Our Process
When you entrust us with a project—whether it is a custom liturgical furnishing or wood-crafted solution for your residence—our job is to craft your vision into reality. Our commitment is a high-quality piece that meets your needs while surpassing expectations. Follow the process of crafting a furnishing from design to installation.
Inquiry and Discovery Session
Every project starts with an idea… When you inquire about a liturgical furnishing, custom built-in, or wood-crafted construction, we’ll schedule an initial call or coordinate a site visit to discuss general expectations. After we get a better understanding of your idea and initial desired design features, we’ll get working on defining the project scope, timing, and general project cost and conceptual design. We also often work with designers and sacred artist/architects who come to us with a conceptual design.
Project Estimation and Proposal
Project estimates are primarily provided on a lump-sum basis which includes time and materials for design, fabrication, and installation / shipping. Factors that vary the costs include the design intricacy, size, species of wood used, amount of CNC design and carving time, type of finishing (stain vs painted; gold leafing, etc), and complexity of assembly and installation requirements.
Note: Already have a design or construction plan on hand? This helps streamline the design process so we can dive right into developing an estimate. Just let us know if you want any customization and then it’s straight to work on your project!
Setting Your Project Up for Success
Once you accept the proposal, typically a 50% deposit is required to get the project into our schedule. Then the detailed design is developed followed by the construction/ installation plan. This plan includes identifying the detailed list of materials and fabrication sequence to ensure the best quality product and most efficient assembly, finishing, and installation. At this stage, it’s important to take into account the size, weight, and installation location of the finalized furnishing.
The Work Begins
Next is a trip to the lumber yard to hand pick the perfect materials for your project. Then it’s back to the workshop, where construction begins with rough cutting of lumber, gluing up panels, plaining, routing, and sanding of components. If a design or assembly challenge arises, we’re adept at re-engineering or making small design modifications to ensure top customer satisfaction and high quality results.
Putting It All Together
Once components are cut and quality is verified to ensure all pieces fit together properly, it’s time to assemble your project. Each piece is thoroughly cleaned and the assembled project is set up for finishing. Finishing typically consists of staining, gold leafing (as required) and multiple coats of commercial grade conversion varnish clear topcoat for a beautiful, sleek look. After a final quality review, the piece is finished and ready for delivery to the customer.
On-Site Projects
If the project involves any work at your location to install the furnishings, we’ll do as much prefabrication at our workshop as possible to reduce project costs, limit on-site interruptions, and save you money. Depending on the type of project, we can also collaborate with your contractors for carpentry, sheetrock, electrical, and plumbing needs to properly fit the furnishings in place. As we approach completion, we’ll schedule time to put everything together and present your completed project!
