Ordering new office furniture is the part most people think about. Picking finishes, approving drawings, signing the order. What happens after the furniture ships gets less attention, but it is where a project either comes together smoothly or turns into a string of delays.
Here is a plain look at what happens between the truck showing up and the final punch list, and what you can do to help it go well.
Step one: receiving
Commercial furniture rarely arrives in one neat delivery. It can come from multiple factories, on different days, in dozens or hundreds of cartons. If it all shows up at your building’s loading dock during business hours, it can tie up the dock, the freight elevator, and your staff.
A better approach is to ship it to a receiving warehouse first. At MORE, factory and supplier shipments come to our warehouse off I-70, which is staffed five days a week and can take over-the-road trucks. Product is unloaded, inspected, and racked until it is needed. Receiving paperwork is scanned and sent to the dealer or end user, noting any damage, shortages, or irregularities.
That inspection step matters. Catching a damaged worksurface or a missing carton at receiving gives the dealer time to reorder before install day, instead of finding the problem with a crew already on site.
It also does not matter much where the furniture was bought. Whether it came through a nationwide dealer or an online retailer, it can ship to us. New product orders shipped to MORE can be held for up to 30 days without storage charges.
Step two: staging
Once everything has arrived and been checked, it gets organized for delivery. Staging means grouping product by floor, area, or phase so it comes off the truck in the order the crew will install it. Good staging keeps cartons out of hallways and keeps the crew building instead of searching.
This is also when delivery gets coordinated with the building: freight elevator reservations, dock times, and any building management requirements. Glass walls and large components need extra care in transit and on site.
Step three: delivery and installation
On delivery day, product moves from the warehouse to your floor and the install begins. Our technicians build workstations, desks, and private offices to the manufacturer’s specifications. That includes the details that are easy to overlook:
- Panels, worksurfaces, and storage set level and secure.
- Electrical and data components routed and connected as designed.
- Accessories like monitor arms and keyboard trays mounted and adjusted.
- Sit-stand desks programmed and tested.
Install timing depends on your business and your building. Work during regular business hours usually costs less, but after-hours and weekend installs are an option when you cannot have crews on the floor during the day. If the project includes power to open areas away from walls, it helps to plan under-carpet power alongside the furniture so the two are coordinated.
If you have old furniture that needs to leave when the new product arrives, mention it early. Removal can often be planned into the same project, and we cover that process in office furniture decommissioning.
Step four: the punch walk
When the install is complete, the last step is a walk-through of the space, often called the punch walk. The installer and your team walk every area together and note anything that needs attention: a drawer that sticks, a scratched panel, a missing pull, a keyboard tray that needs adjusting.
A few tips for a useful punch walk:
- Bring the drawings. Compare what was installed to the approved plan, station by station.
- Open and test things. Drawers, doors, locks, height adjustments, and power outlets.
- Write it down in one place. A single shared list keeps everyone working from the same page.
- Separate install items from product issues. Some fixes can be handled on site. Others, like a damaged part, may need a replacement from the manufacturer through your dealer.
Once the punch list is closed out, the space is ready for your team.
Why it helps to have one partner for all of it
When receiving, storage, delivery, and installation are handled by different companies, small problems tend to fall between them. Keeping the whole chain with one installer means the people who inspected the cartons are the same people building the furniture. You can see more about how this works on our new furniture services page.
Let’s talk about your install
MORE has been receiving, delivering, and installing office furniture across the Denver metro since 1990, from a single chair to full floors. If you have new furniture on order and want help with what comes after it ships, we are happy to talk it through.
Call 303.371.4049 or send us a message.