In honor of the You Want What? Contest, Doug Turner of Turner Custom Furniture gives advice from personal experience on translating out-of-the-ordinary project requests into efficient, feasible commission work: know your comfort zone, know when to say ‘no’, and be ready to suggest alternatives and tweaks. If you haven’t yet shared YOUR story of your craziest customer request, click here and comment to enter the contest!
At some point in our careers, most of us have come across a few clients and jobs that have left us momentarily speechless. For me and most of Atlanta’s furniture makers, it’s the Portfolio Center chairs.
Students in a design class are given an assignment to design a chair and have a local builder fabricate it. Bear in my, these are graphic design students who have never taken furniture design, materials or methods of fabrication classes. I believe that’s actually the point of the exercise – the students are not encumbered by the design constraints that come with knowledge of materials and building techniques. The resulting designs range from the physically impossible to the ridiculously expensive to realize. Some make comfortable seats while others do not. As a furniture maker, I see a chair as one of the most difficult things to design well. My education tells me to start with ergonomics, and then decorate it. Form follows function. But the Portfolio Center students don’t take that approach. It’s disconcerting for a furniture maker such as myself when confronted with a chair design that will barely function as one.
I’ve learned to keep a few things in mind when tackling an odd project:
-
Weird projects are a chance to learn – they are like mental weightlifting. So long as I feel that my skills and experience will carry me through the rough spots, I welcome unusual jobs.
-
I know that if I can’t figure something out, I know somebody who can.
-
I know lots of people in different trades, and can sub-contract the parts I can’t fabricate – metal, glass or stone parts for example.
-
Unusual jobs stand out in my portfolio. I may favor making traditional bookcases, but my Portfolio Center chairs always create conversations. They also create opportunities to build other odd projects.
-
Strange jobs almost always pay more. Sometimes a lot more.
On the flip side, it’s wise to think odd jobs through before saying yes because the budget is high.
-
Unusual builds can go bad quickly – pushing the limits of materials and techniques can result in tragedy as well as triumph.
-
Strange jobs can (and usually do) take longer than expected, even longer sometimes than the extra time we allotted.
-
There is an opportunity cost to taking on a bizarre build – think about the risks and rewards. Do you have a lot of work on the schedule that pays well and is well within your comfort zone? Will this one job tie up your whole shop for a month?
-
How will building something unusual affect your cash flow? Are you accustomed to knocking out three dining room sets per month, and getting paid for them? Sometimes stability outweighs flash and glamour.
-
How will a special build affect the space in your shop? Will it eat two layout tables for three months? Will you spend extra time working around it?
-
Will you need to hire extra help to complete the job? Is it possible to sub-contract the whole job to another builder and take a referral fee?
I think one of the most important things I’ve learned building the Portfolio Center chairs is to have an open mind. I’ve been wrong about designs – it’s hard for a guy with years of experience designing and building furniture to be proven wrong by an amateur furniture designer. I’ve also learned to be patient – explaining why something won’t work and suggesting alternatives is, after all, part of my job as a designer.
Comments
Great post!
You hit on several great points. 'Mental Weightlifting' is a perfect description. Managing cash flow is a key/fundamental rule to success in any business, and I know I struggle with it ALL the time. As my business is slowly shifting more toward furniture and less cabinet work, I am finding the challenge in being efficient with my time, in order to actually make a profit. I HOPE that will come with more time and patience on my part. :)
My question for you is when do you say "That's it! No need for more design, no more tweaking. That's what I want." When I am challenged with these projects, I have a hard time saying enough is enough and just building it. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the great article.
Porc - Thanks for your comments. Your question is something all furniture makers and craftspeople struggle with. When I'm starting to feel a project is nearly complete, I try to examine it logically, breaking it down into parts - "Will another hour or day tweaking the finish make an appreciable difference". In fact, crossing that line, and pushing forward when I feel a project is probably finished has landed me in big trouble a few times. Once I actually wrecked the finish of a coffee table and had to pay a refinisher $600 to get it back to the way it was! The financial hit hurt, but the trauma of that stupid mistake lasted years. So, my advice - be careful. There's a fine line between not done enough and needs more work. It's like Kenny Rogers sings "You've got to know when to...walk away, know when to run".
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in