A Vermont Craftsman at work on a furniture pieceIn the world of Vermont's Made to Order Furniture there are many advantages: your furniture is handcrafted especially for you, you can customize it to fit exactly into your space, you can feel good about the fact that your furniture is made from trees that are harvested sustainably with respect for the forest environment, you're helping to keep American craftsmanship alive & thriving, providing jobs and much more. But there is one downside to having furniture built just for you:
It Takes Time
Time to Craft
Depending on who is making your furniture (we work with a dozen or so independent furniture makers), and what they've already got in their queue, time to complete building the furniture can vary.
The best way to find out the estimated lead times for our furniture is to check the Lead Time tab on the product's page. You can read more general information about our lead times on our Shipping & Delivery page.
Time to Ship and Safely Deliver
After the furniture is built, it takes another 1-5 weeks to ship it, depending on where the customer lives. Fine furniture cannot be FedEx'd (unless maybe it's an end table or something that's been designed for quick-ship). Believe it or not, some of today's FAST furniture delivery companies have average damage rates of up to 40%!
We've learned over the past 10 years of delivering furniture to homes in all 50 states that rushing an order to it's destination is a gamble. It might get there safely... then again it might not. And since our customers are already waiting several weeks for their authentic, made to order furniture, we don't want to have to call them and say, "sorry your furniture was damaged in transit and we have to re-craft it. And re-ship it".
Fortunately our customers understand this and are generally very patient and willing to wait for something that will one day become a family heirloom.
Keeping You Informed
Rebecca, Sean, Michelle and Loryn use a series of emails and phone calls to keep clients in the loop during the crafting and shipping process. Right after your order, you'll receive an email acknowledgement asking you to review the order details for accuracy & giving you an estimate of when it will be delivered. Then when your order is half way through the process, we'll email you again with an update. Another communication will arrive when the craftsman has completed your order and we've scheduled it for pick-up with our furniture shipping specialist. Finally when your order is in your area, we'll connect you directly with our shipper to schedule a convenient time for delivery. All along the way, you'll have someone here, that you know by name, to talk to if you have any questions or concerns. Then after delivery, we'll email you again to make sure the delivery went well and you're happy with your new furniture.
Quality, Made to Order Furniture that Lasts a Lifetime
In this world of instant gratification, where most furniture buyers walk into Bob's Discount Furniture, Ikea or Ashley Furniture and walk out an hour later with something that's substandard and unsustainably produced overseas by huge multi-national conglomerates, we find ourselves immensely grateful to our customers for their patience in waiting for the real thing. When buying furniture that's built to last a lifetime, we hope you'll feel it's worth the wait.
Read our previous article on made to order furniture & lead time.
