Custom vs ready-made blinds: where the money goes

Short answer: Ready-made blinds cost less up front, typically $35 to $230 per window, and suit rentals, spare rooms and quick fixes. Custom blinds cost more, about $250 to $700 per window installed, but they fit exactly, block light and drafts at the edges, last longer, and usually include professional measuring, installation and a warranty. Over ten years, custom often costs less per year than it first appears.

Key takeaways

• Ready-made blinds come in stock sizes; most windows are not stock sizes.
• Gaps at the edges cost you light control, privacy and warmth.
• Custom includes measuring, installation and a warranty with most local makers.
• Ready-made makes sense for rentals, short-term fixes and simple spare rooms.
• Big-box "custom" is often measured by you, with no fit guarantee.

Three ways to buy blinds

1. Ready-made (off the shelf). Stock sizes, take them home today, install yourself.
2. Big-box or online "custom." Made to your measurements, but you measure, you often install, and returns are limited or impossible.
3. Local custom. A company measures your windows, makes the blinds to fit, installs them and guarantees the fit.

Where the money actually goes

When you pay more for custom, here is what you are buying.

Fit

Stock blinds come in set widths, often in 5 or 7.5 cm steps. Your window is 87.3 cm wide. You either buy one that is too narrow, leaving gaps, or cut one down, which rarely looks right. Custom blinds are made to the millimetre.

Edges

Gaps at the sides let in light (a problem in bedrooms when the sun is up before 5:30 a.m. in June), let people see in at night, and let cold air spill off the glass in winter.

Materials

Ready-made blinds are built to a price: thinner fabrics, lighter hardware, simpler mechanisms. Custom ranges use better fabrics, UV-stable finishes and sturdier lifts. In sunny rooms, cheap fabrics fade fast.

Measuring and installation

With local custom, a professional measures (and owns the fit) and installs (and owns the install). With ready-made and most online custom, both are on you.

Warranty and service

Local custom typically comes with a multi-year warranty and someone to call. Ready-made comes with a receipt.

Real cost over ten years

Let's compare one living room window, about 120 cm wide.

Custom still costs more per year in this example. What you get for the difference is a blind that fits, blocks light and drafts properly, insulates if it is a cellular shade, looks finished and is installed and guaranteed by someone else. For a bedroom, a living room or a cold room, most people decide that is worth it. For a laundry room, maybe not.

When ready-made is the right call

• Rentals and student housing, where blinds may be damaged or replaced often.
• Temporary fixes while you plan a renovation.
• Spare rooms and storage areas where fit and looks matter less.
• Standard-size windows in newer homes, where a stock size happens to fit well.

When custom is worth it

• Bedrooms, especially for blackout.
• Cold rooms, where cellular shades with a proper fit insulate.
• Living spaces where looks matter.
• Older homes with non-standard and out-of-square windows, which is much of Atlantic Canada's housing.
• Large, tall or unusual windows.
• Anywhere you want motorization.

A word on big-box "custom"

Big-box custom blinds are made to your measurements, which is better than stock sizes. But if you measure wrong, custom products generally cannot be returned. Installation is often extra. And when something goes wrong a year later, you are dealing with a returns desk and a manufacturer far away.

How we approach this at Atlantic Shades

We measure every window, make every blind in our Halifax workshop and install it with our own team. If we measured it and it does not fit, we remake it. And we will tell you honestly when a simpler, cheaper product is enough for a room.

Book a free measure · See our price guide

Related: How much do custom blinds cost? · How to measure for blinds · How long do blinds last?