What a specifier should ask a furniture manufacturer

Commercial office furniture is one of the last things to arrive on a fit-out and the first thing blamed when a handover slips. The architect who specified it carries that, not the manufacturer. So it is worth knowing what to ask before a name goes into a drawing.

1. Do you manufacture in-house, or subcontract?

Ask which machines sit on the vendor's own floor. A trader quoting from a catalogue has no control over the schedule they are promising you. A factory can tell you which machine your panels will be cut on.

2. What is the dispatch commitment measured from?

A four-week promise means nothing without its starting point. Measured from the purchase order, or from the date drawings are frozen? The difference is often two weeks.

3. Can you supply both grades on one purchase order?

Every commercial fit-out is two product categories. Reception, boardroom and director cabins are bought on pride. Workstations, storage and the general floor are bought on value, and that is usually where the gating budget decision sits. Premium brands win the first and are priced out of the second; local fabricators win the second and cannot credibly bid the first. A manufacturer who can do both removes a vendor from your project.

4. What is your on-time record, and how do you define on-time?

Any number offered without its measurement rule should be treated as marketing. Ask what is excluded, and who carries a miss.

5. Who pays if the site is not ready?

A fair answer is neither party pretending it did not happen. Site-not-ready is not the manufacturer's fault — but it should not be quietly counted as a delivery hit either.

6. Can I see a project you delivered three years ago?

Not three months ago. Commercial furniture fails at the edges and the hardware, and it fails on a timescale that a recent installation cannot show you.

Ask OutDo these questions too. If any answer is vague, that is information.