What a Window Treatment Quote Should Actually Include

Two quotes for the same nine windows can differ by thousands, and the total at the bottom tells you almost nothing about why. The answer is usually sitting in the lines above it, or in the lines that are missing. A good quote passes one test: you can read it and picture exactly what is going on your wall in six weeks. Here is what should be on the page.

Why Two Quotes for the Same Windows Look Nothing Alike

Say you collect three quotes for the same nine windows. One is a single page with a total on it. One runs four pages and lists every window by room. The third sits somewhere in between.

The single page is not necessarily the cheapest. You have no way of knowing, because there is nothing in it to compare. Custom window coverings are priced per window, and every choice inside a window moves the number: product, material, fabric, size, mount, how it lifts, whether it carries a valance. A quote that hides those choices behind one figure has hidden the reasons for its own price.

That is worth saying plainly, because the natural instinct with three numbers on a table is to pick the lowest one. The lowest number is only meaningful if all three describe the same house.

Every Window Gets Its Own Line

This is the backbone of a readable quote. One line per window, and each line should tell you:

• The room and which window. "Primary bedroom, west window" beats "window 4" when you are checking the quote against your own house.
• The product and the material. Poly shutter, hardwood shutter, cellular shade, roller shade, faux wood blind. These are different products at different prices and they are not interchangeable.
• The colour or fabric, and the louver or slat width where it applies. A 2.5 inch louver and a 4.5 inch louver are not the same panel.
• Inside mount or outside mount. This changes the size, the look and sometimes the price.
• How it operates. Cordless, corded, motorized, and which side the control sits on.
• The size, or a clear note that final sizes are confirmed at the measure appointment.
• Any valance, fascia, cassette or side channel.

That last one catches people out. A roller shade with an exposed roller and the same shade with a cassette over the top are the same fabric with a different finish and a different price. If the quote does not say which one you are buying, installation day is a poor time to find out.

Who Measured, and Who Owns a Mistake

Ask a simple question of any quote: has anyone actually been to the house?

A price built from numbers you read off a tape yourself is a price for the product you specified. If a width is off by half an inch on an inside mount, the shade does not fit the opening, and a custom order made to your measurements is generally not returnable. Most sellers say so in their terms. The ones that offer a free remake for a measuring error usually sell it as an add-on, which tells you how they view the risk.

When a professional measures, those sizes become their responsibility. That is the real value of the appointment, and it is why we measure before anything gets priced. Where do-it-yourself measuring goes wrong is covered in more detail in why we measure your windows instead of letting you do it.

A quote should say who measured and when. If it says neither, read the number as a starting point rather than a price.

Installation Is a Line Item, Not an Assumption

Installation shows up on a quote in one of three ways. As its own line with a price. As a line marked included. Or nowhere at all. The third one is where the trouble lives.

Look for these named somewhere in writing:

• Labour to install, and whether it covers every window on the quote or only a minimum number.
• Removal and disposal of what is on the windows now, including builder blinds.
• Mounting hardware, brackets and screws.
• Trip or service charges if a second visit is needed.
• Any work involving existing trim, drywall anchors, or a recessed shade pocket.

None of these is a large sum on its own. All of them are unwelcome on the day, especially when the alternative was one sentence of clarity three weeks earlier.

Motorized Windows Have More Lines Than You Expect

A single line reading "motorized" on a quote for four windows is not enough information to act on. Four windows need four motors, and the rest of the system has parts of its own.

What should appear on the page:

• A motor for each shade, priced per shade rather than lumped together.
• How each motor gets its power: rechargeable battery, plug-in transformer, solar panel or hardwired.
• Remotes or wall switches, and how many of each.
• A hub or bridge, if you want app control, schedules, or Alexa and Google Home.
• Charging cables on battery motors.

Power is the item most often left off, and it is the one that decides whether an electrician has to be involved and whether a cord ends up visible beside your window. The four options and where each belongs are laid out in battery or hardwired motorized shades.

Read Past the Word Lifetime on a Warranty

"Lifetime warranty" does a lot of work in window covering advertising. In practice it usually means a limited warranty against manufacturing defects in the product, for as long as you own it. That is worth having. It is also narrower than the phrase sounds.

Three questions get you the real shape of it.

What is covered? Typically defects in materials and workmanship. Sun fade, accidental damage, misuse and ordinary wear are commonly excluded, and shutter warranties often exclude warping caused by conditions outside a normal air-conditioned home. Read what the exclusions say about moisture and heat, because in a Texas bathroom or on a west-facing window those are the conditions your shutters live in.

Does it cover labour? A manufacturer replacing a defective panel at no charge does not automatically pay someone to take the old one down and hang the new one. Ask who covers that, and whether there is a service call or trip charge.

Does it transfer? Some warranties follow the house to the next owner and many stop with you. In neighbourhoods where people move every few years, that answer is worth knowing before you choose between two similar products.

None of this makes a warranty untrustworthy. It just means the headline word is the beginning of the question rather than the answer.

Put the Lead Time in Writing

Verbal timelines are the ones that slip, so ask for the range on the quote itself.

Here is what normal looks like. Blinds and shades usually run about 2 to 3 weeks from the day the order is placed to the day they go up. Plantation shutters typically run 6 to 8 weeks across the industry, and some manufacturers stretch toward 12 weeks in a busy season. Drapery depends on the fabric and the workroom, so a range would be misleading.

Treat those as typical ranges rather than promises. The exact timeline gets confirmed the day the order is placed, because it depends on the manufacturer's queue that week. If a shutter timeline you are quoted is far shorter than the range above, ask what makes it possible. There are good answers to that question, and there are answers that turn into a phone call in week seven.

The One Question Worth Asking Out Loud

Ask "what is not included in this quote?" and then let the pause happen.

It is the fastest way to surface everything that gets added later: a second trip charge, hardware, disposal of the old blinds, specialty shapes counted separately, a minimum order size, a delivery fee. A seller who answers that question clearly has told you something useful about how the rest of the job will go.

Ask it of every quote on your table. Including ours.

What Ours Looks Like

We write the quote after Sheila has been to the house, measured your actual windows and seen the light they get at the time of day you care about. Every window is its own line with the room, product, material, colour, mount and control named on it. Installation is in the price, because measuring, ordering and installing are one job here rather than three companies pointing at each other.

There is no showroom and no salesperson between you and the person doing the work. Sheila measures, Sheila writes the quote, and Sheila is there when it goes in.

If you want to hold a quote you already have up against what your windows actually need, book a free in-home consultation through the contact page, or call or text and speak to Sheila directly. More of the questions people ask before ordering are answered on our frequently asked questions page. There is no charge and no obligation, and if the honest answer is that the quote in your hand is a good one, she will tell you so.