Every floor here catches the view. Not every one is built for the wind that comes with it.

Yes, and it is the single biggest factor in most Fresnaye quotes. The south-easter funnels through the Kloof Nek saddle beside Lion's Head and reaches this slope hard — an ordinary drop blind or a loose-hanging awning is the first thing to fail in it. We specify zip-guided screens rather than open drop blinds, and every exterior product that can carry a wind sensor gets one, so it retracts or closes before a gust arrives instead of after.

Not the ones we fit, and we'd rather be plain about it. Our roller shutters are shading shutters: rigid aluminium slats outside the glass that stop sun, heat, glare and light, and give you a dark, cool, quiet room. Security-rated shutters are a different product with a different frame and fixing, available on request — but we won't let a shading shutter be mistaken for something it isn't.

Usually, yes. A terraced Fresnaye villa can have a pool level, a living floor and a main suite each facing a slightly different angle of sun and catching a different strength of wind, since the mountain and the neighbouring stands shade some levels and expose others. We read each floor separately at the measure rather than quoting the whole house off one window, and it's common for a single villa to leave with two or three different products across its levels.

Powder-coated aluminium, sealed cassettes and coastal-grade fixings survive; cheap brackets and open chain mechanisms pit and seize within a season or two. We specify hardware for the coast as standard on anything mounted outside, and we'll tell you honestly that even the best of it wants an occasional fresh-water rinse this close to the water.

Almost everything, and retrofitting is easier than most people expect. Rechargeable tube motors need no wiring at all, so an existing blind can usually be motorised without opening a wall or a ceiling — useful on the levels here reached by stairs rather than a stepladder. Wired motors suit a renovation, where power can reach the head of the window while things are already open.

The in-home measure is free and carries no obligation. A consultant comes to you with samples, measures every opening properly and reads the actual sun and wind in each room. You then get a written quote itemised per window, so you can see what each one costs and remove any of them. Because everything is made to measure, that's the only honest way to price it — there's no price list that would tell you the truth.