A Letter from the Heart

• Labor shortages and material delays remain our greatest challenges.
• Transportation capacity is at its lowest.
• Certain rationing of products such as plywood, windows, flooring, electrical supplies.
• Insufficient product availability – vendors ordering from several sources and suppliers to secure job quantities.
• Covid protocols of limited crews and trades on-site hindered progress.
• Specialized trade vendors are either unable to resume business post-Covid or are choosing to retire.

• Furniture (custom or otherwise) at least a 6-month lead time.
• Manufacturers shifting away from making samples and new product in favor of completing and fulfilling existing orders.
• Other manufacturers and vendors holding new product launches till Fall/Winter 2021.
• Appliance deliveries face indefinite delays – as such, we’ve had no choice but to keep existing appliances for the foreseeable future.
• Unforced errors in an effort to meet delivery times and demand: broken tile deliveries, mismatched colors.
• These are systemic issues we face daily – regardless of the project’s scale and size. Most importantly, custom selections are not sold to other customers. There is no product swapping or substitutions.

• Team members, builders, contractors, and vendors working 6-7 days a week, 14-hour days; every week for months, and no end in sight.
• Weekend site meetings and project discussions.
• Construction project management timelines and flow analyzed weekly. Evaluating what can be done out of typical order to keep projects moving forward.
• We’ve updated and improved our project database (Builder Trend) to improve on quotes, pricing, scheduling. However, we are reliant on several builders, suppliers and trade partners and delays are inevitable.

Categorised in: Interiors Insider, Tampa Custom Home Interior Design