Motorized vs Manual Retractable Screens: Which Is Right for Your Beverly Hills Home?

Walk through almost any new build in Beverly Hills and the same question comes up near the end of the tour: should the screens be motorized or manual? Both kinds of retractable screens disappear into a slim housing when you do not need them, and both keep insects out of an open door. The difference shows up in cost, in wiring, and in how often you will reach for the screen. Motorized is not automatically better, and manual is not automatically cheaper over the life of the home. Each choice suits a different kind of opening and a different kind of household. If you are weighing motorized retractable screens in Beverly Hills for a remodel or a new build, this guide compares the two on controls, power, reliability, and price so you can decide before the walls close. Here is how we think about it at Tashman Home Center.

The Short Answer

Motorized retractable screens earn their cost on wide openings, daily use, and homes with automation. Manual screens win on single doors and simple budgets. Motorization adds real cost and needs power at the housing, so decide by how wide the opening is and how often the screen will move. Tashman Home Center installs both.

How Manual and Motorized Screens Work

A manual retractable screen rolls up like a window shade. A spring keeps tension on the mesh, and you draw it across the opening by hand. Rollaway, one of the brands we install, describes its screens this way. A motorized screen swaps the hand pull for a motor in the housing, so a switch, remote, or app moves the mesh for you. For the broader case for these screens in local homes, see our guide to living with the doors wide open.

What Motorized Adds

Motorization changes how you use the screen from day to day.



• A wall switch or handheld remote lowers and retracts the screen without touching it.
• Smart home integration lets the screen join the same scenes and schedules as your lighting and shades.
• A wind sensor can retract the screen on its own when stormy weather arrives.
• A sun sensor can lower the screen during the hottest part of the day to cut heat gain.
• Some motors detect an obstruction and stop, which protects the mesh.

A motor also moves the mesh at a steady, gentle speed every time, which reduces wear. Tashman Home Center specifies quiet motors built for long term reliability.

Power and Planning

A motor needs power at the housing, and that decides when to plan. Running a wire before the walls close is a small task. Opening a finished wall afterward is slow and visible. Wide openings such as multi slide patio doors and bifold doors are where motors pay off first, and our guide to screening oversized and multi panel doors in Beverly Hills covers how wide a retractable system can span.

What Can Go Wrong

Every system has weak points, and motorized ones have more of them. Knowing them helps you choose well.



• A power interruption can stop a motorized screen, so ask how yours is released by hand before you order.
• A weak remote battery can make a working screen seem dead.
• A blocked track or an object under the bar can stop the mesh, and dirt in the track makes it worse.
• Wind limits every screen, and one manufacturer's care guide says not to run its motorized screens in winds above 25 mph.
• Repairing a motor yourself can void a warranty, so service should go through the installer.

Manual screens have fewer parts and need no power, so there is less to go wrong. Rollaway also advises retracting its screens on very windy days.

When Manual Is the Better Call



• The opening is a single door that you use a few times a week.
• The screen sits where running power would mean opening a finished wall.
• You want the lowest cost and the simplest system.
• You would rather have no electronics, no remote, and no app to maintain.

What It Costs

Tashman Home Center typically prices a standard retractable screen for a doorway or small patio opening between $1,500 and $3,500, and a large bifold or multi slide opening between $4,000 and $5,500. Motorization typically adds $1,000 to $2,500 per unit, and smart home integration or sensors raise it further. Mesh choice and opening size move the number as well, and a written quote after an on site measure is the only reliable price.

How to Decide

Four questions settle most decisions.



1. Measure how wide the opening is, and decide if drawing the screen across it by hand would become a chore.
2. Estimate how often the screen will move, from once a week to every day.
3. Confirm that power can reach the housing now, while the walls are open.
4. Note any control system in the home that the screen should join.

If your answers point to wide, daily, and wired, choose motorized. If they point to small, occasional, and simple, choose manual.

Why Beverly Hills Homeowners Choose Tashman Home Center

Tashman Home Center is a fourth generation family business founded in 1961 and licensed in California under Contractor License 298720. Our trained in house installers measure every opening and fit every screen themselves, which matters because motor placement, power, and track alignment are set on site. We recommend motorized only where it earns its cost and manual where it does not.

We install screens from Rollaway and other trusted brands, and we confirm the controls and the manual release for each system before you order. Screens are also one layer in keeping insects out of older homes, which our recent press release on overlooked openings in older homes explains.

Ready to choose a screen?

Call Tashman Home Center at (323) 676 0700 or request an estimate through our contact page. We will measure each opening, check where power can reach, and give you a written quote for manual and motorized options side by side so you can compare them clearly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are motorized retractable screens worth it?

They are worth it on wide openings, in homes that use the screen daily, and where the screen should join a smart home system. They are harder to justify on a single door used now and then, where a manual screen does the same job for far less. Start with how wide the opening is and how often the screen will move.

Do motorized retractable screens work in a power outage?

Not always. Most motors depend on power, and a power interruption can stop the screen. Many systems let you free a blocked screen by hand, but the method varies by brand. Ask for the manual release steps for your exact system before you order, and keep them somewhere easy to find.

Can motorized screens connect to a smart home?

Many can. Motorized screens are available with remotes, wall switches, and integration with home automation systems, and some add wind and sun sensors. Compatibility depends on the brand and the control platform your home uses, so tell us what system you have and we will confirm the match before you order.

How wide can a motorized retractable screen be?

Retractable systems can span very wide openings, up to about 32 feet in the largest configurations we install. The limit depends on the brand, the mesh, and the height of the opening, so we confirm the maximum for your system on site rather than quoting a number that may not fit your opening.