How Long Do Curtains Take to Make?
Our current turnaround from approval to fitted is printed on the home page and on every product page, and it is deliberately not repeated here — a duration typed into an article stops being true the day it changes. What is worth explaining is the shape of the job, because knowing which stages are quick and which are not tells you where your own order is likely to sit.
The stages, in order
- The visit. Usually the same week you ask. We come to you with the fabric books, measure every window, and check what the ceiling and any existing track will take — how we measure covers what happens in the hour.
- The quotation. One written figure covering fabric, track, tailoring and fitting. This is normally same day or next day.
- Your approval. The clock everybody quotes starts here, not at the visit. It is also, in practice, the longest stage in a lot of orders, because it is the one we do not control.
- Cutting and tailoring. The part people assume is slow. It is the most predictable stage of the whole job.
- Fitting. Booked with you. Track goes up, curtains go on, folds are dressed before we leave.
Why the fabric being here matters
The reason this market has a reputation for three-week curtains is that most companies are middlemen. The order goes to a supplier, the supplier waits for stock, stock arrives, only then does anything get cut. Two of those weeks are shipping.
Our four catalogues are held in our own UAE warehouse. The roll you picked from the book is already in the country, so the order goes straight from approval to the cutting table — the fabric range is the range we hold, not a range we can order. That is the whole difference, and it is also why a colour we do not carry is a genuinely different conversation rather than a small delay.
What actually makes an order run late
- Changing the fabric after approval. Understandable and completely fine, but it is a new quotation and a new start. Nothing is cut before you have agreed, precisely so that this stays possible.
- Building access. Tower management rules are the single most common cause in Dubai and Abu Dhabi apartments. Some buildings need a work permit and a day's notice, some restrict the service lift to certain hours, a few will not allow drilling at weekends. Ask your building what it needs at the same time as you approve the quotation, not the day before fitting.
- Ceiling surprises. A false ceiling that will not hold a track, or a concrete lintel where we expected plasterboard. We look for this at the visit for exactly this reason, which is why the visit is worth the hour.
- Very wide runs. A long ceiling track for a majlis or a full glazed wall is more fabric, more panels and a longer fit, and it should be planned as a bigger job.
- Motorisation. Motorised tracks add wiring or charging and a commissioning step. Worth it, but do not expect it to run to the same clock as a hand-drawn track.
If you need it faster
Express turnaround exists and is priced separately, on purpose — see the price promise for why we keep it as its own line rather than folding it into everyone's quotation. Tell us at the visit if you have a date, a handover or guests coming; it changes what we recommend, and occasionally it changes which fabric makes sense.
The honest version
We meet our stated lead time in the large majority of cases, and when something outside our control moves it we tell you the same day rather than letting the date pass quietly. That commitment is written into our terms. If your date is firm, say so at the visit and we will tell you then whether it is realistic — book a free home visit and bring the date with you.
