Are window furnishings included in your new build? Almost certainly not — here's what to do about it.

The honest answer: builder contracts almost never include window furnishings

We fit window furnishings into new-build homes across Melbourne every day. The pattern is the same from one major volume builder to the next: the standard inclusion list for Metricon, Henley, Simonds, Carlisle, Burbank, Boutique, Mimosa, Stockland and the others does not cover curtains, blinds or shutters. You can usually add a window-furnishings allowance to your contract as an upgrade — and most buyers do, often without realising what they've signed up for — but it's an extra line item, not a base inclusion.

If you've been reading your inclusion list assuming the windows will be covered when you move in, you're not alone. It's one of the most common surprises in the final weeks of a build. The good news is there's enough time to do this properly if you start at the right stage.

What a builder's “window furnishings allowance” actually buys you

When a builder offers an inclusion package with a window-furnishings allowance, it's usually a fixed-dollar amount handed to a third-party fitter the builder has a supply arrangement with. The dollar amount sounds generous on paper — but in our experience, the product you end up with reflects the supply arrangement, not the price tag. Builders have a tendency to fit the cheapest low-quality budget blinds at a premium cost compared to going to a proper recognised retailer that can guarantee you're getting what you pay for.

The fitters working under these supply arrangements are paid lean per-window rates and run thin product margins. So the product specified is often the lowest-fabric-weight roller, the lightest-componentry bracket-and-tube, the hollow-PVC shutter rather than solid polymer. None of those choices are disclosed in the builder's allowance line item. You see “blinds package $5,000” in the contract and assume it's a fair-value tier of product.

The shortest version we can give you: we hear from buyers regularly whose builder-supplied window furnishings have started failing within the first year or two — clips snapping on Roman blinds, roller mechanisms sticking, cheap curtain tracks dropping at the brackets — and the supplier's warranty response has been slow or absent because the contract was with the builder, not with the homeowner. Then they need to replace the lot, and they've effectively paid twice for the same windows.

What the realistic budget looks like

Here's an honest set of numbers for the most common new-build scopes in the Melbourne growth corridors. These are indicative — your written quote after an in-home measure is the figure that actually applies — but they're a useful budgeting anchor when you're deciding what to take on the builder contract and what to handle independently.

• Blockout roller blinds throughout a 3-bedroom single-storey home — $1,200 to $1,800, supplied and installed.
• Blockout roller blinds throughout a 4-bedroom double-storey home — $2,400 to $2,900, supplied and installed.
• Sheer curtains in the main living and bedroom windows of a three-bedroom home — $3,000 to $4,000, supplied and installed.
• Plantation shutters on the street-facing windows — $100 to $1,000 per window depending on size, with the average per-square-metre rate for quality plantation shutters sitting around $299.
• External roller shutters for west-facing afternoon sun and security — $500 to $1,000 per window base spec, or $800 to $1,200 per window with motor and electrical install included.
• Zipscreens / outdoor blinds on a standard alfresco opening (3m × 2.5m) — $1,500 to $2,000 manual, $2,000 to $2,500 motorised.

Put that together and a typical new-build fitout — quality roller blinds throughout, sheers in the main rooms, plantation shutters on the street face, roller shutters on the west-facing bedrooms — sits in the $7,000 to $12,000 range depending on the size of the home and the specifications. Done once, installed properly, with a real warranty.

Pricing on this page is indicative only. See our pricing policy for what's included in each range and what can change the price.

When during the build to start the conversation

The window furnishings conversation works best at lock-up stage. That's the point where your windows are installed in their final position, the plaster is done, and the home is structurally complete — but you haven't moved in yet. Booking the in-home measure at lock-up gives us accurate measurements (the windows are no longer going to shift), enough lead time to manufacture and install before you live there, and the option to coordinate any electrical work needed for motorisation while the home is still empty.

We try to discourage measuring earlier than lock-up. Even a millimetre of movement in a brick-veneer or double-storey window opening between frame stage and plaster will show up later as out-of-square fit. And we discourage waiting until after move-in for the obvious reason — bare windows at night, no privacy, and the install crew working around your furniture and kids.

How to handle the builder's allowance

If you're still in the contract stage, our honest recommendation is to negotiate the window-furnishings allowance out of the builder package and bring the same scope to us independently. The conversation is straightforward: ask the builder to remove the inclusion and reduce the contract value by the allowance amount. Most builders will do this — it's a margin item for them, not a cost item, so removing it costs them nothing.

If you're too far along the contract to renegotiate, the next-best move is to bring the inclusion specification to us at the in-home measure. We'll quote against the same spec so you can compare like for like, and at least you'll know exactly what the builder's line item is buying you before you sign off on it.

Either way, you don't need to decide the full scope up front. You can take the builder's base inclusions, add nothing in the contract, and call us at lock-up. We'll measure, quote, and install — and you'll have a single point of contact for the life of the product instead of bouncing between the builder's supply chain and a fitter you've never met.

What we do differently

MCB sits in the quality-at-fair-pricing tier of the market. We don't compete at the bottom — there's a flood of off-the-shelf and DIY-online product at that end and the math on those products doesn't survive an Australian summer. We don't quote unrealistic top-end pricing either. Our position is straightforward: top-quality custom roller blinds can last twenty years in a Melbourne home; good-quality mid-tier blinds typically run five to ten; and budget product starts showing wear inside the first three. We fit the upper bracket.

The other thing we do is stand behind the install. Every measure is done by us, every install is done by our crew, and every warranty claim goes through one point of contact — the same person who quoted you in the first place. If something needs attention, you ring us. You don't chase a supplier on the other end of a builder's supply chain.

And we're honest about which rooms need which product. We don't upsell honeycomb where a well-fitted quality roller does the job. We don't push motorisation where a manual blind is fine. We give you the recommendation we'd give a family member building in the same suburb.

Common questions buyers ask us about builder packages

The two we hear most often are timing and money. On timing — how early should we book? — the answer is to call once you have a confirmed lock-up date. Standard manufacturing and install runs a few weeks; if the home is at lock-up four to six weeks before handover, you're comfortably inside the window to have everything fitted before move-in.

On money — is the builder cheaper? — almost never, once you factor in product quality. A $5,000 builder allowance commonly buys you entry-tier hollow-PVC or thin-fabric product that's typical of what fails inside the first two years. The same $5,000 spent through us, on quality custom roller blinds throughout a three-bedroom home plus sheers in the main rooms, buys a fitout you keep for the life of the home.

The other common question — can the builder's supplier do what you do? — depends on the builder and the supplier. Some volume-builder window-furnishings packages are decent; most are not. We're happy to look at the spec your builder has offered and tell you honestly what the equivalent quality scope would cost from us. Free of charge, no obligation.