FAQS ABOUT OUR COMPANY
Frequently asked questions about our company. Click the questions to view the answers.
As a business we started selling blinds for conservatories in 1995, and became a limited company in June 2000: “Conservatory Blinds Limited”. In 2022 we re-branded to “Specialist Blinds” to better reflect the wide range of blinds we now sell.
We remain a family owned (and family run) business manufacturing approximately 50,000 blinds a year from our own factory in Ashford, Kent.
Our head office is based in Ewell, near Epsom in Surrey (approx. 1 mile directly from the A3 Tolworth junction).
Our main showroom and factory is based in Ashford, Kent (close to Junction 9 of the M20).
Our sales and installation staff are based all over the country so that we can offer a truly local service to the majority of England.
Click here to see exactly what areas we cover.
Our offices are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.
Our main showroom is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Thursday, and from 9.00am to 4.00pm on Fridays. If you wish to take a look around our showroom, please call 01233 633 116 to make an appointment.
Your locally based sales staff are available to visit you from 9.00am to 9.00pm 7 days a week.
Our survey and installation team generally works from 8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday (hours can vary).
Our web site includes lots of genuine customer feedback and our 5 year guarantee offers significant peace of mind. We also have many years trading and our web site contains all of the information necessary for you to check us at Companies House or via any reputable credit referencing agencies.
Although the vast majority of our conservatory blinds are ordered by everyday people, over the years we have also carried out work for royalty, nobility, celebrities, sportsmen, blue chip businesses, government departments, schools and even foreign embassies. Find our more about some of our more Notable Clients
Compare the extent of information that we provide “About Us” to any other web site. You will rarely find any information that actually tells you anything about other retailers at all.
Regardless of what you may be led to believe, there really are very few conservatory blind specialists who actually make and fit their own blinds. Try searching Google for “conservatory blinds” and then check each of the companies listed with Companies House. You will probably find that more than half are insolvent, brand new businesses with no track record at all, salespeople working from home, franchise agents, or small companies pretending to be much bigger than they actually are.
We are one of only a few genuine conservatory blind specialists that can actually do what we say we do and can be trusted to honour our guarantee.
There is a car park at the front of our main showroom in Ashford, Kent that is free to use for anyone wishing to visit.
When you enquire we will only send you details in reply to your enquiry.
We will not bombard you with junk mail, plague you with sales calls, or pass on your details to anyone else.
We are just specialists blind manufacturers – not a sales company.
The difference between Specialist Blinds and the direct-sales companies is that we are family-run conservatory blinds specialists – we do not have sales targets or telesales people.
If you would rather not have anyone contact you at all, then please just say and we will be happy to oblige.
You can be sure that you are dealing with real people – not a faceless corporation.
If you have checked the “Subscribe to our Free Monthly Newsletter” button when you enquired, then you will receive a monthly email with the latest news and offers.
Our exclusive range of pure™ Conservatory Blinds (Pleated Blinds, Pinoleum Blinds, Remote Control Blinds) as well as the Duette® blinds, benefit from a 5 year guarantee.
Obviously any guarantee relies on the blinds being operated and cared for correctly.
End of range fabrics are excluded (because we could not replace the fabric). Our lower priced Standard and Classic blind ranges have a 12 month guarantee (because this is the guarantee offered by the fabric manufacturers).
We also offer an optional annual maintenance service where we check and “service” your blinds every year (at extra cost) which is strongly recommended for remote control installations.
Finally, all of our installations benefit from Lifetime Aftercare where we will provide free help by phone and email as well as any replacement parts at cost price. Any service call visits made outside of our guarantee are charged at the prevailing rate (we offer alternatives to reduce costs).
Nowhere else. We know that some unscrupulous salesmen may sometimes tell customers that they sell the same blinds, but it’s completely untrue.
No other company sells blinds that have been manufactured by Conservatory Blinds Limited. They are completely exclusive to us because we created the tools from which the system is formed and the software system that controls how the blinds are made.
We have designed and manufacture our own unique conservatory blinds ranges:
- pure™ Pleated Blinds
- pure™ Pinoleum Blinds
- pure™ Remote Control Blinds
However we also offer the same types of blinds as those sold by other companies
- Duette® Pleated Blinds
- Tru-Fit Blinds
- Perfect Fit Blinds
- Conservatory Roller Blinds
- Vertical Blinds
- Venetian Blinds
Even though some blinds may look similar, or even contain some of the same components as other retailers, it is the quality of the advice, design, manufacturing and installation that makes the difference – as always “the devil is in the detail”.
We would be happy to compare our blinds and quality of installation against any other company, irrespective of cost.
No. While we do sell Perfect Fit Blinds and Tru-Fit Blinds, which are suitable as DIY blinds, all the blinds we sell are fitted by our installation team.
We do not normally recommend DIY blinds in any bespoke glazing, and they don’t always work out to be a cheaper option either (due to the extra frames required); but they can offer a simple solution to buying a few blinds at a time.
DIY and self-build conservatories are still very popular and we are recommended by many conservatory suppliers, so we have installed a large number of blinds into DIY conservatories.
Obviously each conservatory varies in design and construction resulting in a need for even greater attention to detail to ensure that the correct blinds, fabric, layout and installation are suitable.
We can offer helpful advice both before and after construction to help you get the best from your conservatory, as well as ensure that any areas that are slightly out of level or are not square will not be accentuated by the blinds. This even happens with “professionally” installed conservatories and so should not necessarily be viewed as a consequence of poor workmanship.
If you are considering measuring and installing your own blinds bear in mind that as conservatory blinds are made-to-measure, the saving is far less than when building your own conservatory.
We regularly fit our blinds into all the popular self-build conservatories such as B&Q, Portland, Conservatory Land, David Salisbury and even the older Wickes conservatories.
Yes. Our bespoke blinds are fully-fitted by our own in-house conservatory blinds installers. We accurately measure your conservatory and account for all of the details necessary, then manufacture your blinds, deliver them in our own vehicle to your installer, who then installs the blinds. We even take away all of the boxes.
The neatest fitting blinds in a conservatory will always be purpose-designed ranges rather than general blinds that were designed primarily for use in a house window. Certainly that is most obvious on conservatory roofs and gable shaped windows, where the blinds are recess-fitted onto the glazing beads.
Yes, we make all of our own blinds in our own factory in Ashford, Kent, where we have had a manufacturing base since 2006 and from where we manufacture approx. 25,000 conservatory blinds a year.
Not only do we manufacture our own blinds, unlike any other company, we have actually designed our own blinds specifically for UK conservatories and have our own unique remote control conservatory blinds. Virtually every other company selling what it claims to be “conservatory blinds” is actually simply re-selling generic blind systems, mostly from Europe, designed for windows and simple sunrooms.
We do occasionally buy other types of blinds from an associated trade supplier, but these are manufactured to our own exacting specifications and are generally not for use in conservatories.
We’ve been trading since 1995, so are very well known, but the most obvious place where you would have heard of us from Google, but we have been featured in a number of magazines and TV shows, as well as being recommended by over 100 conservatory builders.
You can find us in homeandgardenlistings.co.uk’s Window Shutters and Blinds Directory.
As one of the UK’s longest established conservatory blinds specialists we have a prominent natural listing on all of the main search engines (particularly Google) and have appeared in a large number of newspapers, magazines and TV shows, such as…
- Ideal Home
- Grand Designs
- At Home with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
- Homes & Gardens
- Better Homes with Carol Vorderman
- Home Front
- Daily Mail
- Mail on Sunday
- Sunday Telegraph
- Sunday Times
- Country Living
- Good Housekeeping
- House Beautiful
Our blinds are also recommended by a large number of conservatory builders, interior designers and even some blind retailers.
As you can imagine we have a varied portfolio of past clients ranging from private individuals and businesses to public figures and blue chip companies, as well as Government institutions and even members of royal households. Our blinds have been installed at the Houses of Parliament and even in St James’ Palace.
