Every question answered. Honest where it’s hard.

Every number on the plan is the number on the invoice. The fee is the only line we make money on.

• What does the 20% cover?

  Brief to install. Reading the brief. Drafting the plan. Naming the workshop. Placing the purchase order. Tracking production. Reading the QC photos. Walking the freight schedule. Filing the warranty claim if a piece arrives wrong. Calling the workshop in year six when the cushion needs re-skinning. One line. One fee. No hourly. No retainer.

• Is the supplier price really what the workshop charges?

  Yes. The number on the plan is the number on the factory's proforma invoice. We do not pad it. We do not pre-mark it. The factory invoice is in the project file. If the designer wants to see it, we send it.

• Does DAF take a kickback from the workshop?

  No. We do not take a rebate, a commission, or a margin share from the factory on the back end. Our fee is the 20% line. That is the only line we make money on. If a workshop offered us a kickback, we would lose the rail and the trust at once. Not worth it.

• Why not just go to the factory direct?

  Honest answer. The designer could. Some do. What she would take on is the language, the time zone, the QC photos, the freight manifest, the customs broker, the damaged-on-arrival claim, the workshop that has stopped answering email this week. DAF takes that work off her plate for 20%. If the project is two pieces and a long runway, direct may be cheaper. For a full room on a deadline, the math usually breaks toward us.

• When do I pay?

  Fifty percent on contract. The deposit starts sourcing. Fifty percent on delivery confirmation. The balance does not move until the container clears and the designer has signed off on the install. If a piece arrives wrong, we hold the balance against the line until the fix lands.

• What is the minimum project?

  Eight thousand on the supplier line for residential. Twenty thousand for commercial. Below that, the coordination cost eats the savings and neither side wins.

One business day from brief to a costed plan. Every piece. Every workshop. Every number.

• How fast does the plan come back?

  One business day. The first reply is the plan. Not an acknowledgment. Not a discovery form. The costed plan, with every line, in the brief's inbox the next morning.

• What if the brief is rough?

  Rough is fine. A screenshot. A budget. A room. Send what you have. The Specialist asks the follow-up questions on the call. The plan still lands inside a day.

• What if I do not like the plan?

  We revise. Any line. Any piece. Any finish. The plan is the proposal, not the contract. The contract goes out after the designer signs off on every line. If nothing on the plan works, the designer owes nothing.

• Do I have to pick every piece myself?

  No. The Specialist picks the rail. The designer picks the room. If a designer wants a Wegner-line dining chair, we name the workshop that holds the joinery. If she wants a slipcovered linen sofa, we name the upholstery shop. She approves the line. Nothing is ordered without her sign-off on each one.

Bad news first. If a piece arrives wrong, the fix is on DAF. If the container slips, the designer hears about it the day we know.

• Who runs delivery?

  One Specialist. One container. One freight forwarder. The pieces consolidate at FOB Yantian. The container lands in Vancouver. Last-mile delivery brings the room into the home, unboxes, places, and removes the packaging. We do not hand off to a separate logistics layer.

• What if a piece arrives damaged?

  We file the warranty claim with the workshop. The designer does not. The hide tag, the QC photos, and the freight manifest sit in the project file from week one, so the claim has the evidence the day it goes out. Most reworks ship inside fourteen days. The fix is on DAF.

• What is Lifeware?

  The five-to-ten year refresh phase. The Specialist stays on file. A linen bench re-skinned in year six. A teak top oiled and lightly sanded in year four. A chair frame that outlives two sets of cushions and gets a third. The flat 20% on the original contract carries to the refresh. No new fee shape. No new brief. The door stays open.

• What happens if the container slips?

  We tell the designer the day we know. Not the week of install. The fix is on us. If the slip pushes past the deadline, we either fly the smallest critical pieces or stage the room with what landed and finish on the second container. The credit on the front of the room belongs to the designer either way.

Hotels, restaurants, offices, designer trade. Same fee structure. Volume drops the rate at the contract line.

• How does commercial pricing work?

  Twenty percent up to thirty-five thousand on the supplier line. Fifteen percent from thirty-five to two hundred and fifty thousand. Ten percent above. The drop reflects the operational efficiency on larger projects. The line on every plan still shows the supplier price separately.

• Do you do FF&E for hotels and restaurants?

  Yes. FF&E is the core commercial scope. Furniture, fixtures, soft goods, one plan, one contract, one point of contact. We hold the brand-spec matrix. We sequence the install around the construction punch list. The Specialist on the brief is the Specialist on the freight call.

• Can you coordinate with the architect or the GC?

  Yes. We work off the specifier's spec list, or we draft one alongside them. We do not show up in front of the client. The architect's name, the designer's name, the GC's name stay on the front of the project. Ours stays on the back of the contract.

• Are there volume terms for trade?

  Yes. Project by project. Named fees on each plan. No annual minimums. No exclusivity. Referral fees pay at signed deposit, not at delivery. We do not appear in front of the designer's client. The designer keeps the markup.

Question not here?
Ask it on the brief.

The plan comes back inside one business day. The Specialist on the plan is the Specialist on the install. Every workshop named. Every number disclosed. Supplier price. Plus 20%. That’s the whole deal.