Interior Designers and Adjacent Trades:
I've compiled some FAQs & process outline below
I have created special wood slab furniture packages and specialty live edge tables, wall art and installations for interior designers, decorators, builders, and architects across AZ, CA, CO, and WY over the last 8 years. Some have had more experience than others for custom order furniture and hardwood. Some approach me more as a fabricator to produce their design while others are more collaborative in nature. Its always best to consult someone specializing in their trade about specialty materials before committing or quoting a design to clients and then expecting a craftsmen to help you create the impossible.
Consultation Process:
The typical process for custom live edge tables involves wood slab selection - size, shape, color and base design.
Style and Purpose: Are you wanting a solid wood slab dining table or a river table with glass inlay or resin river?
There are 2 welders adjacent to my wood shop that are available for steel fabrication for steel table legs or pedestal bases.
Some slabs have smoother edges like Walnut while others have a lot of movement and texture like burlwood that are more ideal for river mirror wall art or resin river tables.
There are pros and cons to different styles and types of wood depending on use.
A countertop that will be used often should be a hard wood to resist scratch and dent, some hardwoods are more stable than others for high moisture spaces like bathrooms or kitchen counters, or outdoor spaces like patio tables.
There is a wide range of color possibilities and affects when it come to resin colors for river table or even knot and cracks.
Clear or black, or stirring in sawdust or coffee grounds will keep small voids looking natural.
Vibrant colors and metallics highlight the rustic characteristics of the natural wood.
River tables with resin show scratches with heavy use the fastest but can be buffed out and detailed
in a home without being refinished.
Glass river tables are more fragile because its annealed non tempered glass inlay, which means if they break it will crack and not shatter. Glass scratches cannot be buffed out easily and getting a replacement glass piece
is expensive and difficult process.
I've had some really wild requests like giant walls covered in huge live edge slabs, or using massive root stumps or hollow log as a rustic reception desk for a hotel lobby, and even create sliding room dividers from layers of huge 5x12ft wood slabs. Some of these ideas are more feasible than others and would require a budget that matches the scale of the request.
Commonly Asked Questions & Answers
Q: Ok, but what's MY price?
A: Custom furniture is not priced like a retail furniture store or production factory wholesaler.
I do not add a retail markup or sales commission by default to any quotes.
These are 1 of a kind pieces which cost more than if you are ordering 15 pieces from an importer than makes 1000s of them a month.
Tax exempt purchases for resale with tax ID is the most common transaction.
Most designers will resale the furniture along with the rest of their billed services and decor items.
Their markup has ranged from 30-50%. Most retail stores markup 50% or more.
My pricing is based off raw materials like wood slabs, resin, steel base, sandpaper, finishing oils, shop overhead and labor. Unless I know that you expect me to add a 30%+ commission in my invoice, in which case its not considered for resale and tax would be added.
Q: Will you include installation for the live edge countertop or corner desk?
A: In most scenarios I recommend hiring trades in their own specialties. I can help with final fit and fastening during delivery. Cutting into drywall or framing to anchor brackets into studs, and patching and painting is not something I do.
It's not that I dont have those skills, but I'm not insured for it if I were to drill into electrical conduit or a pipe.
Your builders will be much more familiar with the structure than me showing up for the first time for delivery.
I can make recommendations on best types of brackets to support a heavy wood slab.
I prefer to do final fit and fasten in place because other tradesmen are not always experienced with hardwood slabs and are notorious for carelessly handling and bolting things in place in a way that causes damage.
Q: How do you handle change orders?
A: It depends on the nature of the change. Deposits are non refundable because they cover costs for all components purchased to fullfill the order. If the changes require different wood slabs or significantly changes the labor and scope of work, or if the timeline is significantly rushed or extended unexpectedly, adjustments will be made in best effort to deliver.
A few real world examples:
Color change: An interior designer ordered a 4x9ft river table with golden blonde
maple burlwood for our client at Silverleaf.
It was also a rush order where I had only 3 weeks to make it.
About a week before due to be delivered and its ready to finish she asks for the wood to be stained dark like Walnut to match other newly purchased dark wood pieces they had picked out at the Vegas Worldmarket.
That was easy enough to pull off with no costs added but it changes the look and design dramatically.
Airport Rush: I was hired by a repeat client to create a collection of live edge wood countertops for bar, reception, bathroom vanities, and signs that was originally a 90 day production time that got changed to delivery in 2.5 weeks. Their price was increased significantly because of the amount of extra costs incurred to make that happen. And when I got everything finished on time, their building wasnt ready, and none of the measurements from other trades matched except for the ones I took. There were changes made to their build that no one shared with me. Big expensive burl table tops got cut in half and fit on site to reception countertops and notched around corners. Other trades moved my pieces and left the finished wood countertops on wet grout, stood on them with boots, everything had to be sanded and refinished on site. This all added nearly a week of stressful rushed re-work.
Communication and real life measurements are so critical to avoid added costs, over purchasing material in wrong size
or potentially irreversible fit problems.
Q: Are payments 50/50 split or do you also do payment schedules?
Most projects are 50/50 split because the deposit has to cover all materials and supplies. I cant order slabs, steel and resin with only 1/4 payment. I require all invoices to be paid in full prior to delivery. Why? Because I've had too many cases where designers kept me waiting weeks for payment and make me feel like a debt collector and thats gross. It says on the invoice, but many people seem to think terms dont apply to them or they just pay whenever they want. Waiting on a check from your client's courier pigeon, I get it.
Q: Well I dont pay for things until I see it.
A: Sorry, please continue ordering from all the websites that charge you 100% up front and ships from a distributor in another country based on a photo that in all likelihood was AI generated.
Did you go to their shop and pickout wood slabs in person and meet face to face?
Do you think if something goes wrong that you can call or visit them? I have customers all over the US where they've ordered and had to pay in full plus white glove delivery and freight, thats one big reason I share videos and photos throughout the process across social media and blog to share the process but also provide peace of mind that you see its real.
Q: Well, this store in Scottsdale sells 10ft tables for $2k or I can get
that made in Mexico for half your price.
Cool. All those import live edge tables have a 50% return rate at those stores. Your clients end up calling local wood guys like me to fix it because the table has twisted, or never patched or resin filled voids, or wasnt mounted to the legs,
finish is peeling or feels rubbery.
The cost to rebuild the table is almost always more than they paid for the piece to begin.
If the store or international distributors or factories sell these pieces at these prices with retail markup of 50%+, imagine how low their cost is, usually about $750. And when they get a return, they file a complaint with their dealer and get another one shipped in next container. I cant even buy a 4x10ft wood slab for $750 let alone finish it into a table.
I've also watched designers with especially naive wealthy clients sell these same $750 tables for $15,000.
My most expensive dining table commission for a designer was $18,900 and she resold to her client for $48,000
I made about 9500 profit for 2 months working on it, she made over $29,000 just for selling it.