Two quotes for the same bay window can sit hundreds of pounds apart, and the cheaper one isn't always the weaker one. The gap usually comes down to things nobody thought to ask: who measures, what the frame is made of, how the louvres tilt, what the guarantee actually covers.
This isn't a ranking of brands. It's a checklist you can take to any company, ours included, and use to compare like with like. Work through it with a few quotes in front of you and the right choice tends to become fairly obvious.
1. Who measures your windows?
Made-to-measure means the shutter is only as good as the numbers it's built from. Ask whether a trained person from the company will visit and measure every window, or whether you're expected to send in your own measurements.
Measuring yourself is one of the most common ways people end up with shutters that rub, gap or won't close. Windows are rarely perfectly square, and a few millimetres out on a frame can mean a panel that sticks. A proper survey takes the width at the top, middle and bottom of each opening, and the height on the left, centre and right. If those readings differ by 5mm or more, the opening is out of square, and the shutter needs to be designed around the tightest figure with a little allowance built in. A single measurement taken at the middle of a window would miss all of that.
If a company does ask you to measure, find out who pays if the shutters arrive the wrong size. The honest answer is usually that you do. Made-to-measure goods are generally excluded from the 14-day cancellation right that applies to most online purchases, so a mistake at this stage can mean paying for a set that goes straight in the skip.
It also helps if the people who measure are the people who fit. They'll have seen the awkward corner or the uneven reveal first hand, rather than reading it off a form.
2. Inside mount or outside mount?
Shutters fitted inside the window recess look neat, but they need a reasonably square opening with true 90-degree angles and enough depth for the frame and louvres to sit without fouling anything. Outside mounting, where the frame sits on the wall or surround, copes better with out-of-square openings and shallow reveals.
Before you commit, check the window depth against the louvre size you like, and look for obstructions. Handles, stays, trickle vents and radiator pipes can all get in the way. A good surveyor will spot these on the day. If nobody has mentioned them in the quote, ask.
As a rough working figure, a shutter that opens fully inside a recess needs somewhere in the region of 50 to 70mm of clear depth for the panel and louvres, depending on louvre size. Many 1930s semis and newer builds have shallower reveals than people expect, and a Victorian terrace with deep sills is often the easy case. Grab a tape and measure from the glass or the nearest handle to the front of the reveal before the surveyor arrives. If you plan to have shutters on a sash window, mention it early, as the sash cords and meeting rail can change how the panels are divided.
3. What are the shutters actually made of?
This is where price per square metre starts to make sense. Solid hardwood, engineered wood, MDF-cored panels and polymer louvres all behave differently, and the right one depends on the room as much as the budget.
- Kitchens, bathrooms and utility rooms: moisture is the main enemy, so look for moisture-resistant coatings or polymer construction.
- Living rooms and bedrooms: you have more freedom, and a real hardwood grain might be worth paying for.
- Wide windows: long panels can bow over time in the wrong material, so ask how wide a single panel can be before it needs a divider.
It's much easier to compare once you see the materials side by side, which is what our five shutter ranges page is for. Whoever you buy from, ask for a plain-English description of what the frame, the panels and the louvres are each made from. If the answer is vague, that tells you something.
Two other details are worth asking about. First, the finish: a sprayed, multi-coat finish holds up to wiping and sunlight far better than a single brushed coat, and in a south-facing room, cheaper paint can start to look tired within a few years. Second, the weight. Heavier panels put more strain on hinges, and on a tall window that strain shows up as a panel that slowly drops and catches on the frame. A quick way to judge is to ask to handle a full-size sample, not just a small louvre offcut.
4. Which louvre size suits your window?
Louvre sizes vary widely across the market. Two common ones you'll see are 76mm and 89mm, and they look almost identical on a screen but clearly different on your own window. Some companies also offer 63mm and 114mm, so check which sizes are on the list before you assume you're comparing the same thing.
Smaller louvres give a more traditional look and suit smaller panes. Larger ones open up the view and let more light through when fully open, with fewer slats to clean. As a rough guide, wider louvres suit larger windows and deeper reveals, while narrower ones keep proportion on small panes.
Don't choose from a photograph. Ask for a sample, hold it up at the actual window and look at it in the room's real light, morning and evening if you can. It costs nothing and avoids the regret that's hard to fix later.
Then look at how the louvres move. A visible tilt rod down the centre of the panel is the traditional, simple and easily repaired option. A hidden tilt mechanism gives a cleaner look with nothing running across the slats, but ask how it's adjusted and what happens if it loosens. Also check the louvre gap when closed. On a bedroom window, a tight closure matters if you want to cut down morning light, while in a living room it's less important.
5. Fitting, warranty and what the price includes
Once you know what you're buying, the last job is understanding what happens after you say yes. This is where two similar quotes tend to pull apart.
How will they be fitted, and by whom?
Ask whether the fitters are the company's own employees or subcontractors, and how many people will turn up. A typical house of six to eight windows is usually a one-day job for a two-person team, though bays and arches take longer. Find out what happens at the walls too. Frames are normally screwed into the reveal or surround, and a good fitter will fill and touch up screw holes, so ask whether that's included or whether you'll be left with small marks to deal with yourself.
Bays deserve their own question. A bay needs corner posts or hinged bay joins, and the angles are rarely a clean 135 degrees. Ask whether the panels have been designed to fold flat against each other without hitting the side windows. The same goes for arches, skylights and other non-standard shapes: ask to see photos of a similar job the company has already completed, rather than taking a general promise on trust.
How is the price worked out?
Most bespoke shutters are priced per square metre, so you can compare quotes properly only if you know how that area is calculated. Take a window of 900mm by 1200mm. That's 1.08 square metres. At a rate of £300 per square metre, the shutter costs £324. But some companies apply a minimum chargeable area per window, often 1 square metre, and a few round measurements up. On small windows, that can make a difference of tens of pounds each, which adds up across a whole house.
Ask the questions below and write down each answer next to each quote:
- Is the price per square metre, per window, or a total for the job?
- Is VAT included?
- Are the survey, delivery and fitting included, or extras?
- Are special shapes, bay posts, and a different colour charged separately?
- What deposit is needed, and how is it protected? Paying even part of the cost by credit card can give you extra protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for purchases between £100 and £30,000.
Lead time matters too. Between survey and fitting, expect several weeks, as each shutter is built to order. Ask for a rough timeline in writing so you aren't left guessing.
What does the warranty cover?
"Lifetime guarantee" can mean very different things. Ask exactly which parts are covered (frame, panels, louvres, hinges, finish), for how long, and whether labour to repair or replace is included. Check the exclusions as well. Warping, fading, yellowing and peeling are the problems most people worry about, and some guarantees quietly leave those out or cover only the first year or two.
Then ask two practical questions: is the warranty transferable if you sell the house, and what happens if the company stops trading? A guarantee is only as reliable as the firm behind it, so a company with an established workshop and a long track record is easier to trust than one you can't find an address for. Ask for the terms in writing, and read them before you sign anything, not afterwards.
