Design Industry Revenues Up: Brands With Fast Lead Times

Weakness in the housing market was one of the primary drivers of a poorly performing design industry. In 2012, because of increasing per capita disposable income, both the residential and nonresidential construction markets began to shake off the dust and the design industry began seeing a new vitality.

From the predictors that be, revenue within the interior design industry was projected to grow at an annualized rate of 7.8%. Sounds like good news for the design industry.

Revenues Up in May

Everyone likes a successful conclusion and what’s better than when a happy prediction turns into actual numbers. Overall, interior design business revenues were up an average of 6.3% for the period May 1 through May 31, 2017, as compared to the same period in 2016 according to Designer Advantage, an online bookkeeping and expediting service. However, quarterly revenues for the period January 1 through May 31, 2017, are still down by -2.11% as compared to same period in 2016.

Revenue Stats East to West

Geographical differences do exist within this progress. The west coast pulled in at almost 3 percentage points higher with a solid +4.87% versus eastern designer based businesses reflecting an increase of +1.9%.

Brands with Fastest “Actual” Lead Shipping Times

With interior design revenues on the uptick it goes to say, so is the need for product. We reached out to several local trade sources to see which brands currently have the fastest “actual” lead shipping times:

Brian Gallop, Showroom Consultant, Ferguson Showroom in Scottsdale, suggests Fairmont Designs, Ronbow, or Lacava for plumbing furniture brands for fastest lead times. His top picks for plumbing brands are Brizo, Hansgrohe, and Rohl for those projects with quick turnarounds. For lighting, Brian suggested Park Harbor, Kichler, or Hinkley. Park Harbor not only has quick lead times but can offer your clients more budget friendly choices.

When time is a factor in your design project, think local. “We have made items in as little as 3 days for our best clients. Our system daily calculates our true lead time for standard business based upon production output and current orders in production,” stated Mark Erwin, principal of Pacific Manufacturing, “At this time, we are delivering in 6.9 weeks.” Other benefits of going local are once production is finished, the item may be picked up via white glove services and delivered directly to your customer without potential delays or damage from freight services.

According to Garrett Tidwell at Villagio Tile & Stone, tile is a bit tricky to forecast. What is on trend and in stock today could be gone tomorrow since they could get multiple orders pulling from the same stock in a short period of time. Your best bet is using U.S. based companies so the stock can be reordered and shipped quickly. Sales have been off the charts this year with most orders coming from Nevada, New Mexico, and, of course, Arizona.

Happy designing!