Roller blinds for Raslouw's new-build glass.

Fabric types — the core decision

Blockout gives a total light stop and doubles as an extra insulating layer against the highveld's summer heat and winter cold — the natural choice for bedrooms, nurseries and media rooms.

Sunscreen (typically 3%, 5% or 10% openness) is a mesh weave that cuts glare and UV while keeping your view of the garden or fairway. The lower the percentage, the more heat and glare it blocks — 3–5% is the standard for view-preserving sun control on the big glazing common in Raslouw's newer builds. It does reverse at night, though: lights on inside means you're visible from outside, so bedrooms usually pair it with a second layer.

Light-filtering / translucent fabric softens daylight and gives full privacy without a view — a middle ground for bathrooms or studies.

Options worth knowing about

• Double roller (day/night): blockout and sunscreen on one bracket — the practical answer for a bedroom that still wants a view during the day.
• Control: chain (fitted with a child-safe tensioner as standard), spring-assist, or motorised for wide or hard-to-reach openings — see our motorised blinds & automation page.
• Cassette / pelmet valances hide the tube and can be colour-matched to your window frames for a cleaner architectural line — increasingly the standard finish on new Raslouw builds.
• Wide spans: a single roller runs to roughly 3m of fabric before it needs a central join or a second, motor-linked blind — common on the oversized sliders in newer floor plans.

Where roller blinds work best in a new-build home

Modern open-plan interiors, apartments and big glass all suit rollers well — the clean lines match contemporary architecture, and cleaning is straightforward. On heritage-style cottages or very wide unbroken spans, a different product (timber venetian blinds or vertical blinds) often makes more sense — we'll tell you honestly if roller isn't the right fit for a particular opening.

Talking rands

A roller is charged by covered area, put up and working. On a chain that is R1,000 through R1,600 for one square metre: cheapest with a plain blockout, dearest with a good sunscreen or a bracket doing double duty over one opening. On a motor it is R2,500 through R3,800 for that square metre, and the motor, the control and the day’s setting-up sit inside the figure.

Two spoilers for neat arithmetic. On a small window the charge stops dropping, because the tube, brackets and time up a ladder are unchanged — a base charge applies. And a through-figure is not a quote: the schedule for your house is costed opening by opening once a consultant has measured, and handed over on paper.