Short answer: it depends on how much window you have, which material you pick, and how awkward the shape is. The longer answer is below, with actual figures, because a cost page that never mentions a number is just an advert in a lab coat.
Plantation shutters are priced by area, in square metres. Not per window, not per panel, and not by how much the person quoting thinks you can afford. That last one matters more than it should: a lot of the trade still works on a home visit, a tablet, and a discount that mysteriously expires the moment the salesperson stands up. We publish rates instead, and you do the sums yourself.
How the square metre maths works
Measure the width and the height of the window recess in metres and multiply them together. A window 1.2m wide by 1.4m tall is 1.68 square metres. Multiply that area by the rate for the collection you want, and you have the starting point for that window.
Take our composite Classic collection at £163.20 per square metre. That 1.68m² window works out at a little over £274 as a floor figure. It is a floor, not a final price: style, shape and specification all move it. But it tells you the order of magnitude, which is usually what people actually want when they type "how much do plantation shutters cost" at eleven at night.
Small windows behave slightly differently to what you might expect. Area pricing is linear, but the work of making a shutter is not, so a tiny window is rarely as cheap as the arithmetic suggests, and a large one often represents better value per square metre than you would guess.
Material is the biggest single lever
We make five collections, each a different material, each with its own rate per square metre:
- Classic — composite, from £163.20/m². Built for bathrooms, kitchens and anywhere with steam and swings in humidity.
- Linea — lightweight timber, from £171.60/m². A refined, contemporary finish for rooms where the shutter should be quiet about itself.
- Endurance — ABS-coated paulownia, from £214.20/m². Paulownia is a genuine timber with a tough coating over it, and it is the one to reach for in the busiest, dampest rooms where condensation is a fact of life.
- Signature — our finest basswood and the flagship, from £244.80/m². If you want the shutter you would notice in someone else's house, this is the one.
- Heritage — brushed timber, from £255.00/m². Natural grain and warmth, and the highest rate of the five.
The spread between the cheapest and the dearest is roughly £92 per square metre. Over a modest bay that difference is real money, so it is worth being honest with yourself about which rooms need which material. A composite shutter in a shower room is not a compromise, it is the correct answer.
Style moves the price too
A full height shutter is one set of panels covering the whole opening, and it is the simplest thing we make. Everything else adds components. Tier-on-tier gives you independent top and bottom sections, which means two sets of panels and two sets of hinges in the same opening. Cafe style covers only the lower half. Solid panel, tracked bi-fold, tracked bi-pass and french door configurations each bring their own hardware and their own construction requirements.
The rule of thumb is straightforward: more panels, more frame, more hardware, more cost. It is not a penalty, it is materials.
Bays, arches and anything that is not a rectangle
A plain rectangular window is the cheapest thing to shutter. A bay is effectively three or more windows plus the joinery to marry the angles, so it costs accordingly. Special shapes — arched heads, angled tops, circles, the sort of window an architect drew on a Friday afternoon — carry more cost again, because each one is set out individually rather than made to a standard.
None of that should put you off. It should just stop the number on the screen being a surprise when you get to a detailed quote for your own windows.
The cost that never appears on our price list
We are supply-only, across the whole UK. You measure, we make, you collect and fit. That is a deliberate choice and it is the single biggest reason our figures look different to a quoted-and-fitted competitor's.
When somebody quotes you one all-in price for shutters, that price contains their survey, their fitter's day, their fitter's van, and their margin on all three. It is a perfectly reasonable way to run a business, but it is not itemised, so you cannot see what you are paying for the shutter and what you are paying for the labour. Our rate is the shutter. We do not fit, and we do not recommend fitters — we would rather say that plainly than pretend a name we cannot stand behind is a service.
Getting your own number
Two things will make your figure accurate. First, measure properly: our measuring guide sets out exactly what we need, and it matters that you follow it, because we make to the sizes you give us and we do not deduct anything on your behalf. Second, compare like with like — the collection comparison puts the five materials side by side so you are not choosing on price alone.
If you want the pricing logic in more depth, including how the rates apply across different rooms and configurations, read the full shutter cost guide. And if you already have your sizes written on the back of an envelope, the quote form will turn them into a real figure rather than an estimate with a shrug attached.
Before any numbers can mean much you'll need sizes — how to measure your windows shows the method — and if you're still weighing materials, wood or composite settles which suits which room.