When you have a large facility to set up such as a school, place of business or a retail space, you need someone who can supply the contract furniture reliably. The suppliers of contract furniture commonly work with very large orders of furniture that they sell for projects just like yours. But if this is your first venture into doing business with a contract furniture supplier, you need a list of questions and a criteria for evaluating if this is the supplier with whom you wish to do business for a very large part of your budget and to supply what is probably the backbone of your new operation which is your furniture.



Don't let the suppliers of contract furniture snow you if you are new to the game of buying bulk furniture for your new facility. You deserve to be able to ask them reasonable questions and to not be snowed with a lot of statistics or attitude that doesn't make you feel comfortable. So before you begin to invite furniture suppliers into your office for this discussion, do your homework on who are the premier suppliers for your area. By knowing the competition well, that gives you the upper hand in the discussion. And it gives you a great opening question for the contract furniture supplier you are interviewing with is...

Tell me what makes you superior from your competition? That question throws the responsibility for proving that they should be the supplier for you into the lap of the one who wants your business. It also communicates to them that you know who their competition is and that you will be talking to them. It is a standard question that salespeople get so if that question throws them, that is a negative on your checklist of which suppliers to do business with.

The primary concerns you must have when you are placing an order for a large amount of furniture for your institution is quality, variety and support. Institutional furniture undergoes a lot of use and abuse. For example, if you are buying contract furniture for a high school, students can be very rough and tumble with school chairs and tables. So the furniture must be highly durable to hard use so it holds up well over time.

In addition to being durable in terms of resisting breakage, furniture for a public venue must be easy to clean and easy to store. If you have a staff that sets up banquets or meetings in a large space, you will organize your contract furniture in a wide variety of settings. That furniture but be easy to move about and go in and out of storage quickly and efficiently. If your order for that supplier is of this nature, expect the supplier to explain the methods for storage and to show you any specialized equipment needed to move the furniture about. That specialized equipment should be lumped in with the cost.

Variety is important because if you are buying contract furniture for business, you want to have a sense of style and color to what you put in the various offices and reception rooms you are configuring. The furniture you use in your offices is a huge part of your interior decorating scheme and that decor makes a big statement to your customers and business associates about your business. You may want a very modern design, something fun and colorful with youthful designs if your business deals with younger people or elegant furniture for your conference rooms and the office of the president. Your contract furniture supplier should be able to handle all of those styles and have a big catalog of choices for you to browse.

Finally you have a right to ask about support and about whether the supplier will be there for you when there is a need for replacement or repair of a unit. The supplier should be honest with you about models of furniture you may be preparing to invest in that are not going to be supported before you find yourself with a big inventory. Don't be afraid to ask for references and to check them.

If the supplier does good honest business, they will be in good standing with existing customers. By asking good questions that tell you if you are dealing with a quality furniture supplier, that puts you in the driver's seat about this important business decision.