I Have 24 Windows to Cover — Can I Just Measure Them Myself and Send You the List?

You can absolutely measure your own windows and send us the list, and for pricing purposes that's a normal, useful thing to do. Where it changes is at the order: if a product gets built to a number you supplied and that number was wrong, the remake is on you at our invoiced cost, and on a whole-house job the odds of at least one bad number are higher than most homeowners expect.

Why whole-house projects in the Conejo Valley are where self-measuring goes sideways

A 2,800 square foot house in Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, or Wood Ranch built between 1985 and 2005 typically has somewhere between 20 and 30 coverable openings. Bedrooms with paired windows, a tall living room window above a slider, two or three sliders, a kitchen garden window, bathrooms with cranked-out casements, and a couple of transoms or half-rounds over the entry.

That's not one measurement. It's roughly 70 to 100 individual numbers once you account for measuring each opening at three heights and three widths, plus depth for anything mounting inside the frame.

Here is the part that matters. Getting 95 percent of those numbers right sounds excellent. On a 24-window house it means one or two openings are wrong, and you don't find out until the truck arrives with 24 products and two of them don't fit. The whole-home look you were paying for is now waiting on a remake, which takes as long as the original order.

We see the same clusters of error in Dos Vientos, North Ranch, Big Sky, Spanish Hills, and the older Ventura and Santa Paula houses with wood sash. The mistakes aren't random. They're the same six, over and over.

The six measuring mistakes that actually cause remakes

1. Inside mount versus outside mount, decided after the fact. This is the biggest one. An inside mount is measured to the tightest dimension of the opening and the factory deducts a small amount so the product clears the frame. An outside mount is measured to the coverage you want, and the factory builds to that number exactly, no deduction. Same window, two completely different numbers. If you write down 36 inches and don't say which mount you intended, somebody guesses. A shutter frame built as an outside mount for an inside-mount opening is scrap.

2. Measuring once. Width at the top, middle, and bottom. Height at the left, center, and right. For inside mount you use the narrowest width and — depending on the product — the shortest or longest height. Measuring the middle only, because it's the easiest place to hook a tape, is how a shade ends up binding at the sill.

3. Assuming the opening is square. Stucco tract construction in Ventura County settles. Drywall returns get mudded thicker at one corner. It is completely normal to find a bedroom window that's 35 3/4 inches at the top and 35 1/4 inches at the bottom. A half inch of out-of-square is invisible to the eye and very visible once a rigid shutter panel is hanging in it. Shutters can be built to compensate, but only if someone measured the diagonals and wrote down which way the opening leans.

4. Forgetting depth. Inside-mount products need a minimum flat depth to sit in the frame. Shutters need real depth for the frame and the louver swing. Cellular and roller shades need less, but they still need some, and a fully recessed roller in a shallow jamb will rub the glass stop. Vinyl retrofit windows — extremely common in 1990s Simi Valley and Moorpark houses that have been re-windowed — often have a raised interior stop that eats the depth you thought you had. A homeowner list almost never includes depth.

5. Ignoring what's in the way. Crank handles on casements. Slider handles and the latch on a patio door. Alarm contacts and sensors in the upper corners. Tile or a marble sill that projects into the opening. A window seat. None of these change the width, but all of them change what can be built. A roller shade hem bar that hits a crank handle every time you lower it is a problem no measurement number captures.

6. Rounding. Window coverings are built to the sixteenth of an inch. Write 30 1/2 inches, not 30.5 and not "about 30 and a half." Rounding 35 7/8 inches up to 36 inches on an inside-mount shutter costs you the fit. Decimals get transcribed wrong more often than fractions do, because 30.6 isn't a real measurement and somebody has to decide whether you meant 30 1/2 or 30 5/8.

The openings that need eyes on them, not a tape

Some of this isn't measurement at all. It's judgment about the opening, and it's the reason a good measure takes longer than reading a tape.

The tall two-story living room window over a slider — standard in Dos Vientos, North Ranch, and the Lake Sherwood plans — raises questions a number list can't answer. Does the upper unit get its own treatment or does it stay bare? Where does the split land so the seam doesn't cut across the view? Can the upper unit be reached without a lift?

Sliders raise a different set. Stack direction, how much of the glass the stack covers when the shade is open, whether the handle side needs clearance, and whether you want the treatment to cover the fixed panel and the operable panel as one unit or two.

Arches and half-rounds need a template, not a width. So do angled tops in the older hillside houses above Ventura and Ojai.

And in this county there's a practical layer: west-facing glass in the inland valleys takes a beating from afternoon sun and Santa Ana dust, which affects what material we'd suggest for that specific opening. That's a conversation in the room, not a line on a spreadsheet. We went deeper on that tradeoff in our piece on shutters versus shades for the hot rooms in a Conejo Valley house.

Who pays when a product is built to a bad number

We'd rather be blunt about this than have it come up on install day.

If we measure, the risk is ours. A product that doesn't fit because of our measurement gets remade at our expense, and you aren't billed for it.

If you measure and supply the sizes, and a product is manufactured to those sizes and doesn't fit, the remake is charged to you at our invoiced cost from the manufacturer. No markup, no handling fee, nothing added. You pay what we pay. We don't absorb it, because we didn't take the measurement, and we're not going to pretend otherwise in a sales conversation and then send a surprise invoice later.

Custom window coverings are cut to size. There is no restocking and no resale. That's true at every company in this trade — the difference is whether they tell you up front. Ill-fitting product is one of the recurring themes when we read through 1-star reviews across the industry.

When sending your own sizes is the right move

For a quote, self-measured sizes are fine and we encourage them. Rough widths and heights plus a photo of each opening gets you a real number to work with, and nobody has to be at your house for it. That's the fastest way to find out whether a 24-window project lands where you thought it would.

Same goes if you already have a bid in hand from someone else. You can upload it to our free Quote Check tool and we'll tell you what the line items actually mean. If you're comparing several bids, our line-by-line comparison checklist covers what to look at besides the total.

For the order, we'd rather come out. Someone comes to the home, measures every window at top, middle and bottom, checks depth and square, flags the handles and cranks, brings real samples so you can see the finish in your own light, and leaves you with a firm quote. The in-home consultation is free, and install is included in the price we quote. Twelve-month install warranty; manufacturer warranties vary by product.

You can book that visit here, or send us your sizes and photos if you'd rather start with a number.

Frequently asked questions

Can I send my own measurements just to get a price?

Yes. Rough widths and heights plus a photo of each opening is enough for us to give you a realistic quote without anyone coming to the house. We'd just want to confirm the sizes with a professional measure before anything goes to the factory.

What happens if I measure, the shade is built wrong, and it doesn't fit?

The remake is charged to you at our invoiced cost from the manufacturer, with no markup added. We don't absorb it, because we didn't take the measurement. If we measure and it doesn't fit, the remake is on us at no cost to you.

How many times should I measure each window?

Width at the top, middle and bottom. Height at the left, center and right. For an inside mount you generally use the narrowest width. Also record the flat depth of the frame, since inside-mount products need a minimum depth to sit properly.

Should I write measurements as fractions or decimals?

Fractions, to the nearest sixteenth. Write 30 1/2 inches, not 30.5. Decimals get transcribed wrong, and rounding to the nearest inch is one of the most common causes of a shutter that won't fit its opening.

Do arched or angled windows need a different process?

Yes. Half-rounds, eyebrows and angled tops need a physical template rather than a width and height, which is one of the openings we'd always want to see in person before ordering.