7 Tips to Successfully Launch Your Business

You want to open a business which will have a lot of customer traffic. It could be a restaurant, a hotel, a bar, or maybe an insurance office. Whatever it is, if there's going to be a lot of customers spending time at your business, then you need to hit all the marks to entice, surprise and please them beyond doubt. But how do you get to that point?

To open with a bang, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1 - What are your business objectives? 

If you don't know what you want, your team won't know and certainly your customers won't know. If you want to be a bit of this and a bit of that, you won't be anything to anyone. So make sure you know everything from a business plan and research to the type of look and feel you are going for.

Service With a Smile, or Much, Much More?

You hear about 'service' all the time, in phrases such as "we provide excellent service" but that does sound fairly hollow. So what does 'excellent service' mean when you work with Upholstery Fit Outs?

To me, service is more than just returning phone calls and being there on time. First and foremost it's about finding out what YOU need. The customer. It comes down to your needs. To do my job to the best of my ability I need to know what YOU need, so then we can discuss all the following:

Imported Furniture - Ewww!

I have written about this topic and have it posted on the website but with a New Year I thought it was time to highlight this issue again, as it is not going away anytime soon.

Whenever we import furniture into New Zealand we are opening ourselves up to a couple of serious issues.  MAF Biosecurity New Zealand reported on furniture that was coming into New Zealand from some Asian countries and what they found was unsettling indeed.

Quality

The quality of the product was poor. The "construction materials used were of poor quality … undressed and dirty timber (even the occasional  tree branch"). I'm sure when you head out to buy new furniture, this is not what you hoping to find. Unfortunately this is nothing new to us in the trade, we have been seeing this happening for some time. If you are buying cheap furniture you are going to get sub par quality. Furniture is fast to produce when you have the resources, but like this image states, you can't get all 3 in one item - you have to pick 2!

How much is it going to cost?

The number one question I get asked is "how much will it cost?" My answer is usually some variation on: "Well that depends!"

Something that may seem straight forward such as repairing a tear in banquet seating, may turn into a much bigger job if the fabric/vinyl or leather is in a state where repair is not advisable (i.e. will create more issues in the long run). Admittedly this doesn't happen often, but until we know more about the item it's hard to know.

So when you call to ask for a 'general idea' on how much things will cost, we can only give you a rough guide. It is not until we are physically looking at the items(s) that we will be able to give you an estimate.

You can go to our website where you will find a place to input measurements and if possible attach a photo of what it is you would like worked on, this helps immensely in giving you a better ballpark figure.  

Cost is determined by:

• Fabric choice and quantity
• Labour  - is it a full re upholstery of a piece or a small repair
• Supplies - foam, thread etc

We will charge whatever amount it takes to do the job right! The last thing either of us want, is for the job to be repeated. We won't overcharge you, we charge a fair price for a fantastic job! 

If you feel the estimated price is too high we may have to ask you "What part of the job would you like us to leave out?" Then we can come to some arrangement where we might be able to lower the quality foam or fabric to adjust the price. Or we might be able find some other option that might work. 

We don't cut corners, because your upholstery has to withstand the rigours of your business. Rest assured, the price we charge is fair and not inflated. Call us on 0800 698 746 and we can discuss further. 

Do you have other questions you would like to ask? Leave a comment and I will be happy to answer them.

Fabric and the Environment

Environmental issues are very real, and everything we do has some kind of impact on the environment, so where does upholstery fit in? 

There are many parts of an upholstery project which can have an environmental impact, from foam, glue, webbing, wood and fabric. 

WoJo fabric in 'action'

Lets talk about fabric.

We are lucky in New Zealand, we have fantastic options such as The Formary. They are known for their using industrial waste and turning it into some other usable product. In one case they've created a fabric called WoJo which is a textile created from Starbucks coffee sacks mixed with New Zealand wool. The end result is a unique fabric that is easy on the environment and fantastic to use. UFO were lucky enough to be involved in using this product for the first time in New Zealand.