Why local education furniture manufacturers drive better refurbishment outcomes

When you’re undertaking a building or refurbishing project, many factors need to be considered in bringing the project together. Where many suppliers are collaborating on the outcome, careful selection of each is strongly advised. The more on board a project, the higher the expectations of each should be. While pricing plays a significant role in all project supplier selections, agility should also be balanced with equal weight. It goes without saying, your construction company is going to be local. The same goes for interior designers or architects. But which suppliers do they partner with? Which can you select to get the best fitted furniture outcomes? As with your builders, local is best. We look at why a local education furniture manufacturer drives better outcomes for your education facility refurbishment or new build project.

How local suppliers help create better refurbishment outcomes

There are many cases where certain suppliers — such as fitted furniture manufacturers — are not needed to physically go on-site to client’s schools, universities or classrooms. Working closely with architects or contractors, they can design solutions to supplied specifications, and the hands-on contractors can complete the installations on-site.

It’s for this reason that it can be tempting to consider suppliers abroad. The decision may be made on price. But cheap suppliers are not always the cheapest.

In any project, it’s very rare that everything goes exactly to plan. There could be project delays, the location may want to change designs, and these can all come at additional costs when furniture is being shipped from elsewhere, and changes and shipments are restricted by locality.

Local suppliers have the agility that offshore suppliers can simply not offer or afford.

Quick to pivot

This would not be necessary in an ideal world, but it’s better to plan for everything so that nothing can throw you off track or budget. What happens if you realise different furniture is needed? Or more storage space is required? Local manufacturers are in the same time zone, able to quickly change designs and order quantities as soon as a phone call is made.

Being local, they can also stop shipments and get new shipments out faster. As a result, there are far fewer costs incurred for all of these changes. What’s more, local manufacturers aren’t at the mercy of a transport industry impacted by Brexit and COVID.

Available on-site

While not every project will require your fitted furniture manufacturer on-site, the ability to bring them in is invaluable. Say, for example, you’re working with limited space in a classroom, and you want some guidance on how to maximise that space. Local manufacturers can step in as consultants, where desired, to help you in the design process to aid in better, more functional outcomes.

Building to UK standards

When you work with local suppliers, you guarantee a certain standard of quality in the furniture manufactured. There are no surprises, and you can be certain that all furniture will stand the test of time and any quality and safety tests that your building has to undergo.

It’s also much easier to assess their past work. Rather than looking online for an idea of how their solutions have fit at other education institutions, you can pop into one of the universities or schools locally to take a look first hand.

Source local, build better

When it comes to refurbishment or new build projects, the convenience and peace of mind delivered by local suppliers can simply not be replicated by manufacturers abroad. Proximity makes for smoother communication, creation, shipments and installation.

Local education furniture manufacturer – find out more

David Bailey Furniture Systems has been delivering agile manufacturing services to UK clients — out of our manufacturing centre in Broadstairs, Kent –, for almost four decades. In that time, we’ve come to understand just how valuable our proximity to our clients is in supporting their refurbishment or development projects.

Today, we are proud to be one of the UK’s leading suppliers for fitted furniture in the education sector, working with schools, universities, architects and contracts to deliver outstanding results. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help with your latest refurbishment or new build project.