Electric Shades and Blinds in South Florida: Power, Price and Who Installs Them
Electric, motorized, automatic or smart: four names for one product. What actually separates one electric shade from another is the power, and here is what each one needs and costs in a South Florida home or condo.
What are electric shades and blinds?
Electric shades and electric blinds are motorized shades and blinds: the same product under another name. A small motor inside the roller tube, or in the headrail of a wood blind, raises and lowers the fabric or tilts the slats on a remote, a wall keypad, a phone app, a schedule or a voice assistant. What really separates one electric shade from another is where its power comes from: a battery inside the shade, a thin low-voltage cable (24 V on most systems) back to a power panel, or 120 V house current at the window.
In South Florida, Exotic Shades & Draperies installs them on Lutron, Somfy, Crestron and our Essential tier. One 72 by 84 inch electric roller shade, fabric and motor included, runs about $833 on our Essential tier and $933 on Somfy WireFree (both battery), $1,133 on wired Somfy, $1,293 on Lutron Triathlon (battery) and $2,287 on Lutron Sivoia QS wired, both Lutron figures at Lutron's list price, budgetary and before tax.
- Battery: no electrician and no opened walls. The usual answer in a finished condo or home.
- Low-voltage: a cable to a power panel in a closet, run while the walls are open. The answer in new construction and full renovations.
- 120 V: house current at the window, for oversized and exterior shades. A licensed electrician makes that connection, and our quote lists it as by others.
Written by Exotic Shades & Draperies in Fort Lauderdale, a certified Lutron dealer, Crestron certified, a Somfy Expert and an SDN Specialist, from the makers' documents, our published prices and our own installs, from battery Triathlon rollers in Boca Raton to 24 V Somfy motors wired through a Pompano Beach tower's conduit.
Battery, low-voltage or 120 V: the three ways an electric shade is powered #
The motor is the same idea in every electric shade. The power decides what the job needs, what it costs and what happens when the lights go out.
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| Power | How it works | Electrician | What we install | One 72 by 84 in shade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery For finished condos and homes, retrofits, and glass with no power near it | A lithium-ion pack inside the roller tube, recharged with a plug-in wand (Somfy WireFree, Vertilux RE-LION, Essential), or D cells in the headrail that you swap in minutes (Lutron Triathlon and Serena). A small solar panel on the glass can keep a pack topped up. | None | Somfy Sonesse WireFree, Lutron Triathlon and Serena, Vertilux VTi RE-LION, our Essential tier (Dooya)Lutron 085312kSomfy Sonesse 30 WireFreeVertilux RE-LION sheet | about $833 (Essential), $933 (Somfy WireFree), $1,293 (Lutron Triathlon) |
| Low-voltage 24 V on most systems. For new construction, full renovations, large and coupled shades, whole-house systems | A thin cable from each motor back to a power panel or supply, usually in a closet. Lutron's wired shades take power and commands from a QS panel, Crestron's from Cresnet, Somfy's from a 24 V supply. | A low-voltage cable run while the walls are open; we give the electrician the pre-wire schedule | Somfy Sonesse 30 DC and ULTRA 50, Lutron Sivoia QS and Palladiom wired, Crestron QMTSomfy ULTRA 50 DCLutron 085705d | about $1,133 (wired Somfy), $2,287 (Lutron Sivoia QS wired) |
| 120 V House current at the window. For oversized floor-to-ceiling shades, heavy blackouts with side channels, exterior screens | The motor takes house current from a junction box or outlet at the head of the window. No transformer, no panel, the most torque. | Yes: a licensed electrician brings 120 V to the window. We do not make that connection, and our quotes list the electrical as by others. | Somfy Sonesse 40 and Sonesse 50 line-voltage motors; a 120 V Dooya motor on commercial and budget jobsSomfy Sonesse 40 data book | Quoted per project, electrical by others |
Our rule of thumb, window by window: battery in a finished home unless there is an outlet at the window, low-voltage when the walls are open, 120 V only where the torque is needed. We choose window by window, so one house can run both.
In a power outage, battery shades keep working from their remote; low-voltage and 120 V shades stop and keep their settings until the power is back.
Solar is a battery option, not a fourth power. In a Boca Raton golf-course home with no power at the openings and the glass 18 feet up, we ran Somfy battery motors recharged by solar panels on the glass. The full comparison: battery vs 24 V vs 120 V shade motors; what each one does in a storm: motorized shades in a power outage.
Electric shades, electric blinds and electric curtains #
Shades are fabric that rolls or folds, blinds are slats that tilt, curtains run on a track. All three come electric.
Fabric
Electric shades
Roller, solar screen, blackout, sheer, zebra and honeycomb shades, dual rollers that carry a screen and a blackout on one bracket, and Roman shades, top-down bottom-up included: custom-made to the window and motorized on the system the house needs.
Slats
Electric blinds
Lutron Triathlon wood blinds motorize the tilt, on batteries or 12 V wiring, and lift by hand; Lutron's Sivoia wood blinds motorize the lift and the tilt. One Triathlon blind runs to 72 in wide, two under one valance to 96 in, Sivoia to 108 in. Vertical and Allusion blinds motorize on a track, so a wall of vanes draws aside on one tap.
Track
Electric curtains
Draperies on a motorized track, ripplefold or pinch pleat, sewn in our own drapery workroom: Somfy Glydea and Irismo, Lutron and Crestron tracks, on battery or wired like the shades.
Remotes, keypads, apps and voice #
In the room
Remote or wall keypad
A Lutron Pico, or a Somfy Situo or Telis remote, paired to the shade itself, or a keypad on the wall. On battery and radio shades the remote talks to the motor directly, so it keeps working when the Wi-Fi or the hub is down.
On your phone
App, schedules and scenes
Lutron shades use the Lutron app and Somfy shades the TaHoma app. Both run schedules that follow sunrise and sunset, whole-home open and close and scenes, and we set up the first scenes with you on installation day.
Whole house
Voice and home systems
Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home on every Lutron line through its Lutron system; Alexa and Google Home on Somfy through the TaHoma hub. Integrated with Lutron RadioRA 3 and HomeWorks, Crestron, Control4 and Savant; when a Lutron system has to work with another control platform, we bring in our integration partner.
Ask for a remote paired to the shade, not only an app. A shade that can only be reached through Wi-Fi or a Zigbee hub stops answering when that network does; a Lutron Pico or a Somfy remote paired to the motor does not. How the radios differ: Zigbee vs Lutron and how shade motors receive commands.
What electric shades cost in South Florida #
From the same quote engine that writes our quotes: one 72 by 84 inch electric roller shade, fabric and motor included, budgetary and before tax.
Swipe sideways to see every column.
| System | Power | One 72 by 84 in shade | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential Dooya motor | Battery | about $833 | Our value tier, with its remote |
| Somfy WireFree | Battery | about $933 | Where most finished condos land |
| Somfy wired (Sonesse 50, 24 V power supply) | Low-voltage | about $1,133 | New construction and larger homes |
| Lutron Triathlon | Battery (D cells) | about $1,293 | At Lutron's list price |
| Lutron Sivoia QS | Low-voltage, wired | about $2,287 | At Lutron's list price; whisper-quiet drives and whole-house integration |
By size, a single shade runs from about $601 (36 by 60 in, Essential) to about $4,265 (144 by 120 in, two coupled shades on Lutron Sivoia QS wired). Eight shades on a main level come to about $7,487 to $15,141, depending on the system. 120 V motors are quoted per project, with the electrical by others.
What each column includes: pricing. By size and system: what motorized shades cost. Your own windows: instant price.
Who installs electric shades in South Florida #
Exotic Shades & Draperies, in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach: a certified Lutron dealer, Crestron certified, a Somfy Expert and an SDN Specialist. Our own workroom makes the shades and draperies, and the same in-house team measures, installs and programs every project from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County. Three of our installs:
Boca Raton
Battery: fourteen Triathlon rollers
The Boca Raton luxury home runs fourteen Lutron Triathlon rollers on D cells in the headrail, on a Caseta Smart Bridge Pro. No electrician, no opened walls, and every shade keeps working with the power down.
Pompano Beach
24 V: through a tower's conduit
At Salato every shade runs on a Somfy Sonesse ULTRA 50 RTS at 24 V DC from a power panel in each unit, wired through the empty conduit a new condo comes with. The master bedroom shade is 144 by 120 inches, made as one shade with one seam.
Southwest Ranches
Wired into the house system
At Landmark Ranch Estates every roller runs on a Somfy Sonesse 50 dry-contact motor and every drapery on a Glydea 60 wired track, hard-wired into the home's Lutron system with a keypad in every room and not one remote in the house. A 22-foot wall of glass runs as three coupled panels on one motor.
Electric shades and blinds: questions
Are electric blinds the same as motorized blinds? #
Yes. Electric, motorized, automatic and smart blinds and shades are the same product: a motor in the roller tube or the headrail that raises, lowers or tilts the treatment on a remote, a keypad, an app, a schedule or a voice command. The real difference between two electric shades is the power (battery, low-voltage or 120 V) and the system behind it (Lutron, Somfy, Crestron or our Essential tier).
Do electric shades need an electrician? #
Battery shades do not: they install like any window treatment. A low-voltage wired shade needs a thin cable from the window to a power panel, run while the walls are open; we give the electrician the pre-wire schedule. A 120 V shade needs a licensed electrician to bring house current to a junction box or outlet at the window. We do not make that connection, and our quotes list the electrical as by others.
How much do electric shades cost in South Florida? #
From our quote engine, one 72 by 84 inch electric roller shade, fabric and motor included, runs about $833 on our Essential tier, $933 on Somfy WireFree, $1,133 on wired Somfy with its power supply, $1,293 on Lutron Triathlon (battery) and $2,287 on Lutron Sivoia QS wired, both Lutron figures at Lutron's list price, budgetary and before tax. Eight shades on a main level come to about $7,487 to $15,141, depending on the system.
Are battery electric shades as good as wired ones? #
For most finished homes and condos, yes: a finished condo or a retrofit usually lands on Somfy WireFree. Lutron rates the D cells in Triathlon at three to five years; Somfy WireFree recharges with a plug-in wand after months to years of normal use, depending on the shade's size and how often it moves. Wired shades win in new construction, on very large or coupled shades and in whole-house systems, because nothing ever needs charging.
Can my existing blinds be made electric? #
Sometimes, and sometimes it is not worth it. We look at what is on the window and put the retrofit or the replacement path in writing.
Do electric shades work in a power outage or without Wi-Fi? #
Battery shades keep working through an outage from a remote paired to the shade. Wired shades, low-voltage or 120 V, stop until the power returns and keep their limits and pairings. Without Wi-Fi, a Lutron Pico or a Somfy remote paired to the motor still works; only the app, voice and schedules need the internet. Our page on motorized shades and power outages goes system by system.
Do electric blinds work with Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home? #
Every Lutron line does, through its Lutron system: Serena and Triathlon on a Caseta bridge, every line on RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks, with Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home. Somfy motors answer to Alexa and Google Home through the TaHoma hub, and to Control4, Crestron and Savant through the TaHoma integration. We program the voice link at handover.
How wide can an electric shade be? #
One electric roller shade runs to about 10 feet wide in most fabrics and 12 feet in the widest; the fabric roll sets the limit, not the motor. Past that, the opening is coupled into two or three shades on one motor, as on the 22-foot wall of glass at Landmark Ranch Estates. Our page on how wide a roller shade can be gives the limit per system and fabric.
Lutron or Somfy for electric shades? #
Neither is better everywhere. A finished condo or a retrofit usually lands on Somfy WireFree. New construction and larger homes lean to wired Somfy. Homes with Lutron lighting, or projects run by an integrator, are built on Lutron, which at Lutron's list price runs about a quarter to a third above Somfy WireFree, or roughly 1.5 to 2 times wired Somfy, and buys whisper-quiet motors, Palladiom and Sivoia hardware and native HomeWorks and RadioRA 3 integration. We quote them side by side.
Who installs electric shades in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Boca Raton? #
Exotic Shades & Draperies, based in Fort Lauderdale with a Miami Beach location, designs, makes and installs electric shades, blinds and drapery tracks from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County. We are a certified Lutron dealer, Crestron certified, a Somfy Expert and an SDN Specialist, and the same in-house team measures, installs and programs every project. The first step is a free in-home consultation.
Where the numbers come from #
Maker documents accessed 8 November 2026; prices from our own quote engine, published on our pricing page; installation details from our own project pages, linked. Makers revise their documents, and we update the page when a fact changes.
- Lutron, Smart Shades (Serena and Triathlon) specification submittal 085312k: battery-powered drives on D cells, Pico control. assets.lutron.com
- Lutron, Triathlon selection guide: battery-powered roller, honeycomb and wood-blind lines. assets.lutron.com
- Lutron, Sivoia QS and QS Wireless Roller 64 submittal 085705d: the wired drive on the QS link and the wireless, battery-powered drive. assets.lutron.com
- Somfy, Sonesse 30 WireFree RTS Li-ion product page: rechargeable lithium-ion battery motor, RTS control. www.somfysystems.com
- Somfy, Sonesse ULTRA 50 DC product page: 24 V DC motor on a power supply. www.somfysystems.com
- Somfy, Sonesse 40 (RTS and Wired) 400 Series data book: interior motors on 120 V AC. service.somfy.com
- Vertilux, VTi RE-LION 6-800-MB-25U01 technical sheet: rechargeable battery motor. s3.amazonaws.com
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, Pricing and What motorized shades cost: one 72 by 84 in shade by system, $601 to $4,265 by size, eight shades $7,487 to $15,141.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, Motorized shades and blinds: battery, 24 V and 120 V window by window, Lutron wood blinds, voice and app control.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, Battery vs wired shade motors and Pre-wiring for motorized shades.
- Exotic Shades & Draperies, case studies: Boca Raton luxury home (Triathlon on D cells), Salato (Sonesse ULTRA 50 RTS on 24 V), Landmark Ranch Estates (Sonesse 50 dry contact, hard-wired to Lutron).
Discerning homeowners, designers, and developers across South Florida trust Exotic with their most important spaces.
“I’m absolutely blown away and in love with my ripple food curtains !! Everything about them from the install to the fabric and quality . My house feels so much more like a home I couldn’t have asked for anything better . I recommend to everybody !”
“I couldn’t believe how much of a change these new drapes could make! This company upgraded my apartment overlooking the water and it now has a fresh, art deco’ish vibe I can only picture in my head. The space feels modern and elegant without losing its at home feeling. From start to finish top notch work. I highly recommend them if you want your place to look like something out of a magazine.”
“I’m really happy with my new curtains! The team from Exotic Shades came to my place helped me choose the right fabric, and guided me through the whole process. Everything happened exactly as it was supposed to. Great service and beautiful results. Highly recommend A+”
Exotic Shades & Draperies, Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach
Exotic Shades & Draperies is a South Florida window-treatment company that designs, sews and installs its own work: Lutron and Somfy motorized shades, custom draperies sewn in our Fort Lauderdale workroom by five in-house seamstresses, plantation shutters and blinds. Established in South Florida in 2024, backed by more than 20 years of window-treatment manufacturing and installation experience. Lutron certified dealer, Somfy Expert, Crestron and Control4 integration. The same in-house team measures, installs and programs every project; when shading has to integrate with another control system, we bring in our smart-home partner Adom Smart Home.
Fort Lauderdale workroom and showroom
4539 Powerline Rd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 · 954-881-9331
Miami Beach showroom
500 South Pointe Dr #150, Miami Beach, FL 33139 · 954-872-9007
Where we install
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties: Miami Beach, Sunny Isles and Aventura through Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach to Boca Raton, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, with projects in the Caribbean and New York.
How a project runs
Free in-home measurement, a written quote from the same engine as our published prices, fabrication in our own workroom, installation and programming by our own team, and service on the systems we install.
Electric shades and blinds installed from Miami to Palm Beach
Battery where the home is finished, low-voltage where the walls are open, 120 V only where the torque is needed. The same in-house team measures, installs and programs every shade, from Miami Beach and Brickell to Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach.
Thinking about electric shades?
Book a free in-home consultation. We look at your windows and your walls, tell you which power and which system fits each room, and put the price in writing.