Just checking in on the table
Clients who commission furniture are excited about it. They want to see the timber you chose, the joints being cut, the first coat of oil. Some makers love sharing this, and do it by WhatsApp from their own phone. Then a busy few weeks pass with no updates, and the client sends a polite message asking how things are going. Then another client does the same. Your evenings fill with replies and photos from your camera roll.
When the maker who has been messaging a client is off sick, nobody else knows what they have told them.
Updates depend on whoever remembers
Progress updates are one of the pleasures of commissioning bespoke furniture, and a real part of what clients pay for. But they are rarely built into how the workshop runs.
- Photos are taken on personal phones and sent from them.
- Updates are irregular, depending on how busy people are.
- Clients' questions come to whoever they last spoke to.
- There is no record of what each client has been told.
- Photos of the making process are not kept with the commission.
What haphazard updates cost
Clients who hear nothing get anxious, and anxious clients call and message more. Makers spend evenings on replies. Messages on personal phones blur the line between work and home, and leave the business without a record. And making-process photos, which are marketing gold, are lost in camera rolls.
Progress updates at making stages
- Each commission has a set of stages that matter to clients: timber chosen, machining, joinery, glue-up, finishing, ready for delivery. You choose the stages.
- When a stage is done, the maker takes a photo in the workshop app and adds a line of text, which takes moments at the bench.
- The client receives the update by email or text, with the photo, from the business rather than a personal number.
- A private page for each commission collects all updates, so the client can look back and share it with family.
- Client replies go to a shared inbox for the business, so anyone can see and answer them.
- If a commission has had no update for longer than you set, you are reminded, so quiet spells do not become worried calls.
| Aspect | Today | With stage updates |
|---|---|---|
| When updates happen | When someone remembers | At each stage |
| Sent from | Personal phones | The business |
| Client can look back | Scroll WhatsApp | Private progress page |
| Replies | To one person | Shared inbox |
| Photos kept | Camera rolls | On the commission |
Clients who feel involved
Clients see their piece come together and feel part of it. Fewer anxious messages arrive, because updates come regularly. Makers keep their evenings. Anyone in the business can see what a client has been told. And the photos build up into a record you can use, with permission, for your portfolio and social media.
Stage updates also give you natural moments to raise things with the client. When the timber is chosen, you can ask them to confirm the finish sample. When the piece is ready, the same message can ask about delivery access and the balance. Communication becomes part of the making, rather than a separate job done late at night.
Are updates taking over your evenings?
- You send progress photos from your own phone.
- Clients message to ask how their piece is going.
- Updates are irregular.
- Nobody else knows what a client has been told.
- Making photos are lost in camera rolls.