Plantation shutters - any thoughts on self-fitting?

[Snuffleupagus2021]

Hi all,

We're moving into a lovely townhouse next week. Having a house that would suit plantation shutters has always been a dream of mine so very excited!

Desperately trying to keep costs down as there are probably 10 windows I'd ideally want shutters for. Time is also important as expecting a baby in 13wks and I think the previous owners are taking all curtains and blinds so will be a very bright house for a while! I'm aware the lead times are usually 12 weeks so really hoping we can get it done pre baby but we'll have to see.

I've emailed 3 local companies to see if they'll come out and quote us, but my parents keep talking about friends of theirs who self-fitted planation shutters and saved a load. I love a bargain and will definitely explore this as my Dad is quite handy and could potentially fit them for us. Does anyone have any experience of self fitted shutters?? companies to recommend/avoid??

We had ours recently fitted and I absolutely love them. We used a company called Shutterlab and I can't recommend them enough. They were by far the best quote we received (and I shopped around alot) I decided to go for a company to fit as its not always as straight forward as it seems and I didn't want to risk something go wrong, was definitely less stress.
www.facebook.com/ShutterLabUK/

Has the whole house been painted and decorated? Would it be easier to do that first? If your gonna it diy do one room first. And post everything you do. I want them too! A friend a friend had the fitted for 5k- fairly big house.

I wouldn’t get fewer windows done but properly fitted. Then save up for the rest. I love mine but they are professionally done

Sorry I meant I would get fewer done initially but properly fitted. Then install rest when you can afford it

We fitted them in our bedroom and they were an absolute pain, and are no where near as nice as some we have downstairs from Hilarys. Huge price difference of course but it hindsight I would have paid a company.

Thanks ladies! @Cheesypea, it's pretty much in perfect condition but we'll have a lead time of 12 weeks before the shutter arrive so will do any painting that needs to be done in that
time. I think the diy aspect would be too much for us tbh and interesting to hear from @Snally82 that there was a big difference between the self-fitted and professionally-fitted ones in her house. We can definitely technically afford it... it's just a bit galling seeing some of the prices so going to really shop around!

Is it a new house or a period house? If it’s period it’s likely a few angles are no longer square as the house will have settled and that makes the fitting a lot more difficult. If it’s a pretty new house then hopefully all should be fairly level and square (worth a few checks though) and that will be much easier.

We got a carpenter we knew to fit ours, cheaper than the company doing it but a lot better than if we tried. Worth looking into that as a middle option, if you can get a recommendation for a good carpenter?

We are very experienced at DIY but paid to have ours done. So glad we did. Our windows are not perfectly square and they knew how to measure for that so the shutters look square but actually they aren't. They got perfectly and look great.

*Fit

@minipie It's relatively new (1986 I think), built to look the same as the old grade 2 listed Georgian townhouses that it's on the end of the terrace of so kind of pseudo-Georgian. It's in a conservation area though so there may have been very specific rules about using older materials etc. It's in good condition and the homebuyer report was pretty favourable but who knows and also, it's on a hill which could possibly causing things to be off by a cm or two?

Anyway, you ladies have convinced me just to cough up and pay someone to do it. My husband is frankly woeful at diy and if it goes wrong will blame anyone but himself

Ours is an Edwardian terrace, no walls are straight but DH fitted ours and they look really good! He’s reasonably good at DIY and we measured and remeasured our windows.
Bugger to dust though.

Just remember they will be the avocado bathroom suite of our time.

Haven’t they been around since about the 18th Century

Dh fitted ours, once you’ve done a couple you get the hang of it. He even managed to sort out the two that I measured wrong

We fitted ours ourselves. They were surprisingly easy to fit and look great now they're in. Took us around 1-2 hours to fit them on three windows of varying sizes.