Latest / USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast / In Stock Cabinets in a DC Rowhouse: Fit, Delivery, Permits

Transcript

In Stock Cabinets in a DC Rowhouse: Fit, Delivery, Permits · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome back to the USA cabinet store remodeling
• 0:07
  podcast. I am Chris and today we are doing something
• 0:10
  a little unusual We are not talking about how
• 0:13
  cabinets look we are talking about whether they
• 0:16
  actually exist Jessica welcome back. Thank you
• 0:20
  Chris And I love that framing because that is
• 0:24
  genuinely the question and almost nobody asks
• 0:26
  it. So set it up for me Somebody walks into a
• 0:29
  showroom in Northern, Virginia. They point at
• 0:31
  a door they like and they ask Is this in stock?
• 0:35
  What happens next? They get a yes, and the yes
• 0:38
  is usually honest. It is also completely ambiguous
• 0:41
  because in stock covers three different situations,
• 0:45
  and they are days, about a week, and weeks apart.
• 0:49
  Three situations. Walk me through them. First
• 0:51
  one, on the floor. The cabinet is physically
• 0:54
  in the warehouse behind the showroom you are
• 0:56
  standing in. Somebody can go and look at it.
• 0:59
  That is immediate to about three days. Okay,
• 1:02
  that is the good one. That is the good one. Second,
• 1:05
  it is held in the manufacturer's own stock. Not
• 1:08
  local, but sitting in inventory waiting to be
• 1:11
  pulled and shipped. For the lines we carry, our
• 1:14
  published figure is in stock or available in
• 1:16
  five to seven days. Still fast. Still fast. Third
• 1:21
  one is the one that hurts. Built to order. It
• 1:24
  does not exist anywhere yet. It enters a production
• 1:28
  queue on the day you sign. And how long is that?
• 1:31
  Weeks. And I am not going to give you a number,
• 1:33
  because the honest answer is it moves with the
• 1:35
  season. Anybody who quotes you a firm figure
• 1:38
  without checking is guessing. So here's my question.
• 1:41
  If I am standing in the showroom, can I tell
• 1:44
  which of the three I am looking at? No. That
• 1:47
  is the whole point. The display door looks identical
• 1:50
  in all three cases. Same finish, same hinge,
• 1:54
  same everything. Nothing on the showroom floor
• 1:57
  tells you which one you are buying. That is a
• 1:59
  little unsettling. It should be. And nobody is
• 2:02
  hiding it, by the way. It just never comes up.
• 2:06
  You point at a finish, you like it, you sign,
• 2:09
  and only afterwards does anyone work out whether
• 2:11
  those boxes are sitting in a warehouse off Door
• 2:13
  Avenue or waiting to be built in New Jersey.
• 2:16
  Let us talk about why it matters so much. Because
• 2:19
  a listener might be thinking, fine, I wait three
• 2:21
  extra weeks, big deal. Right. And that is the
• 2:24
  mistake. Three weeks on the cabinets is almost
• 2:28
  never three weeks on the kitchen. Everything
• 2:30
  downstream of the boxes is scheduled off the
• 2:33
  boxes. Explain that. The countertop cannot be
• 2:36
  templated until the base cabinets are installed
• 2:38
  and level, because the template gets taken off
• 2:40
  the actual cabinets, not off the drawing. Then
• 2:44
  fabrication takes its own time after templating.
• 2:47
  The plumber comes back after the countertop,
• 2:49
  because the sink cannot be set until there is
• 2:51
  something to set it into. The electrician's second
• 2:54
  visit sits behind that. Back splash tile waits
• 2:58
  on the countertop too. So it is a chain. It is
• 3:01
  a chain, and every link is a separate booking
• 3:03
  with a separate trade. So a three -week slip
• 3:06
  becomes three weeks plus, however long it takes
• 3:08
  to get four different people back into your calendar.
• 3:11
  And none of them held your slot open. I have
• 3:13
  seen that. The family who expected to be cooking
• 3:15
  by Thanksgiving, washing dishes in a bathroom
• 3:18
  sink into December. And the cause was a door
• 3:20
  style chosen in July. That is the part people
• 3:23
  find hard to believe. All right, practical time.
• 3:26
  What do I actually ask? Five questions, and you
• 3:28
  do not need to know anything about cabinets to
• 3:30
  ask them. One. What series and finish is this
• 3:34
  exactly? Not the white shaker. The line name
• 3:38
  and the finish name written down. Because two
• 3:41
  similar whites could be different situations.
• 3:43
  Completely different. Two. Is this finish one
• 3:46
  you already stock, or does it get built for my
• 3:49
  order? Ask it in those plain words and the ambiguity
• 3:52
  disappears. Three. What date will the cabinets
• 3:55
  be in your warehouse, and can that date go on
• 3:57
  the order? A date on paper behaves very differently
• 4:01
  from a date in conversation. If it cannot go
• 4:04
  on paper, ask why. Four? This is the one almost
• 4:07
  nobody asks, and it catches more schedules than
• 4:09
  the other four combined. If one cabinet in my
• 4:12
  order is short, does the whole order wait? Oh,
• 4:15
  because some suppliers hold everything. Some
• 4:17
  hold everything until it is complete. Some ship
• 4:20
  what they have and follow up. Neither is wrong.
• 4:23
  But your installer needs to know which, because
• 4:26
  a 22 -box delivery missing three wall cabinets
• 4:29
  is not a start. He cannot hang half a run and
• 4:32
  come back. And five? What happens if a door arrives
• 4:35
  damaged? Who files the claim? Who pays freight
• 4:38
  on the replacement? How long it takes? Damage
• 4:41
  in transit is normal. It is not a scandal. Being
• 4:44
  left to chase it yourself is the problem. I want
• 4:47
  to flag something. You just told our listeners
• 4:50
  to go and interrogate a cabinet dealer. We are
• 4:52
  a cabinet dealer. We are. And I would want those
• 4:56
  questions asked of us. A dealer who cannot answer
• 4:59
  all five in two minutes or who treats them as
• 5:01
  rude has told you something useful. Fair enough.
• 5:04
  Now, if people take one thing from this episode,
• 5:06
  what is it? Do not let anyone demolish your old
• 5:09
  kitchen until the new cabinets are in the building
• 5:11
  and counted. Not ordered. Not shipped. Not on
• 5:15
  a truck somewhere. In the building, boxes opened.
• 5:19
  Count matched against the order list. Counted.
• 5:22
  You are specific about that. Counted. Ten minutes
• 5:25
  with a clipboard. Every horrible kitchen story
• 5:28
  starts the same way, with demolition happening
• 5:30
  first. And it costs you nothing to avoid. Let
• 5:33
  us talk about the Northern Virginia side of this,
• 5:36
  because that is where our listeners are. Two
• 5:39
  staffed showrooms. Fairfax at 2817 Door Avenue
• 5:43
  in the Merrifield area. And Alexandria on General
• 5:46
  Washington Drive. Both open Monday to Friday
• 5:50
  8 to 6 and Saturday 8 to 5 Saturday matters Saturday
• 5:54
  is when most people can actually get to a showroom
• 5:57
  and Both have a warehouse behind them rather
• 5:59
  than just display space, which is the point of
• 6:01
  this whole conversation You can ask what is physically
• 6:05
  on the racks today and get an answer from someone
• 6:07
  who can walk back and look One tip before people
• 6:09
  drive over ring ahead and name the finish you
• 6:12
  want to see Displays rotate a five -minute phone
• 6:15
  call saves a wasted Saturday And which lines
• 6:17
  are we carrying? Three of Fabuwood's door lines,
• 6:21
  Allure, Value, Premium, and Quest. And that is
• 6:24
  deliberate, not a limitation. Carrying fewer
• 6:28
  lines deeply is exactly what makes a short lead
• 6:31
  time possible. Carrying every line shallowly
• 6:34
  would give you more to look at and less to take
• 6:36
  home. That is a good line to end on. Jessica,
• 6:39
  thank you. Always a pleasure. There's a full
• 6:42
  written version of all of this on the site, including
• 6:44
  a diagram that shows the three timelines drawn
• 6:46
  to scale. If you want a straight answer about
• 6:48
  a specific finish, call Fairfax on 703 -972 -4030
• 6:54
  or Alexandria on 703 -259 -9030. Thanks for listening
• 7:00
  and we will see you next time.