Budget Blinds it is!

I have another “selection” story for you if you are interested:

About a month ago, we went to Blinds to Go (B2G) to get an idea of the cost for cellular shades. We weren't really going to look elsewhere until I met Trish at the Ottawa Homebuilders Association Green Seminar. Trish, from Budget Blinds, came by last week and did a must appreciated free in-house consultation.

Between the two suppliers there is a price difference. After going back to B2G for a second look, the main difference evident to us is that fact that B2G doesn’t offer the cordless option (good for staircases and kid safety). Also, Budget Blinds offers the in-house consultation and then there is the warranty. At Budget Blinds you get a “no questions asked” 5 year warranty where they will replace your shades for any reason where B2G doesn’t have such a policy and has lots of rules built into its Lifetime Warranty policy. Based on what we could find online, if you compare the companies on a social/environmental scale, B2G manufactures their products in Montreal (and both don't seem to know the source of the materials). On the other hand, Budget Blinds is an individually held franchise. At first this, and the fact that B2G mentions their old blind recycling program initiative in Boston on their website, was all that we had to go on in terms of making a decision between the two companies.

Based on the above, we didn’t think we had enough info to justify the slightly higher cost for Budget Blinds so I put it to Trish to explain more. She came back with the enviro policy for Budget Blinds. Here goes:

All of the components of their cellular shades products are 100% recyclable, including the fabric, aluminum rails and plastic components. The plastic components contain up to 50% pre-consumer recycled material. Also, corrugated cardboard is used to package all products and is 100% recyclable. The cardboard itself contains 35-40% recycled content. The angle board used to reinforce the cardboard is 100% recyclable and contains 80% post-consumer recycled material and 20% pre-consumer recycled material. Poly tubes, EPS pads, parts tub and bubble wrap used in packaging are also 100% recyclable. Finally, custom box cutting machines are used to cut each box to the exact size of the shade. This process eliminates wasted cardboard, packing materials and shipping energy.

In addition, the Budget Blinds manufacturing facility as a whole has taken some major steps towards efficient use of raw materials such as a water recovery and recycling plan that recovers somewhere in the area of 80% of the water used in production. The other thing about Budget Blinds is that the installer is part of the team (no contract installers).

After Trish provided this information to us, we knew that Budget Blinds was the way to go. It is amazing how asking the right questions can sway you in a decision.