Motorising roman blinds and curtains is one of the best ways to add a touch of style to your project while still reaping the rewards of motorisation and automation that come with electric roller blinds.
With this in mind, I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to know that we sell systems that allow just that. With Flow, you can motorise your curtains and with Cascade, you can do the same to your roman blinds.
In this blog we delve into the depths of these soft furnishings that happen to have motors. How much they cost, where you can get them from and some points worth considering.
GROUND RULES
Some overarching points that are worth bearing in mind while reading…
- All prices are excluding VAT, to get the end user price simply add 20%
- We don’t provide soft furnishing fabrics, just the headrail that makes motorisation possible. If you don’t know where to get your fabrics, our sales team can help with a recommendation.
- All of these prices are RRP (excluding fitting costs), if you’re an installer and will be buying the blinds to sell to a client, a trade discount will be available, to apply for an account and trade discount see here: TRADE ACCOUNT APPLICATION FORM
- All of these prices are rough estimates but are still dead useful in giving a rough idea of how much different options cost.
- In about 3 paragraphs, I’m going to set down a ‘standard’ off which to base comparisons. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these options are what’s quoted as standard. In actual fact they’re probably around 50% the most common option and 50% pulled out of thin air. My advice would be to go with it.
How Much Does It Cost To Motorise Curtains?
It might have been easier to say that price is entirely dependent on the project. That however would have been the easy way out, so we’ve compiled various charts to show the different options and how they can affect the prices of your curtains.
Standard Options
For this to work, we’re first going to set down a standard Flow system to base the rest of the estimates off:
| Draw Type | One Way |
| Heading | Ripple 80mm |
| Size | 3000mm (length) |
| Motor | Glydea Ultra 60 RTS |
| Price | £975 RRP |
And now for the factors which bear upon the price.
Motors
For our curtain tracks motor options are primarily sourced from the Somfy range. There are hardwired and wireless options for both power and controls.
The number after the motor name signifies the KG of curtain it’s capable of carrying, for instance the Irismo 45 can handle 45KG of curtain fabric.
HARDWIRED POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: (Standard Option) – £975 RRP
HARDWIRED POWER, HARDWIRED CONTROLS: Glydea Ultra 60 WT – £900 RRP
BATTERY POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: Irismo 45 WF – £1025 RRP
There’s also another motor option available, Movelite 35 motors are a lower cost option that are a great option for most standard applications and offer excellent value for money.
HARDWIRED POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: Movelite 35 RTS – £575 RRP
HARDWIRED POWER, HARDWIRED CONTROLS: Movelite 35 WT – £775 RRP
BATTERY POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: Movelite 35 WF – £875 RRP
Heading Options
There are two main styles of heading: standard and ripple. The type of heading you choose has a considerable impact on the overall aesthetic, along with a slight price difference to boot.
Standard Heading
The gliders on standard heading curtain tracks aren’t connected to each other (as they are with Ripple heading), this makes the curtains suitable for styles such as pencil and pinch pleat.
| Draw Type | One Way |
| Heading | Pleated |
| Size | 3000mm (Length) |
| Motor | Glydea Ultra 60 RTS |
| Price | £950 RRP |
Ripple Heading
Ripple heading on the other hand, is made possible with gliders that are connected to each other for set spacing. This means that you can use a flat curtain to create a wave effect, which is used a great deal for modern and minimalist designs.
There are two types of ripple heading, Ripple 60, and Ripple 80. The numbers 60 and 80 signify the distance between the Gliders that hold the fabric when the curtain is open, and also the distance from the pins to the part of the curtain that sticks out the furthest (depending on curtain fullness.)
This means that Ripple 60 makes for a shallow option, and Ripple 80 makes for a deeper fold.
Ripple 80 is shown in our ‘standard’ price (£975 RRP), here’s the price for ripple 60 version:
| Draw Type | One Way |
| Heading | Ripple 60 |
| Size | 3000mm (Length) |
| Motor | Glydea Ultra 60 RTS |
| Price | £950 RRP |
As you can see, there isn’t an enormous amount of variation in price between the heading options.
Draw Type
There are also two types of draw type, one way draw and split draw. Quite simply, split draw consists of two curtains meeting in the middle of the track, and one way draw is a single curtain covering the whole track.
With one way draw being our standard option (£1000 RRP), here’s the price for split.
Split Draw
| Draw Type | Split |
| Heading | Ripple 60mm |
| Size | 3000mm (Length) |
| Motor | Glydea Ultra 60 RTS |
| Price | £1050 RRP |
You can go up to 10 metres in length with both split and one way draw.
Add-Ons
Curves
If you’re so inclined, you can add curves and bends to your curtain tracks. It’s worth bearing in mind that the minimum diameter of a bend in our curtain tracks is 300mm
We would recommend for every bend in the curtain track, 10KG be taken off the max weight of the fabric that it can carry. For instance, if you had a track with a Glydea Ultra 60 RTS and two bends, the max weight would end up at 40KG for the curtain fabric.
Cost Per Bend: £385 RRP
You can also have a curtain track with a continuous curve. These are most used when you want to hug a curved window as tightly as possible.
Continuous Curve Add-On: £641 RRP
Powder Coating
There’s also the option to powder coat Flow’s hardware.
Powder Coating Add-On: £45 RRP
Blindspace
Concealment for Flow comes in the form of Blindspace ‘Tracktrim’, with which you can hide the mechanism of the curtain track in the ceiling making for a much neater finished product.
For our sample system:
Blindspace Add-On: £400 RRP
How Much Does It Cost To Motorise Roman Blinds?
When it comes to motorised roman blinds, we offer a product called Cascade, which can be used with Somfy and Nice Motors.
Roman Blinds offer a softer and more comfortable aesthetic, as opposed to the sleek elegance more traditional of most roller blinds. With Cascade the luxurious style afforded by roman blinds is joined by a cohort of benefits that come with the addition of motorisation and automation.
Standard System
| Size | 1600mm Wide |
| Motor | Somfy Sonesse 40 6/20 |
| Price | £675 RRP |
Motor Options
There are a few different motors on the table for Cascade.
SOMFY
HARDWIRED POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: (standard option) – £675 RRP
HARDWIRED POWER, HARDWIRED CONTROLS: Somfy Sonesse 40 6/20 – £625 RRP
BATTERY POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: Somfy Sonesse 30 2/20 WF – £650 RRP
NICE
HARDWIRED POWER, RADIO CONTROLS: Nice E-Edge SI 620 AS – £875 RRP
HARDWIRED POWER, HARDWIRED CONTROLS: Nice E-Action SI 620 AC – £900 RRP
Unlike nearly all of our other products, it’s as simple as that! Cascade doesn’t have a lot of moving parts when it comes to price, making it one of the simplest to wrap your head around.
Get In Touch With A Dealer
Want to get an official price and free consultation with one of our certified dealers? Click the link below to upgrade your projects shading.
