Most people come to a factory like this once in their life, and usually for one room - a dining table, a bed, a set of wardrobes. The process is not complicated, but it is unfamiliar, and the unfamiliarity is where the money gets wasted. Twenty years of supplying private clients has taught us that the avoidable costs are almost always in three places: measuring, samples and delivery. Still comparing options? everything we make maps everything we make in one page, and How to Get a Custom Furniture Quotation picks up the thread from here.

This guide covers what to measure before you ask for anything, how to choose materials you will live with rather than look at once, what a sample is actually for and what it costs, what happens between paying the deposit and the goods arriving, and what it all costs and how to plan a budget. If you are building a whole house rather than one room, our bespoke villa furniture service covers the larger picture.

What to Measure Before You Ask for Anything

Most problems that come back to us are measurement problems, and they are the cheapest to prevent. Bring three numbers: the width, the depth and the height of the space, plus the position of doors, radiators, sockets and windows. A tape measure and a photograph of the room is enough to start a conversation with us.

Then think about how you actually use the room, not just what goes in it. How many people sit at that table, and do guests stay for long meals? Is the bed for one person or two, and does either of you read in it? Which side of the room gets the light in the afternoon? Furniture that fits the plan and fights the room is furniture you will want to move.

And measure the route in, not just the space. A dining table that fits beautifully in the room but will not turn the corner on the stairs is a very expensive paperweight. If you are not sure, measure the tightest point on the path from the front door to the room and tell us the number.

Choosing Materials You Will Live With

The mistake we see most often is choosing a fabric for the look of it in a showroom sample. A sample is small and lit by a lamp. A sofa in a room is large and lit by whatever the room does. Sample the actual fabric if you can, and if you cannot, ask for a large piece and hold it in the room for a day before you commit.

Two practical rules. On fabric, if you have a dog, a child or a sun-facing room, buy something with a woven texture and a stain treatment, and accept that you will be cleaning it. On wood, understand what finish you are getting - a lacquered surface is easier to maintain and harder to repair, an oiled surface can be spot-repaired and needs more attention, and a veneered surface depends entirely on the board you were given. Ask which one you are getting, in writing.

And check the movement. Solid timber moves with humidity. If the piece is going against a wall that is cold in winter, that movement needs somewhere to go, and if it has nowhere, you get the split you were warned about.

What a Sample Is For, and What It Costs

A sample exists for one reason: so you can see the material in your own light before it is cut. A small piece of the actual fabric, a board of the actual veneer, a piece of the actual stone. It is not a decoration and it is not a free extra.

Expect to pay for it. Factories charge for samples, and many credit the cost against the main order. Confirm that arrangement in writing before you order, and ask how many revision rounds are included, because a project that assumes unlimited free samples discovers the limit at the worst moment. Our sample and mock-up approval guide explains the stages in full.

For a single piece like a dining table, a material sample is usually enough. For a sofa, a small finished mock-up is worth it, because shape and comfort cannot be judged from a swatch.

What Happens Between the Order and the Delivery

You pay a deposit, we draw the piece, you approve the drawing, we make it, it gets packed, and it travels. On a normal piece that is six to ten weeks. It is longer for anything unusual, and it is worth having the schedule in writing at the start rather than discovering it later.

Two things you will be asked for, and neither is optional. First, a deposit - usually a percentage of the order value, with the balance against the finished piece or before loading. Second, shipping terms, and this is where people get surprised. Freight is charged on the space the goods take, not their weight, so a sofa is expensive to ship. Our shipping and customs guide explains how the cost is calculated and what the paperwork involves.

Then there is duty and tax, which depends on your country and on the shipping terms you chose. Nobody can quote you the exact figure without knowing your destination, but a good factory will tell you how it is calculated and who pays it.

What It Costs and How to Plan a Budget

Custom furniture is not cheap and it is not supposed to be. You are buying a piece made to your dimensions, in the material you chose, by a factory that made it for you. If a quote comes back at a tenth of what you expected, the question is not whether it is a bargain.

The realistic way to think about it: roughly half of the cost is materials and construction, and the other half is everything around it - drawings, samples, the moulds and jigs, the finishing, the packaging, the quality checks, the export paperwork and the freight. On a European or North American destination, freight and duty can add substantially again on top.

So plan in two stages. First, what you can afford for the furniture itself. Second, what the delivery will add. And then decide whether the piece is worth that number, because a factory will make it either way. The quotation guide sets out what to send so the number you get back is a real number and not an estimate.

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