Texas production builders work from a familiar menu of window sizes, which raises a fair question: if the sizes are standard, why not standard blinds? Because the opening you have today is not the opening the builder ordered, and the gap between those two is where store-bought treatments fail.
What happens after the builder leaves
Frames get shimmed, drywall gets floated, foundations move with our clay soil, and a nominal 36-inch opening becomes 35 and five-eighths at the top and 35 and seven-eighths at the sill. Standard blinds are cut for the label, not the reality; the result is light gaps on one side or a shade that rubs on the other.
Tolerance stacking, in plain English
Each step of construction is allowed to be slightly off, and the slight-offs add up differently at every window. Two identical windows on the same wall can measure a quarter inch apart. That is invisible to the eye and fatal to an inside mount ordered from a label size.
What custom actually buys
- Measurements taken at multiple points of each opening, by the people who install
- Treatments built to the tightest true dimension, so inside mounts sit clean
- A remake on us if something does not match the approved measurements
Custom is not about unusual windows. It is about ordinary windows, measured accurately. The free consultation prices it from your actual openings, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
Inside mount or outside mount on a builder window
An inside mount sits within the window frame and shows off the trim, but it needs enough frame depth to hold the headrail and a reasonably square opening. Many production-home windows have shallow frames, and those get flagged at the measure. An outside mount sits on the wall above the frame and overlaps the opening, which hides an out-of-square frame and closes the light gaps an inside mount would leave. Neither is better everywhere; the window decides.
Windows that are not standard at all
Most Texas homes have at least a few openings no catalog size fits: an arch over the front window, a transom, an angled top in a vaulted room, or sidelights beside the door. Those are covered in our guides to arched and specialty windows and sidelights and door glass.
Replacing windows? Measure after
Replacement windows change the opening: a new frame is often a different depth and a slightly different size than the one it replaced. New trim does the same. If windows or trim are being replaced, schedule the measure for after that work is finished, so the treatments are built to the openings you will actually have.