New-build handover checklist: screens and blinds to plan early

Start with your builder's inclusions

Most new estate homes in Coomera, Pimpama and Upper Coomera are handed over with fly screens on the windows and perhaps one on the main sliding door. Security doors, security window screens and blinds are often not included at all, or are included at a basic level that many owners upgrade in the first year. Before you sign off your colour selections, get the inclusions list out and mark what each door and window actually comes with.

Questions worth answering early: is there a fly screen on every openable window, and what is the mesh? Does every external door get a screen, or only the main slider? Are any blinds included, and in which rooms? How are the upstairs bedroom windows protected for child safety? Knowing the answers tells you what to budget for and what to ask the builder to leave out.

Three things to ask for during the build

Blocking above the windows

Roller blinds and outdoor blinds need something solid to fix to. In a new home that usually means timber or steel blocking inside the wall or ceiling above each window, and in the alfresco beam. Ask your builder whether it is included, especially where you want blinds fitted above the window frame or into a plasterboard bulkhead. It costs little before the plaster goes up and a lot more once the walls are painted.

Power for motorised blinds

If you might want motorised blinds, even later, ask for a power point or a capped cable near the head of those windows, and near the alfresco for outdoor blinds. Wiring must be done by a licensed electrician, and doing it before plastering avoids cutting into finished walls. Battery motors are an option where there is no power, but hard-wired motors suit large and heavy blinds best.

The window and door schedule

Ask for the window and door schedule. It shows the frame colour, how each window opens and which way the sliding doors run. With it we can match frame colours and plan a screen for each opening before you move in, and it shows whether any windows open outward, which changes the type of screen that suits them.

The room-by-room checklist

Here is what most new-home owners end up adding, room by room. Use it to work out your priorities and your budget before you book a measure.

Timing: when to book the measure

Everything we make is made to measure, so we cannot work from plans. The openings need to be built, with windows and doors fitted, and ideally the floors finished, because the height of a security door depends on the finished floor level.

Our lead time is 2 to 3 weeks from an approved quote, and we send a written quote within 2 business days of the measure. If your builder lets us in to measure once the windows and doors are fitted and the floors are tiled, your screens and blinds can often go in within a few weeks of handover. Some builders do not allow other trades on site before handover. If yours does not, book the measure for the week you get the keys.

In a townhouse estate with a body corporate, check the by-laws on door and screen colours before you order. Many complexes have a set specification, and approval is quicker when you follow it.

On handover day

At the handover inspection, open and close every window and door and note anything that sticks, rattles or does not lock. Check that each fly screen sits flat in its frame with no gaps or tears, that sliding doors and their fly screens run smoothly on the track, and that any restrictors on upstairs windows work as they should. Put every issue on the defects list in writing. Builders fix listed defects far more readily than ones raised later.

If you plan to add security doors, mention it to your builder's site supervisor. It is useful to know which frames have room for a screen door to be fixed, and whether anything in the reveal, such as a flashing, needs to stay clear.

Questions