Customer service is a hallmark at Exclusive Woodworking and our sister company nuHaus. We’ve been in business since 1983 and clearly wouldn’t have the market share we do without providing some sort of solid customer service. That being said, we’ve all run into those customers that make you want to just……….. You know what I mean.

Keep in mind that for us the “customer” often can be up to 10 people: owner, architect, designer, contractor, site superintendent — you get the picture.

I’m currently working on a project where the scope of our portion was reduced from well over $200,000 to less than $90,000 — all at the whim of the owner who decided she needed to reduce the budget. Rather than ask us how she could reduce cost she decided in one fell swoop to just cut scope.

This left huge gaps in the project, like empty closets, bathrooms without vanities and an office with absolutely no millwork: no doors, trim, crown, nothing nada. After three months we got to a point where she was comfortable with the pricing AND had the scope she needed. It was a long, painful, laborious process and we switched materials so many times, and drew nearly every area six times (extra drafts that she paid for), that she is spending more money now for what amounts to less cabinetry than the original scope.

On another project that just finished up,the client found out we could put little clips in the hinge cups to restrict the opening angle of a cabinet door. He sent nearly daily emails asking for them here, there and everywhere. The final straw was the email that said that if his dishwasher door were down the sink door could hit the dishwasher door and we should put a restrictor on it. I told him we’d be more than happy to, at a cost of $135. That was the end of that.

There’s more I could share.

Joe Knobbe is Senior Project Manager, Exclusive Woodworking, Inc., Waukegan, IL. The cabinetry and custom wood interiors also operates the nuHaus high-end showroom in Chicago. Joe will expand on his comments during a luncheon address at the Cabinets & Closets 2015, April 14-16 in Schaumburg, IL.