Security Blinds.

[Ashley]

The aluminium drop down slatted blinds that come with some of the houses are sold as security blinds in UK. That being so why is it necessary to have grilles as well as security blinds? Would not blinds and an alarm be enough?

[freebird]

Ashley,

I'd definitely recommend you have grills. The "security Blinds" you talk about are little more than something to keep the sunlight out. They can be pushed up very easily from the outside. I don't want to be alarmist or anything, but look at your property as if you were a nimble lad who had the bottle to do a few spiderman moves. Once you have the grills fitted you'll have a lot more peace of mind. I don't know where you live in the UK, but if your a townie, like me, you watch you back anyway - ie not leaving doors unlocked, big windows open etc.

When are you hoping ot complete??

[Doc]

Hi Ashley.

The blinds that come with the houses in Spain are generally plastic, and as such can easily be breached. It's also very easy to lift them up if they're not physically secured once lowered.

Best not to scrimp on security - get yourself some grilles.

Chris

[Ashley]

Hi Freebird and Chris,

Not ready till Oct. of next year but had form with "special offer" till end of this month to order from builder about 5,400 euros a property. No detail at all.
Property well underway as believe they sold quicker than anticipated. Was just curious as we bought a drop down blind for a patio door in UK 20 years ago and it could not be moved once down. Very heavy blind. Thought these would be similar in Spain but guess not.
Not able to get out till next spring so does anyone have any advice on whether it is best to have them built in or wait till we can see what we are buying.

[freebird]

Sounds like the builder is trying to rip you off big time there.

I think the going rate is in the region of 100€ per square meter, (or was in 2003 when we had ours done) so unless you have a mansion with very big windows that sounds incredibly excessive. When you're out in spring, ask around and get a company to quote you and measure up, then they can have them ready to install when you complete. It'll only take them a few hours to fit them.

[BLUEBOY]

I CAN AGREE WITH FREEBIRD. THE PRICE OF 100e PER SQ M SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT AS I HAVE JUST GOT A QUOTE FOR SLIDING LOCKABLE GRILLES/GATES. WAIT UNTIL YOU GET OVER IN THE SPRING.

[Ashley]

Freebird and Blueboy,

Many thanks for your replies. Must admit I was staggered by special offer quotes. No mansion, just a very small 3 bedroomed villa on new urb. Air con./heating duct is pre-installed.
Completing this comes in at cost of 12,644 euros builder and Parador special offer at 6,545 euros. This is for a ducted machine on the ground floor and a split machine on the first floor.
They ask for 50% to be paid with order yet we are a year away from the given date.

Jaybe.

We also had high quotes from Atlas for grills a couple of years ago. The agents like Atlas, Parador, Masa etc put on a 100% mark up. You should be able to get the grills for about half that price.
We went direct to the builder (not the selling agents) and got grills for half the house for about e1000 (the other half was included in the build).

Similarly for A/C, alarms etc. the selling agents put on a huge mark up.