A measure-and-fit (or “supply-and-fit”) service sends a person to your home to measure your windows, help you choose products, and later return to install the finished blinds. You pay one price; they own every mistake. This guide explains the machinery behind that promise so you can judge whether it’s worth the premium.

This guide has no retailer links — the companies offering this service are local or appointment-based, and we don’t take commissions from any of them.

How the process runs

  1. Booking. You book a home appointment — evening and weekend slots are normal since someone must be in.
  2. The measuring visit. The adviser measures every window (their numbers, their liability), brings sample books, and talks through recess vs exact fits, fabrics, linings and child-safety options. Expect gentle selling — this is a sales visit as well as a technical one.
  3. The quote. Usually a single figure per blind, supply and fitting bundled. Some firms quote on the spot with sign-today discounts; you can take time to compare quotes before agreeing. Don’t assume you can cancel a made-to-measure order afterwards — check the cancellation terms before signing.
  4. Manufacture. Made-to-measure lead times commonly run one to several weeks depending on product and season.
  5. The fitting visit. The fitter installs everything, fits the child-safety devices, demonstrates operation and removes packaging. A whole house is typically done in hours.
  6. Aftercare. If a blind is wrong — size, fabric, mechanism — the company remakes or refits at its cost. That sentence is the product.

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Before you sign or pay a deposit

A home visit does not guarantee a 14-day cooling-off period. The consumer cancellation rules exclude goods made to your specifications. Blinds cut to your window sizes normally fall within that exception, even if you order at home. A company may offer its own cancellation policy, so ask rather than relying on a cooling-off period.

Before agreeing, get these points in writing:

  • The order details: window sizes, fabric, colour, controls and the total price, so you can check what you are committing to.
  • Cancellation and deposit terms: whether you can change or cancel the order, any deadline, and what happens to your deposit. Before paying, use the deposit and payment-protection checks.
  • Any separate fitting-only booking: its cancellation terms and what happens if you ask for work to start during a cancellation period. A service booked separately has different rules from a bespoke-goods order; don’t assume one policy covers both.

Changing your mind is different from receiving faulty goods or something that does not match the agreed order. The custom-made exception does not remove those rights — see GOV.UK’s returns and refunds guidance.

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What you’re actually paying for

Compared with ordering the equivalent blind online, the bundled price covers: two home visits, the adviser’s time and samples, installation labour, and — the expensive part — absorption of measurement risk. On awkward windows that risk is real: bays with angled returns, out-of-square period openings, tiled reveals. The full cost comparison against DIY lives in the fitting cost guide and the decision framework in DIY vs professional fitting.

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When the service earns its money

  • Bay windows and anything where multiple blinds must align (bay window guide)
  • Expensive products — shutters, interlined romans, motorised blinds — where a measuring error would be costly and remakes are slow
  • Whole-house jobs you want done in one organised pass
  • Anyone who shouldn’t be up a ladder, and rental landlords who want an invoice and a guarantee rather than a Saturday of DIY

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When it doesn’t

For a couple of standard uPVC windows getting plain rollers, the premium buys you out of roughly an hour of very manageable DIY — the measuring and fitting guides cover everything such windows can throw at you. The hybrid route (order online, pay a handyperson to fit) also undercuts full service pricing while keeping you off the ladder.

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Choosing between providers

Treat it like any trade: two or three quotes, the same spec described to each, total prices compared. The specific things worth asking — who exactly turns up, what the guarantee covers, how remakes are handled — are collected in questions to ask a blind fitter.

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Sources

Cancellation guidance checked on 26 October 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

Who offers measure-and-fit for blinds?

Four broad groups: national in-home brands, local independent blind shops, franchise networks of mobile advisers, and department-store home services. Independents and franchises come to you with samples; store services usually start with a booked appointment.

Is the home visit really free?

The visit and quote usually carry no separate charge, and reputable firms treat it as a sales appointment with no obligation. The cost of running visits is recovered in the blind prices, so 'free' means 'bundled', not 'absent'. It's still a genuinely useful way to see samples in your own light.

Can I cancel a made-to-measure blind order within 14 days?

Don't assume so. Blinds made to your measurements are normally excluded from the 14-day change-of-mind cancellation right, even when ordered during a home visit. Ask for cancellation and deposit terms in writing before agreeing. This exception does not remove your rights if the goods are faulty or not as described; a separately booked fitting-only service has different cancellation rules.

What guarantee should I expect?

The core promise of supply-and-fit: if the blind doesn't fit, it's their problem, at no cost to you. Beyond that, ask for the product guarantee (commonly in the region of one to five years, varying by company and product) in writing, and check whether it covers mechanisms, fabric fade and re-fitting.

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Free tools to use with this guide

  • Fitting cost estimator Bought your blinds already? See a rough, indicative budget for having any number of them fitted, with the working shown.
  • Quote comparison sheet Compare two or three quotes: total cost, deposit, guarantee and written terms. Download a text record of your notes or print the sheet.