Metal shutter maintenance: preventive servicing and annual contracts

Servicing your shutter: an obligation, not an option

Many shop owners — especially those newly arrived from abroad — are unaware of it: in France, metal shutter maintenance is not just good practice, it is a regulatory requirement for premises open to the public (the French "ERP" category). Motorised doors and closures on premises that welcome customers must be checked periodically by a professional, and those checks recorded in the establishment's safety register. If an accident happens — a curtain dropping onto a customer, a finger caught by a slat — the absence of an up-to-date maintenance log puts the operator's liability directly on the line, and your insurer will certainly ask for it.

Beyond the regulations, the economics are unanswerable: almost every emergency repair we carry out in the middle of the night — snapped spring, burnt-out motor, derailed slat — stems from wear that a simple annual inspection would have caught. A service visit costs a tenth of a night-time release followed by urgent parts replacement, before you even count the hours your shop stays shut.

What our service visits include

Cleaning and lubrication of moving parts

Urban dust, pollution and weather gradually clog the mechanism. Our technicians clean and then lubricate the side guides, the winding shaft, the bearings and the slat clips with lubricants that do not trap dust. A well-greased shutter runs without judder, puts less strain on its motor or springs, and stops waking the neighbourhood at closing time.

Checking the compensation springs

Springs naturally lose tension over the cycles. We measure the curtain's balance, re-tension the springs where needed and spot fatigued coils before they snap — because a broken spring means a jammed shutter and, on a manual model, a curtain suddenly impossible to lift.

Motor and control checks

On electric shutters we check the current drawn by the motor, the condition of the capacitor, the tightness of electrical connections, the setting of the limit switches and the operation of the key switch, remote controls and manual override. A drift in power consumption often announces a coming failure: catching it early avoids replacing the whole motor.

Testing the safety brake and safety devices

The anti-fall safety brake, compulsory on motorised closures, is tested at every visit: it is what holds the curtain if the shaft gives way. We also inspect the slat fixings, end stops, bolts and lock, then record everything in a signed report to keep in your safety register.

Our annual maintenance contracts

To take the subject off your mind entirely, our maintenance contracts automatically schedule one or two visits a year, at times that never eat into your trading hours — early morning, evening, or your weekly closing day. Every contract includes:

• The planned preventive visits with the full checklist of inspection points.
• A detailed intervention report after each visit, with photos and recommendations, ready to show a safety inspection or your insurer.
• Preferential rates on parts and labour whenever a repair is needed.
• Priority response from our 24/7 emergency service: contract clients go to the top of the list.
• A dedicated contact who knows the history of every closure — and who can correspond in English.

As a guide, allow €150 to €250 per year and per shutter for an annual visit, with sliding rates from the second shutter or the second location onwards.

Multi-site management: franchises, chains and landlords

Running several boutiques, a chain of pharmacies or a portfolio of commercial units? Our multi-site offer centralises the upkeep of all your closures in Île-de-France under a single contract: one consolidated annual schedule, per-site reporting, grouped invoicing and one account manager. We look after the shutter of a single boutique on Rue Saint-Honoré just as readily as a network spread across Vélizy-Villacoublay, Rosny-sous-Bois, Bussy-Saint-Georges, Athis-Mons, Gennevilliers and Herblay-sur-Seine. At year end, facilities and technical teams receive a summary of the state of the whole estate with a prioritised renewal plan — far better to budget replacements than to suffer them.

And when a diagnosis shows a closure at the end of its life, we price its replacement with a new electric shutter or, if the curtain is still sound, the simple motorisation of the existing manual closure — always aiming to extend the life of whatever can be saved. The full range of what we do is set out on our metal shutter page.

The warning signs to watch for

• The shutter squeals, bangs or vibrates unusually during operation.
• The ascent has become slower, or the motor runs hot and smells of it.
• The curtain rubs on one side or drifts out of line in the guides.
• A manual shutter that has become heavy to lift: the springs are losing tension.
• Dented or cracked slats, or rusty fixings.

Any one of these symptoms justifies a prompt check: call 07 66 54 96 41 before the breakdown picks its own moment — which is invariably the worst one.

Frequently asked questions about shutter servicing

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