The plantation shutter that locks. Manufactured in Kingston. Fitted by the people who built it.

Fair question, because most of them are. The difference is the build and the test. Ours is an extruded aluminium blade in an aluminium frame, key locked, tested to the Australian Standards for security screens. Nothing on a house is impossible to defeat. What a real barrier does is make your place hard work, so the bloke having a go finds an easier one two doors down.

They are extruded aluminium, not a hollow slat. Come to the showroom and have a go at one. That is what it is there for.

The shutter sits outside the glass, so nobody reaches the window without getting through the shutter first. Breaking glass makes a lot of noise, which is the thing an opportunist is trying hardest to avoid.

Both, usually, on different openings. Crimsafe where you want maximum airflow and you do not mind who sees in: the back sliding door, the front entry. Shutters where you want privacy, shade and a lock: bedrooms, street-facing windows, the deck. We fit both in one job, with one warranty document and one phone number.

[HOLD: BEDROOM ESCAPE CONFIGURATION. No answer publishes until Guardian confirms the compliant fire-escape setup for bedroom windows.] Ask this at the measure and we will show you exactly how your bedroom windows get configured.

Units and townhouses often do. Tell us what your committee needs to see and we will put it in a form they will accept. One customer needed sign-off from a building certifier, so Grant and Blair chased the approvals until it was done.

There is no cord and no chain on these. Ask at the measure about your particular openings.

Sitting in position, no. Shake one by hand and it will move, because it is a moving part with a lock in it, not a brick wall. What you are asking about is the cheap shutter that hums all night while nobody returns your call. That is why the twelve month promise above exists. If it rattles, whistles or sticks in the first year, we come back and fix it free.

Only if you want it to. Tilt the blades open for light and view. Tilt them closed for privacy and shade. That is the whole point of a louvre.

It shades the glass before the sun reaches it, which helps. We are not going to give you a percentage. Somebody in this market promised a customer 70% off the heat and got written up for it.

It is powder-coated aluminium, so it does not rust like steel, warp like timber or yellow like PVC. Salt air marks any metal in time, so closer to the coast it wants a rinse more often.

They are available on the openings you want them on. They are removable too, so you can clean the blades. Tell the measurer which windows you want screened.

One standard colour is included. Anything outside that range is powder-coated to order and carries a surcharge, because it gets manufactured for your job. [CONFIRM: COLOUR SURCHARGE FIGURE]

Worth knowing: we deliberately do not colour match shutters to Crimsafe. Crimsafe ties in with your window frames. A shutter is a window furnishing. It is meant to pop.

Casements are exactly where these earn their money, because a mesh screen on a casement window is awkward and a shutter is not. Every opening gets measured on its own.

A damp cloth. That is it.

They shade the glass and they shield it. There is no cyclone rating on this product and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Customers tell us it does. One review says the shutters "have added significant value to our property". We will leave that to you and your agent rather than put a number on it.

Neither. No bars. No box on the wall above the window. It reads as a shutter from the street, because that is what it is. The customers who buy these are the ones who refused to put bars on the windows.

That is where they look best. A Queenslander was built for louvres and breeze in the first place, so a plantation shutter is the shape the house already wanted. One customer put it this way: "This meant we didn't have to put bars on the windows. Perfect for our Queenslander."

No. We do not quote on the spot, deliberately. Shutters have too many configurations to guess at, so a number invented at your kitchen bench on a job this size is not worth having. The measurer measures. The quote comes to you in writing inside 72 hours. Nobody asks you to sign on the day.

The number on the quote is the installed number. It is held for 60 days.

Six to eight weeks from the day your deposit lands. We quote eight, because eight is the one we can keep. Christmas runs longer. Ask at the measure and we will tell you where the factory is sitting that week.

Employees. Every one of them.

Caboolture down to Tugun. Redlands across to Ipswich. Put your suburb in the form and we will tell you straight.

Yes. No charge.

Over 25 years. We developed the lockable shutter in 2005 and put it through Security Screens testing in 2012.

10% deposit to get started. 30% after the final check measure, before we manufacture anything. 60% on completion.

10 year manufacturer's warranty on all our aluminium plantation shutters. Guardian Screens & Shutters offers a 1 year workmanship warranty, which covers the niggly things that can turn up months after everything was working fine, like house movement or a lock going sticky. Moving components such as rollers and locks are covered for 3 years from the time of installation. It is honoured by us, the people who made it and fitted it.

No. The warranty is logged with you, our client, not with the property.

Because a lock and a roller are the parts that move. Every company in this trade treats them separately. We say it out loud: 10 year Manufacturer's Warranty on the shutters, 3 years from installation on moving components such as rollers and locks. Ask the other two quotes the same question and watch what happens.

[CONFIRM: FINANCE. Guardian has no finance partner in place yet. No finance line ships until one is signed.]

Ask your insurer. Plenty of them factor home security into a premium. We are not going to promise you a number we do not control.