The office furniture market is particularly competitive at the moment. There are far fewer furniture projects around due to the fact that there are fewer companies being created and relocation and office refurbishment projects have been cancelled or delayed due to budget constraints. Many smaller  furniture dealers are feeling the pinch, particularly those with high overheads associated with local showrooms and high staff numbers.

Traditionally, you would call up your local business  furniture dealer, who would come round and measure up, discuss your requirements and make a proposal. Nowadays, your traditional  furniture dealer may no longer exist and your task might appear to be more difficult. If you don’t have an established relationship with a good  furniture dealer you will need to find one. In the past your might have looked at Yellow Pages or something similar, today your first port of call is likely to be your favorite search engine. There are now now quite a number of national or regional furniture dealers who have the facilities to deal with your requirements. They usually have large websites which display their products, and often have comprehensive  furniture catalogues which they can send you. If you can provide a rough sketch of your office, with dimensions, many of these  furniture dealers will be able to produce a full 3-dimensional space plan of the finished office.

Meeting Room Table

If your requirement is fairly straightforward, for example a meeting room table and chairs for six people, it is simply a case of choosing the style and finish you require. In some cases you will be able to place your order online, but more than likely you will be able to talk to an business  furniture specialist who will discuss your requirements in detail and take you order. Depending on whether the item is stocked or not, you can have your meeting table delivered and installed in less than a week. Most of these national and regional business furniture dealers have a network of specialist installers who know how to handle  furniture and can usually cope with difficulties like access, parking etc. Some online dealers simply deliver by courrier to the ground floor, before you accept a deal like that make sure that you have the skills and capacity to move and assemble the  furniture – this is sometimes much more difficult than you expect. The  furniture fitting teams usually cover the whole country, so it doesn’t matter whether you are based in The Highlands or Central London. Check carefully that you know how much delivery and installation is going to cost before you make the commitment – some dealers offer this as part of the service, others make a separate charge.

Call Centre Furniture

If your requirement is more complex and you require specialist advice, for example setting up a 30 station call centre or a complex reception counter, most of the offfice furniture dealers will have specialists who will come to see you to measure up and make a proposal. In this way, you get the benefit of internet prices, but all the service of a traditional  furniture dealer.