Plantation Shutters - Your Questions Answered

The California Company is a partner of B&Q. Neither company has an interest in the other, other than the commercial agreement we have in place. B&Q selected The California Company as their partner to supply shutters to B&Q customers. The California Company has been through a number of in-depth processes to become an approved vendor of B&Q. However all interactions when buying shutters are directly with The California Company and not with B&Q Limited.

Our shutters are made from premium grade hardwood. You can choose from either Yellow Poplar or Elm. Both hardwoods are kiln dried to minimise the risk of warping.

We have manufactured plantation shutters using Poplar for many years. It is a high quality hardwood and is well suited to the manufacture of plantation shutters. It’s very easy to machine and cuts nicely, with few rough edges. This ensures your finished shutters have a fantastic, smooth paint or stain finish. Poplar trees are fast growing, giving a nice straight grain, which reduces the likelihood of weaker areas within the wood. While Poplar is a hardwood, Elm a denser, heavier hardwood which is very similar in it’s make up to Oak.

The main reason is to give customers a choice of grains. Poplar represents 90% of our sales, but elm is chosen by some customers who want their shutters to have an oak like appearance, with quite a dramatic grain structure.

Both types of wood are equally good in terms of quality so please don’t think one is better than the other. It’s ultimately down to which wood type you prefer the look of, when choosing a stain. For painted finish shutters, the vast majority of our customers prefer poplar over elm as they have a smoother, cleaner lined appearance.

We manufacture our shutters in China. We have our own dedicated facility where our uniquely designed shutters are manufactured. We then have containers leaving weekly from our facility to our UK distribution centre.

Cost, product quality and access to top rate raw materials. China has a much lower wage rate and cost of living than the UK and we can therefore make our shutters at a competitive price, enabling us to offer our customers the good value pricing that we do.

You have nothing to be concerned about. In fact, when our staff visit China they feel that the conditions at the shutter factory are better than working conditions in the UK! Culturally life in China is different. It is normal working practice for staff to live in facilities at the factory and then return home during national holidays. However the workers are provided with all of their meals, have good accommodation and leisure facilities and are financially paid well above average pay rates, they also receive wages for overtime worked. Finally, B&Q have rigorous procedures to ensure suppliers and partners have working conditions that conform to their exactingly high standards. The California Company passed this process first time.

No. Most other companies buy the same shutters, from 2 UK importation companies. These shutters are sourced from the same factory in China. Our shutters are made in our own dedicated facility. You cannot buy these shutters from any other online shutter company.

No. Our shutters are unique in their design, product options, and manufacturing techniques. We have developed our systems to make sure that the way shutters are made will ensure they last a lifetime. Other shutters are not made using the same time consuming and detailed techniques which we believe make our shutters a superior product. We also use only premium grade sustainable hardwoods and do not offer lower grade softwoods or MDF. Additionally, our shutter shop is structured in a way where pricing is exceptionally easy. When you buy from our online shutter shop, the pricing is based upon only the window sizes and you can choose whichever design options you like without the price being affected. The only option which does have a bearing on cost is choosing elm, which is slightly more expensive due to the cost of this wood.

We are a dedicated DIY Shutter company. Our business is designed specifically to help people purchase wood shutters ‘remotely’. Our staff members are all expertly trained, technically aware and have a good eye for design. They care about the product and about the success of the company and therefore will ensure you are delighted with your shutters. Put simply, we want you to be delighted with your shutters. This will only happen if we ensure you’ve measured properly and gone for the right design. That way, you’re happy and hopefully will spread the word to your friends. Oh – and we answer the phone when you call and don’t ask you to “press one for sales”…..

That’s exactly what we’re here for. Please do contact us if you need any help at all. Email or send a photo of your window and your room and we will come back with shutters design advice and tips to ensure you’ve got the perfect end result. With thousands of shutters sold and successfully installed, we can email you back photos of shutters installed on windows similar to yours, to show you the options available. Shutters are an integral part of your homes’ interior design and our entire team is very ‘design focused’. We want to pass on advice to ensure that you’re choosing not only the right panel configuration, but choosing the right slat size, colour, and shutter options. So please – use us as a resource!

This sets us apart from other shutter companies. We ‘sense check’ all orders when we receive them. This proves invaluable to customers as it means that we, as shutter experts, identify any anomalies within your order discuss these fully with you before the shutters are manufactured and sent to you. Most people input their shutter order online correctly however having the comfort of knowing that an expert will call you to run through the details is invaluable. Any small tweaks to dimensions or design choices are picked up at this stage to help make sure your shutter installation runs smoothly!

When you press the button to order your DIY shutters, remember, we will contact you to run through the details. This is usually the same day or the next working day. Therefore between this point of placing the order and us contacting you, you can normally make changes. However when the shutters enter manufacture, it is not possible to change your shutter specification.

From order to delivery is 7 weeks.

We use a number of different tested methods to deliver your DIY shutters, ready for installation. The packaging is fantastic and is exceptionally tough to minimise the likelihood of transit damage. We have unique agreements in place with UPS and TNT to handle shipment of shutters. We also undertake delivery directly ourselves, should this be the best delivery option.

We know that around 6-7 weeks have passed since you placed your order. Therefore we will contact you to confirm that you are ready to take delivery of your shutters.

Delivery is free on orders over £50 if between 9am – 6pm weekdays. You can request a Saturday delivery for an additional charge. For free of charge deliveries we cannot specify the exact time the shutters will be delivered. If you do want a pre 10am delivery, this can be requested, paying a surcharge. Contact us if you’d like to discuss this option.

No – we ship to Ireland, the Channel Islands, and UK Islands. Shipping is charged at our cost price, on an individual ad hoc basis. Please contact us if you require this service.

The shutters are packaged exceptionally well. There are packed using hi quality cardboard, packing foam and plywood to ensure the shutters are as protected as possible from potential damage when shipped.

Shipping damage is very, very rare and is covered by us, should anything happen. This is not the customers’ liability but we ask that you contact us immediately if it does happen.

We have our own shutters workshop here in the UK. Most repairs are undertaken here in the UK, keeping timescales to fix repairs to an absolute minimum.

Your shutters are guaranteed for a period of 3 years from date of despatch to you.

Yes – you receive all hardware (screws, hinges, magnets), the shutter panels themselves and the frame into which the shutters are mounted. The only item you may choose to use to complete the shutters installation is decorators caulk to finish off the join between the shutters frame and the wall.

Pretty much everything is done for you. The shutter frames are pre mitred and have a simple ‘bow tie’ fixing to link them together. The hinges are already attached onto the panels and we pre drill all holes for you in the frames. Installation really is very straightforward which is due to the fact that we try to do most of the hard work for you!

Some of our customers employ a local handyman or carpenter to install their shutters for them.

Absolutely – that’s what we’re here for. At the risk of blowing our own trumpet, we are DIY shutters experts and have encountered pretty much every challenge that could arise. Therefore please be sure to call us for assistance and we can talk you through how to get over any issues.

We have tried to pack the website with as much information as possible about DIY shutters, how to measure and how to install. However if there are any questions on your mind please be sure to call us or email us and we will be delighted to help.