7- Are we there yet! Long processes and what to realistically expect.

Ask anyone in the industry “how long does it take to receive my tops?”, and you’ll get the classic “It depends” response.  Let’s take a look at the process, and see what factors affect delivery of your project.

Now while every company varies, there are some reasons why custom metal deposition tops take more time than laminate or stone.  Sheet tops tend to have shorter timelines, but not by much.

Speaking generally from industry experience, from the moment you place an inquiry to the time you contract, should you decide to move forward with a project, averages almost 40 days or 5.5 weeks.  Let me demonstrate this by placing a hypothetical inquiry June 1.

This process may take a few days to initiate after your initial outreach, and although the design process has not yet begun, you may have one to two quote revisions based on the information you provide.

Once you decide to contract, you will go through design, and this process averages 46 days or 6.5 weeks.  During this portion, you will work out the small details of the project that ensure you’re receiving exactly what you desire.

If working without CAD files, this portion can involve the shipping of physical templates from the client to the manufacturer, sometimes shipping hard templates back to the client if working from complicated CAD files, and an involved back-and-forth between staff.  It can be quite tedious.

Once your project goes into production, you will likely have a standard 6-8 or 7-9 week time quoted for manufacture until shipping.  This portion realistically averages 64 days or just over 9 weeks.

Once your project ships, you can expect to receive it on site within a week, at which point it can be installed.  So total, you’re looking at an average of 21-22 weeks to receive your project.

Again, these are averages based on real industry data, but in reality if you’re looking to have a soft opening by Thanksgiving, placing an inquiry by June 1st will allow an average timeline completion by November 11th, two weeks before Thanksgiving.  Now sometimes, your timeline is completely accommodating of this 5 to 6 month lead time, but your preference may also be for a quicker turnaround.

In an industry that is competing with wood, stone, laminate, and other engineered surface products that are readily available in all local markets, an average 5 to 6 month project turnaround can seem unreasonable.

Current domestic manufacturing of these products is limited, and while each piece is hand-crafted and polished by a team of artisans, the fact remains that when timelines need to be accelerated or components need to be remade, production queues have a hard time accommodating these changes, just as their French counterparts cannot scale current operations to keep up with demand.

These projects take a long time.  Finding ways to reduce production times and accelerate the quoting, design, and fabrication processes is another major challenge facing the deposition bar top industry.