ᐅ Installing electric roller shutters or just preparing for them

Hello,

we have the following question:
In our planned house, all windows are designed to have manual roller shutters. The construction company charges nearly €450 per shutter for the installation of electric roller shutters with a timer. For preparing the operation of an electric roller shutter (delivery/installation of the necessary wiring including empty conduit with cover and switch completion, but without the timer), the cost is €150. What would you advise: to have everything installed all at once, or is it more practical and especially more cost-effective to install the roller shutter motors and timers ourselves? The strap for manual operation will be mounted on the window frame, so there is no need to open up the walls later.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Best regards,
Peter

Well, the price is quite steep... I would only have the boxes, shafts, and armored cables delivered, and have the rest completed by another company. This usually offers more flexibility, provided you have access to the construction site.

But having the belt drives installed and then removed again is really nonsense.

Mycraft schrieb:
Well, the price is quite high... I would only have the boxes, rollers, and shutters delivered and have the rest done by another company, that usually gives more flexibility, provided you have access to the construction site.

But having belt winder mechanisms installed and then removed again really makes no sense.

I am not very familiar with this topic yet, but it also seems very expensive to me. What else would I need if I have the installation of the electric roller shutters prepared as described above (motor, timer, etc.), and what would the materials cost? Then I could have someone else do the installation and could, of course, talk to the current company and immediately ask them to omit the belt winder mechanisms.

Hello Peter,

peterp schrieb:

In our planned house, (manual) roller shutters are planned for all windows. For the installation of electric roller shutters with a timer, the construction company charges nearly €450 per shutter.

That’s quite a figure...

peterp schrieb:

For the preparation for operating an electric roller shutter (delivery/installation of the necessary wiring, including a flush-mounted junction box with cover and switch completion but without timer), the cost is €150. What do you recommend: having everything installed fully at once or would it be more practical and especially cost-effective to install the roller shutter motors and timers ourselves? The strap for manual operation will be mounted on the window frame so the walls would not need to be reopened later.

Giving advice here is quite difficult, as there must be a reason you chose this particular provider?

Based on our preliminary building specifications, I would say it’s always sensible to leave the preparations to the provider or their window manufacturer. In our case, preparation means that the roller shutter box is already included, along with the motors, as one package. Only the electrical connection might be done by yourself.

If you subcontract the installation and connection of the electric roller shutters to an external specialist, you should carefully calculate the costs since they will likely charge travel fees as well. The key question is whether this will actually be cheaper for you.

Is it possible to take the window trade—usually including the front door—out of the main contract as a separate item?

Regards, Bauexperte

Yes, that’s what I suspected, which is why I wrote that you have everything delivered by the window manufacturer and then have it installed and connected by a third-party company.

You can also buy the motors yourself if needed… prices start at around 50 euros per unit.

You just need to ask in advance what is possible… in other words, how cooperative your general contractor (GC) is.

But belt winders and electric drives are fundamentally two completely different approaches to operating a roller shutter. Of course, you can convert one to the other since both rotate on a shaft, but nobody buys a car without electric windows and then retrofits them immediately after purchasing, right?

That’s how I handled it during my build, and I am happy with the result. 450 euros per window is really quite steep… that would have meant more than 6,000 euros extra for me… no, that’s really too much.

My approach was as follows:

1. Basic research, meaning getting prices for motors, etc.
2. Discussion with the GC and approval for installing my own motors and controls.
3. Purchase of the motors, bearings, adapters, etc.
4. The window manufacturer installs the windows including the roller shutter box and desired shaft.
5. I install the motors myself (well, I am familiar with this).
6. The window manufacturer delivers the slats and installs them.
7. I program and connect the motors.
8. Everything works, total cost about 4,000 euros for 14 windows.

However, I don’t have standard motors or a simple timer control.

So, this is how I did it (about 2 weeks ago, so very recent):

Costs:
1. Roller shutter motors with electronic limit switch and blockage detection, plus a 7-year warranty: 55€ (suitable for our floor-to-ceiling windows in terms of pulling force, as you shouldn’t use motors that are too powerful!)
2. Timer switch with sun sensor and all kinds of extras (search for "Thor roller shutter control"): 40€
3. Installation into the roller tube (the window installer prepared everything at no extra cost): just a few hours of work, you only need to slide the motor into the tube and attach it with the motor bearing to threaded rods inside the roller shutter housing. Anyone can do this.
4. The electrician charges an additional 18.50€ for conduit, flush-mounted box, frame, and professional connection and installation.

That comes to 113.50€ per roller shutter, or a total of 1,135€ for 10 units.

Even if you choose expensive brand motors (Rademacher, Somfy), it should cost at most 150€ more per window, so about 260€ per window including your own installation work.