What every consumer should know about purchasing wood shutters
Before you purchase plantation shutters, here are few things that you might want to know.
1. SHUTTERS ARE NOT ALL THE SAME. Shutters are just like cars, furniture, and surfboards. The quality, construction, and installation of shutters are as varied as any other product. Cheaper shutters contain cheaper materials, inferior finishes, and lower quality workmanship. You may be looking for the cheapest shutter available, but it's good to know what you are giving up to get the lowest price.
2. GOOD SHUTTERS SHOULD LAST A LIFETIME AND KEEP THEIR VALUE. This is a purchase you should only have to make one time. A good shutter should last as long as you own the house and when you sell the house, they should still be worth what you paid for them. This is why buying a low quality shutter is more expensive in the long run. What other product keeps its value over it's entire life?
3. QUALITY TAKES TIME. Quality wood shutters cannot be built and painted in 2 weeks, at least not by a shop that has more orders than just yours. A quality wood shutter is built from kiln dried lumber and receives multiple coats of finish that are sanded between each coat. Shutters built with imported Chinese prefinished materials require brush touch-up at every raw edge and you can't know what the materials underneath the paint are or even what species of wood you are getting.
4. WHAT IS A SOLID BASSWOOD SHUTTER? It depends on who you ask. To some companies solid basswood means number 3 grade basswood with all the cracks and knot holes filled with wood dough. To other companies it's small pieces of solid basswood laminated or finger joined together to get a piece big enough to build a shutter. And then there are the companies that claim to use basswood but what they really use is pine and poplar because they know their customer's can't tell the difference once the shutter has been painted. To me, solid basswood has always meant number 1 clear, non-joined solid basswood. I have even seen particle board shutters sold as solid hardwood shutters, ouch.
5. HOW IMPORTANT IS LICENSED, BONDED, AND INSURED. If a worker is in your house and falls off a ladder, scratches your piano, or lets your dog out into the street it can be pretty important. It also means that you have some rights if a project does not turn out right or doesn't get completed. All these things are important to us and we don't believe anyone who is not licensed, bonded, and insured should be in your home.
6. WHAT ABOUT VINYL SHUTTERS WITH A WOOD CORE? I see this product advertised as the best of both worlds, I don't agree. They put the wood in the middle because the vinyl is not strong enough to support the shutter without it. Its a plastic shutter that looks like a plastic shutter, and up close, it looks like a bad plastic shutter. The wood is not sealed so it could swell up when exposed to moisture, and the vinyl comes in a white, sort of white, and not so white. What if your trim is swiss coffee?
7. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO USE A COMPANY THAT HAS BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME? I guess not that important. We have a competitor that keeps starting up a new shutter company, ripping off a bunch of people, and then starting up a new shutter company under a different name. In fact, last time I checked he had a bunch of different names. The problem is, he really does have years of experience, they are just years of bad experiences. Victoria Norman has been around for 15 years, under the same name and ownership, and you can pull any file from our database and call them as a reference. Even on the projects that didn't go as planned, we are human, we always make it right with the customer. As an added bonus, when you need a repair, we can still be found under the same name. Check it out yourself, and note that smaller license numbers mean a longer time in business under the same license.
8. HOW DO I GET THE BEST DEAL ON SHUTTERS? Our philosophy has always been, make a little money from a lot of customers. Forget about going for the sale and go for the referral instead. What does Victoria Norman have to do to get this customer to refer us to a friend or relative? If we give you the best product at the best price possible and service what we sell, making a little profit will take care of itself and we'll make you a satisfied customer for life. I don't know how to get the best deal from other companies but its automatic with us.
I think you're ready to make a smart decision, when do you want to get started?
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