If a Blind Quote Can Drop From £1,800 to £750, What Was the Real Price?
I visited a home in Whetstone to measure for six vertical blinds.
Before my visit, the customers had already emailed some approximate sizes through to our office.
They hadn't chosen a fabric at that stage, so we gave them three prices:
Standard fabric – £553
Deluxe fabric – £675
Luxury fabric – £772
That way, before we even walked through their door, they had a pretty good idea of what their blinds were going to cost.
First, I Had to Congratulate Them on Their Measuring
Once I'd measured the windows properly, I confirmed that their measurements had actually been remarkably accurate.
They'd chosen a fabric from our Deluxe range, so I was able to confirm that the price our office had already given them was correct.
£675 for all six vertical blinds, made to measure and fitted.
No change.
No "I'll see what I can do."
No phone call to the office to get a special deal.
The price we'd given them before my visit was the price they were going to pay.
Then they told me about the other quotation they'd had.
£1,800 Became £750
The day before, they'd had Hillarys out to quote.
That's not particularly unusual. Hillarys are probably the best-known name in the UK blinds market, so we regularly meet customers who are getting a quotation from them as well as us.
What surprised me was what the customers told me happened with the price.
According to them, the initial quotation for their six vertical blinds was:
£1,800.
By the end of the appointment, that price had apparently fallen to:
£750.
I was genuinely shocked.
That's a reduction of £1,050 during one appointment.
Or, looked at another way, the final price was less than half the starting price.
My immediate thought was:
What would have happened if they'd said yes to £1,800?
"We Had No Idea What Blinds Should Cost"
That was the part of the conversation that bothered me most.
The customers openly admitted that they had no idea what made-to-measure blinds should cost.
And why would they?
Most people don't buy blinds very often.
If a well-known national company tells you that six blinds cost £1,800, how are you supposed to know whether that's expensive, cheap or perfectly reasonable?
The customers themselves were amazed when the price kept coming down.
And that's where I think pricing in our industry can become unnecessarily confusing.
What Is the Real Price?
I don't have a problem with companies charging more than us.
Different businesses have different costs, different products and different ways of operating.
I don't even have a problem with genuine discounts.
What I struggle with is a price that can apparently change so dramatically during a single sales appointment.
If something can be sold for £750, how was £1,800 justified at the beginning?
And if the customer had accepted £1,800, would that have been the price they paid?
Those are questions I'd certainly want answered if I were the customer.
Our Prices Aren't Negotiated in Your Living Room
At Barlow Blinds, we've deliberately chosen a different approach.
The price we give you from the start is our best price.
Our salespeople aren't paid commission.
There isn't a higher price for customers who don't ask for a discount.
You don't need to be good at negotiating.
And you don't need to threaten to get another quotation before we suddenly discover a better price.
In this particular Whetstone home, our prices for the six vertical blinds were:
Fabric range |
Our price |
Standard |
£553 |
Deluxe |
£675 |
Luxury |
£772 |
The customers chose a Deluxe fabric.
So the price was £675.
Exactly as our office had told them before I'd even measured the windows.
The Important Comparison Isn't Actually £675 Against £750
It would be very easy for me to make this article about us being £75 cheaper than the final Hillarys quotation.
But that's not really the point.
Depending on the products being compared, another company might sometimes be cheaper than us.
The thing I think matters is knowing where you stand.
If we quote £675, you don't have to wonder whether someone else buying exactly the same blinds from us managed to negotiate the price down to £550.
You don't have to wonder whether you should have pushed me a little harder.
And you certainly don't have to wonder whether the first price I gave you was more than twice the price I was actually prepared to accept.
£675 was our price before I arrived.
£675 was our price after I'd measured.
And £675 was still our price when I left.
That's what pricing transparency means to us.
One Piece of Advice When Getting Blind Quotations
Getting two or three quotations for your blinds is perfectly sensible.
But don't just compare the final numbers.
Ask what's included. Compare the quality of the blinds, fabrics, components, guarantees and installation.
And if a company dramatically reduces its quotation during your appointment, there's one question I'd definitely ask:
"Is that genuinely your best price?"
Because when you're spending hundreds or potentially thousands of pounds on blinds, you shouldn't need to be an expert negotiator to get a fair deal.
About Phil Coleman
Phil Coleman is the fifth generation of his family to run Barlow Blinds, a Leicester business that has been making blinds since 1887. With over 30 years of hands-on experience, Phil has played a leading role in shaping industry standards including being part of the team that wrote the only NVQ qualification for blind and shutter installers. He also serves on the Management Committee of the British Blind & Shutter Association (BBSA), helping to set best practice across the trade. Under his leadership, Barlow Blinds has remained true to its founding principle: “It’s not our job to find customers for our blinds, it’s our job to find the right blinds for our customers.”
Article Review & Accuracy
Reviewed by: Phil Coleman, Managing Director, Barlow Blinds
Last reviewed: August 2026
Our promise
If new evidence, products or British Standards change our advice, we'll update this article. If we make a mistake, we'll correct it.
This article forms part of the Barlow Blinds Knowledge Centre and is written or personally reviewed by Phil Coleman, drawing on more than 35 years' experience, guidance from the British Blind & Shutter Association (BBSA), British Standards where applicable, manufacturer technical information and real customer feedback.
Major updates to this article are shown at the top or bottom of the page.
