Blockout shutters on a new house

Hi All,
I've just got a couple of quick questions relating to Blockout Shutters. I'm going to be building a new house soon (single storey) and I do want Blockout Shutters on the house for added security and privacy. My questions are these:

1) Is there any advantage to adding the shutters to the tender for the initial build, or should I most definitely have them added on after handover? I'd assume that by getting them added in to the initial build cost that they will only end up slugging me with additional mark-up, but I wonder if there's any advantage with regards to installation process?

2) Are there any brands other than the original "Blockout" Brand that I should be considering? Security is an important thing, I don't want cheap ones which are easy to pry out of the tracks with a crowbar or anything like this.

Any advice appreciated greatly!

Thankyou
Ryan

I would do it after hand over (we are). That way you can decide on quality and price. My mum has just had 3 largeish windows done with a local company who are quite expensive and was going to get my brothers bedroom window done on his house for Xmas for him. His is a bay window and mum got a quote from a big cheaper company (he is intending to sell his house in the next year or so and mum didn't want to waste too much money on it) but they quoted more for the 1 window then what my mum paid for her 3 windows plus hers were electric and my brothers quote was for manual.

Also depends on how you want to operate it.

If you want electric motor operated they usually put the switch next to the window. It can be difficult to put it asnywhere else. You can get remote control / battery operated motors but they are more dollars.

We did ours during the build so the switch to operate the shutter up and down is in the same gang as the light switch for the room.

Thanks for the replies.

Crow, that's what I was particularly interested in doing also - having the switch for the shutter located with the light switch so that it's not necessary to walk up to the windows to open the shutters. Sounds like that's a massive advantage to having it done during the build. Maybe I can sweet talk the site supervisor into allowing me to arrange for extra wiring to be run during the build so that I can still save my money and have them installed after handover.

As the motors usually come with about 2m of wire the key to having it wired up is having the wire from the light switch to a point near where the motor will be that is accessible so both wires can be joined in a junction box.

We have prewired for a second shutter and the wire from the light switch is run to the eave above the window so that if we go ahead they can lift a sheet of iron and connect via the junction box. In the meantime the wires will not be connected to power.

Hi all I would recommend checking out the after sales service and other implications before deciding on shutters for your windows. I got shutters put on my windows from the Modern Group only 5 years ago. They talked us into getting their ‘Smart Drive’ system. They are run on a rechargeable remote control panel instead of being hard-wired through the house electricity. Our shutter on our bedroom window wouldn’t open and we called Modern and they charge a $144 call out fee just to have a look PLUS parts and labour. I rang around some other companies and spoke with Blockout Industries and they said they do service ‘other companies’ shutters (and their call out fee is only $90 regardless) however the only ones they can’t work on were Modern’s Smart Drive systems because the components are specific to Modern and are different to all other systems and Modern are the only ones you can get the parts from. The Modern serviceman just left and the motor was burnt out – another $360 what a joke! I’m up for half of what the whole shutter cost in the first place. And to think there is a motor on each shutter… If they all start going on me, this could get very expensive. And if this is going to happen every 5 years it will probably send me broke  Whilst they are great for blocking out noise and light (but dangerous in the event of a fire, like the 3 people who died in a house fire recently in Clayton, Melbourne where rescuers couldn’t get the shutters off in time) I highly recommend considering other options before deciding and – DON’T USE MODERN.