A Designer's Guide to Receiving, Warehousing and White-Glove Installs

Why designers use a receiving warehouse

Shipping furniture straight to a client's home sounds simple until you try it on a real project. Pieces arrive one at a time over weeks or months, the client has to be home for each delivery, freight drivers often leave items at the curb or in the garage, and nobody is checking for damage until the box is opened weeks later. Each of those problems lands on you.

A receiving warehouse takes those deliveries for you. Pieces are accepted, checked and stored in one place, and when the room is ready everything goes to the client together, unwrapped, assembled and placed. Your client sees a finished room instead of a garage full of boxes.

How receiving and inspection should work

Receiving is more than signing for a delivery. A careful process catches problems while there is still time to fix them, and it gives you a clear record of every piece on your project.

1. Accept the delivery and check the paperwork: the shipper, the number of pieces and the project or client name.
2. Inspect the packaging before the freight driver leaves. Crushed corners, punctures and tipped crates are noted on the delivery receipt.
3. Check the delivery against your purchase order so you know the right item, finish and quantity arrived.
4. Photograph each piece and give it a barcode or tag so it can be tracked from arrival to install.
5. Document and report any damage to you right away, with photos, so you can contact the vendor or carrier.
6. Store the piece wrapped and protected, with temperature-controlled space available for specialty items.

Freight damage and concealed damage

Most furniture travels by freight before it reaches Los Angeles, and some of it arrives damaged. What matters is how quickly the damage is found and documented. Freight carriers and many vendors set short deadlines for damage reports, and a claim is much harder to win if the delivery receipt was signed clean.

Concealed damage is damage inside packaging that looked fine on arrival. It is the reason a good receiving process opens or checks pieces soon after delivery instead of leaving them sealed until install day. Finding a cracked leg or a torn seat back while the vendor can still replace it protects your timeline.

• Note visible packaging damage on the delivery receipt before signing.
• Photograph damage from several angles, including the packaging and labels.
• Keep the original packaging until the claim is settled.
• Report damage to the vendor or carrier in writing, within their deadline.

Warehousing while the project comes together

Design projects rarely finish on schedule. Floors run late, a custom piece is back-ordered or the client travels. Warehousing gives you a safe place to hold everything until the room is ready, without asking your client to live around boxes.

• Pieces are held in our own monitored Chatsworth warehouse, not handed to a third-party storage company.
• Each item is barcoded, so you can ask what has arrived and what is still outstanding at any time.
• Temperature-controlled space is available for specialty items such as fine wood, upholstery, art and antiques.
• Partial deliveries are possible when one room is ready before the rest of the house.

Planning a white-glove install day

White-glove delivery means the crew brings pieces into the home, unwraps them, assembles what needs assembling, places everything where you want it and removes the packaging. A smooth install day depends on planning done before the truck leaves the warehouse.

1. Share a placement plan or floor plan that shows where each piece goes.
2. Confirm the site is ready: floors finished, paint dry, and other trades out of the rooms being installed.
3. Confirm access early. Building approvals, HOA rules, elevator reservations, gate codes and parking are the client's responsibility.
4. Plan floor and doorway protection for finished homes.
5. Walk the finished rooms together before the crew leaves, so adjustments happen on the spot.

Assembly happens on site, including legs, headboards, table bases and other pieces that ship knocked down. Packaging and debris are taken away, so the client walks into a clean, finished room.

What to look for in a receiving and install partner

• Do they own and run their own warehouse, or pass your pieces to another company?
• Do they inspect deliveries against your purchase orders and photograph each piece?
• Can they tell you, at any time, what has arrived and what is still outstanding?
• Is temperature-controlled space available for specialty items?
• Are install crews their own trained employees, comfortable with assembly and fine finishes?
• Can they also handle art, antiques and custom crating when a project calls for it?

Stratton and Sons offers all of these from our Chatsworth facility. If you are planning a project, call 1-888-335-4393 or request a free estimate to talk through your receiving and install needs.