Posted by Jim Sutter on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 @ 04:42 PM
Hard working offices can wind up with office furnishings being 
overlooked. When you come to the office every day, sometimes the extent of wear on office furnishings may go unnoticed. Even with normal daily use, office furniture winds up missing paint chips, office cabinets get nicked, cubical panels get scuffs, office chairs get nicks, wooden desks suffer dings, dents or tears. This means that your office furniture could look less than polished.
As facilities manager, it’s your role to ensure office furnishings look professional.
Whether the goal is to protect new furniture, or to refinish or refurbish furniture your facilities management tasks can be daunting. Refinishing office furnishings, re-upholstering, repainting furniture, laminate work (including post-formed laminate edges), textile cleaning, and touch-up, repair and restoration services are all important maintenance tasks to prolong the life of office furnishings.
Cleaning, repair and refurbishing office furnishings is a smart, cost-effective strategy that has the advantage of re-using existing furniture and making it appear like new. Whether its a scratch touched up on a desktop, a tear in the upholstery repaired or elevator cab walls retouched the concept of preserving furnishings and prolonging their useful life can make a big difference in annual budgets.
Some of the components of an effective office furnishing maintenance program include:
Reupholstering furniture
An updated look without having to spend on new furniture? Consider reupholstering. Today’s large selection of fabrics ranges from contemporary to traditional. For about a third of the cost of buying new, it is an economical update to the outdated furnishings.
Wood working, refinishing
 wood furniture
Older furniture can be updated by giving it a facelift. If it is wooden office furniture such as office desks and chairs, and it is a pleasing design, there is no reason to replace it. Small minor repairs such as replacing a missing piece of trim or mending a broken corner, or larger projects like matching a piece to your current furniture are easily accomplished and can save over the cost of buying new.
Upholstery cleaning, Fabric protection
Office panels, office chairs, and cubical panels and can become musty, faded, worn, torn, dusty or stale. Furniture is a major investment for any company. To get your moneys worth the condition should be evaluated periodically and either repaired or replaced by a knowledgeable service provider.
At JC Wood, we understand that your office furniture is an expression of your professionalism. It’s important that your office presents a clean, attractive and appealing environment to visitors. Having a specialist who can help maintain your investment in office furnishings winds up being less expensive in the long run than buying new furniture to replace worn or tired or broken office furnishings. We can provide ongoing service for office furniture - to make the facilities manager look like a real hero.
Posted by Jim Sutter on Sat, May 08, 2010 @ 11:32 AM
When it comes to office furnishings it's a known fact that they take a beating. Whether it's the waiting area or the cubical, the elevator cab or the conference room, the amount of traffic and wear and tear on furniture in the office is much greater than a residence.
It's important for professional office furniture to look great all the time. Visits from customers and potential clients result in visual inspection that reveals a lot about your company. Weary, threadbare sofas in the lobby and a marred conference table with scars from use will imply that your organization may not be successful.
Facility managers are faced with the task of maintaining a professional environment, managing costs, and keeping the office updated.
The current economic climate has resulted in budget restrictions and reduced capital budgets. Some facilities managers have resorted to replacing unservicable furniture with inferior pieces. However this can also result in the impression that the company is floundering.
Rather than the capital expense of new furniture, some facilities managers are becoming heros by restoring office furniture or refinishing wood furniture to recapture the original beauty for a fraction of the price. This new way of preserving furniture or refurbishing desks, refinishing conference tables and restoring chairs and cabinets typically runs less than 50% of the cost of new furniture and also has the advantage of being 'green'. Less new furniture purchased results in less trees being sacrificed, and that's a goal for renewable energy.
A maintenance contract for office furniture is one way to assure that the furnishings are inspected on a regular basis and repairs made as needed. Preventative techniques for preserving wood furniture help to assure the longevity. Most offices are furnished in classical or contemporary style, therefore the furniture is likely to become worn before it has lost it's visual appeal.
When evaluating a service agreement for office furniture there are three things that the facility manager should take into consideration:
- The reputation of the supplier
- The time the supplier has been in business
- The knowledge that the supplier has with regard to furniture restoration, furniture repair and furniture refinishing
Overall, a maintenance agreement could be a great way to reduce costs, yet still have that professional and successful image that a corporation's office should convey. Being a thrifty facilities manager does not have to mean threadbare chairs or scratched, marred desks.
Be a facilities hero and your conference table's lustre will shine for years, as will your reputation.