Custom furniture or industrial production?

9/24/2021

Generally there is the belief that standard products are not very customizable and of lower quality than furniture made by a craftsman: this statement can be true if we think of low-cost import production.

 But the same cannot be said of the large Italian companies that produce excellent products. If we think about it, they all originated from the small workshop of an artisan who, having acquired the skills, resources and economic means to be able to buy new work equipment, over time has expanded his business to transform it into an industry.

So what are the differences in the production of furniture items by a carpenter compared to the industrial one?

• Feasibility study
  

The design of a commissioned job takes time, while the industry already knows all the design solutions that can be tackled and therefore spends few resources on feasibility studies already carried out initially and over time.

• Purchase of raw materials
  

Usually the professional buys the wooden panels, the products for the painting and the hardware necessary for the processing of the furniture from a retailer in the area who in turn bought from the manufacturer while the industry goes directly to the manufacturer without intermediaries. already in this way determining a lower price per se. Furthermore, it should be added that the professional buys what is needed to carry out the single project while the large company buys each piece in large volumes for mass production

• Equipment
  

The freelancer starts his business from scratch, obviously using the resources at his disposal. Initially it has no capital to invest in faster and more precise machinery, which eliminates human error, it will buy them over time, expanding its business to become a large company, the same company that will produce the aforementioned furniture in series, in more meticulous way and reducing long processing times

• Resources and staff
  

The owner of a craftsman's workshop can work alone or have some employees, in any case the production capacity is limited and therefore some processes are outsourced and made to do by other laboratories. The industry takes care of all stages of production internally and without relying on subcontractors. The hiring of new staff also leads to an exponential increase in company know-how. This is because a craftsman alone would not have the time to update himself and learn new advanced techniques, and is therefore forced to hire specialized personnel already trained.

How do these elements affect the final price to the public?

We therefore learned that every craftsman is a potential future manufacturer, simply because the industry is able to achieve unparalleled results compared to a small business, simply because over time it has integrated many more means for production than in the initial phase. The quality and value of made in Italy remain the same because they are born from the same hand and the same experience that has decided to expand and optimize its production, thus managing to offer a much lower price to the end customer, it is estimated about 40% less than a carpenter's product.

It must also be borne in mind that for processes that include materials other than wood, it is very difficult to foresee a cost difference because it is not certain that the carpentry is equipped to carry them out.

Finally, we list a number of additional advantages in relying on a specialized company:

Delivery times: the company finishes processing within the deadlines without delays as it has production deadlines to respect

Warranty: the large company has very precise policies governing the product warranty, it is therefore easy to open a refund, replacement or repair procedure for a part of the product or the entire product in case something should go wrong after the purchase

Support in the choice: the company shows you different design solutions allowing you to imagine the final result in your mind, the carpenter simply receives your directives on what to do and executes them.

Costs: with the same quality, the furnishings produced by specialized companies are always cheaper than those of carpentry