Motorisation for the windows a chain can't reach

When motorisation stops being an upsell

On a shared balcony or a sectional-title unit near Cavendish, a body corporate often has rules about what can hang off a shared facade — a visible chain sometimes isn't allowed at all. On a glazed extension with a ceiling-recessed blind box, there's no chain to reach in the first place. And on a wide span, like the sliding doors on the larger stands out in Tokai, or on a window above a stairwell, a chain simply isn't strong enough to carry the fabric reliably. In all three cases, motorisation isn't the premium option — it's the only one that actually works.

Power and control, kept simple

Rechargeable battery motors need no wiring and suit a retrofit into an existing Claremont apartment or Victorian villa — charge every few months via a USB-style charger. That is usually the answer for hard-to-reach upper-storey glass on an older home in Rondebosch as well, where running new mains cable up to the head of a window means cutting into original plaster. Wired motors suit a new build or a major renovation, running permanently off mains power with no charging cycle to manage. Control layers stack from a single handset remote, to an app that checks whether you left the lounge blind up before you left for work, to schedules that drop west-facing blinds automatically in summer.

The safety case

No dangling chain is the single most child-safe operation a blind can have — no loop, nothing at reach height, nothing to climb toward. Quality motors run quietly, though not silently, and carry multi-year guarantees. Battery motors do need that periodic recharge; we set the expectation clearly at quote stage rather than letting it surprise anyone later.

What you should budget

Motorisation has no standalone price — it rides on whichever blind it drives. Across the range we fit it lands between R2,500 and R7,500 the square metre once fitted: an interior roller at the lower figure, a large exterior product at the upper, everything else placed by product and by span. Sensors, wall switches and multi-channel handsets appear as their own lines on the quote.

There is a minimum on small openings, and on a window that is easy to reach a motor is often money poorly spent — we would rather tell you than quote it. Your figures follow the free measure, on paper, first.