs $168 instead of $151. At 1210 mm, Bed 2 is 10 mm over the 1200 column and costs $134 instead of $118. If the check measure comes back a little under the plan size, as it often does for a recess fitted blind, both drop a column.

You have two honest choices. Quote from the plan size and accept that some blinds may come in cheaper, or flag any window within about 20 mm over a grid step and quote it at the lower column with a note that it is subject to check measure. Either way, decide as a rule, not window by window, so your quotes are consistent.

Other things to price

• Linked blinds, where two or more blinds share one control, often carry a per-blind charge.
• Cassettes, pelmets and fascias usually come from their own grid or price list.
• Motorisation and remote controls are priced per motor and per remote.
• Large windows beyond the supplier's grid need a price from the supplier before you quote.
• Venetians and verticals price the same way from their own grids, with their own options.

The check measure

A builder quote for blinds is almost always written before the house is built, so the blinds cannot be ordered from it directly. Once the windows are installed, someone measures every opening on site, notes recess depths, obstructions such as handles and window winders, and confirms the fit for each blind. That check measure is real time on site, and many contractors charge it as a fixed fee per job rather than hiding it in the blinds.

Writing the blinds line

A clear blinds line names the style, the fabric or range and colour, the number of blinds and the rooms they go to, and says that sizes are subject to check measure. If the selections mention a builder's standard range, use the builder's own wording as well as the product name, so the line is easy to match against their schedule.

Outside Australia

In the US, window sizes and blind grids are usually in inches, and window furnishings are often called window treatments or shades. The grid method is the same: the first width and drop at or above the window size.

How Squaro quotes blinds

Squaro reads the window treatments from the selections and lists one row per window that gets a blind, with the width and drop in millimetres where the plan or schedule gives them. Load your supplier's grid from Excel or PDF and each blind is costed from its width and drop, rounded up to the next band; you can also type a cost by hand. Squaro then applies your markup, your install charge per blind and your check measure fee, on the same quote as the floors. Every row shows the window it came from, so you can check the list against the plan before the quote goes out. More on the blinds quoting software page.

Related reading

• Blinds quoting software, on the same quote as the floorsListing the windows that get blinds from the plans, and pricing them with your markup and fees.
• The flooring quote checklist: what to check before you sendDocuments, scope, measurements, materials, trims, extras and wording, checked in a few minutes.
• How to quote flooring from builder plansThe full method, from the builder's pack to a priced quote, with a worked hybrid example.
• Frequently asked questionsPlans, checking, privacy, countries and early access.

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