Twelve weeks, probably
A customer asks how long a bespoke bookcase will take. You say twelve weeks, because that is roughly what it usually is. You do not remember in that moment that there are two dining tables, a set of fitted wardrobes and a batch of stools ahead of it, that the wardrobes are waiting on hardware from Germany, or that your finisher is off for a fortnight in the summer.
Twelve weeks becomes sixteen. The customer, who planned a room around the bookcase, is polite the first time they ask and less polite the third.
The order book lives in your head
Small workshops usually know what is on, roughly. What they do not have is a view of how much work that represents in bench hours, and where the waits are.
- Commissions are listed but not sized in hours.
- Dates are given per job without seeing the whole queue.
- Waits for timber, hardware, upholstery or finishing are not in the plan.
- Holidays and other absences are not subtracted from capacity.
- Design sign-off delays push jobs back without the date being revisited.
The cost of optimistic dates
Late furniture creates disappointed customers at the point you most want them happy: just before they pay the balance and tell their friends. Chasing calls take time and energy. Makers under pressure to hit dates rush finishing, which is where quality shows. And some customers cancel or never come back.
An order book that sets the dates
- Every confirmed commission goes into the order book with its estimated bench hours, finishing time and any outside steps, such as upholstery or metalwork, with their expected return dates.
- Your workshop capacity is set up by person and week, including holidays and days you are out delivering or measuring.
- Commissions are placed in order, and each one's projected completion date is calculated from the hours ahead of it and its waits for materials or outside work.
- When you are asked for a date for a new piece, you try it in the queue and see a projected date before you promise anything.
- Delays, such as a late hardware delivery or a design change, move the projected dates, and you see which customers are affected.
- Customers whose dates change can be told early, with a short update you send from the same screen.
| Question | Today | With the order book |
|---|---|---|
| When can we deliver a new piece? | Usual answer | Projected from the queue |
| What happens if the hardware is late? | Find out later | Affected jobs shown |
| How full are we in March? | A feeling | Hours booked against capacity |
| Which customers need an update? | Whoever rings | List of moved dates |
Dates you can stand behind
The date you quote is based on the work actually ahead of it. When things change, you know which customers to call before they call you. You can see busy and quiet periods coming, which helps you decide whether to take a rush commission, hire help or push harder on sales. And customers notice that your dates are reliable, which matters a great deal for work that is often recommended by word of mouth.
It also changes the first conversation with a new client. Instead of a number you hope is right, you can say where their piece would sit in the queue, what it is waiting on and when you expect to start. Clients planning a room, a move or a family occasion usually prefer an honest later date to an optimistic early one, and they remember which makers kept their word.
Do your lead times slip?
- You quote lead times from memory.
- Customers ring to ask where their piece is.
- Late materials push jobs back without anyone updating the date.
- Holidays catch the order book by surprise.
- You rush finishing to hit dates.