Not everyone you will help will be able to afford all the work they would like to have done. When faced with a legitimately interested client up against a hard budget how do you proceed?
I was helping a very nice repeat customer this morning. We had done a pair of drapes and a matching Roman Shade in her kitchen, and she wanted four chair pads and four place mats in the same fabric for the kitchen as well as four pillows for the adjoining living room. Her budget was quite modest and despite doing my best to find ways to reduce the price I just wasn't going to be able to find a way to lower it enough. At that point we decided that purchasing the fabric alone and securing the final pieces in the same dye-lot was the way to go forward. This way when she is able she can have portions done piecemeal and not worry about the fabric being unavailable.
So often we focus on the big picture that it is easy to forget that not all rooms need to be done in one fell swoop. With a little bit of creativity or flexibility at the end of the day you still will have a happy client who will likely do work with you again in the future.
Some other thoughts on how to reduce the cost typical items:
Decrease fullness.
Eliminate trim or banding.
Reuse existing inserts.
Substitute double welting for French nail head trim.
Slipcover as opposed to reupholster
Contrast line where an expensive self lining is called for
Have a good tip to add? Comment or e-mail.
No comments:
Post a Comment