Custom orders and customer communication

The order of events

1. Collect the details in writing. Exact text and spelling, size, wood or material, finish, colours, mounting, and the date it is needed by. Use a form or a saved message so you ask the same questions every time.
2. Quote, including what is and is not included. See pricing CNC work.
3. Take the deposit before you open the design software.
4. Send a proof. An image of the design with the dimensions written on it.
5. Get written approval. "Looks good, go ahead" in a message is enough. A phone call is not.
6. Cut, finish, photograph.
7. Collect the balance before it ships or at pickup.

The proof is your insurance

A personalised piece with a misspelt name is scrap, and whose scrap it is depends entirely on whether the customer approved that spelling. Send the proof every time, even when the order seems too simple to need one.

• Type text by copying it from the customer's message, never by retyping it. Most spelling errors in custom work are introduced by the maker.
• Ask the customer to check spelling, dates and capitalisation specifically. People approve the look of a proof without reading it.
• Put the size on the proof. A design on a screen has no scale, and "I thought it would be bigger" is the most common complaint about signs.
• Say that wood varies. Grain and colour will not match the mockup or the last one you made. Say it before, not after.
• Be honest about what the process can do. Inside corners are rounded by the bit, very fine script may not survive in open grained wood, and a photograph does not carve like it looks. See sign making.

Revisions

State the number included before you start. Rule of thumb Two rounds is a common choice, with further changes charged at your hourly rate. The number matters less than having one, because "unlimited revisions" is how a 60 dollar sign absorbs four hours of design time.

Changes after approval are a new job. Be kind about it and be clear about it.

Deposits and payment

• Take a deposit on anything personalised. It cannot be resold to anyone else. Rule of thumb Half up front is common, and full payment up front is normal for small orders and on marketplaces.
• Say what happens if they cancel. A deposit that covers design time and material already bought is reasonable, and it needs to have been stated at the start to be enforceable in practice.
• Balance before it leaves. Finished custom work that has been delivered and not paid for has very little leverage attached.

Deadlines

• Quote from the finish, not from the cut. Stain, topcoats and cure time are usually longer than the machining. A sign cut on Tuesday may not be shippable until the following week.
• Add slack for a failure. A percentage of jobs need cutting twice. If the date has no room for that, the date is wrong.
• Publish a holiday cutoff and hold to it. The week before a major holiday is when rushed work goes wrong and shipping runs late.
• Charge for rush work, or decline it. Either is fine. Doing it for free at midnight is not.

Customer supplied material

Carving a customer's own board, heirloom or slab carries a risk that your own stock does not: you cannot replace it. Look it over for metal, cracks and hidden defects, photograph it on arrival, say in writing that you work on supplied material at the owner's risk, and price the job for the care it needs. It is entirely reasonable to decline a piece you are not confident about.

When it goes wrong

1. Your mistakeOwn it
   Remake it, quickly, without argument. The cost of a remake is small next to the cost of a public complaint, and customers who watch a problem handled well often become the most loyal ones.
2. Their mistake, on an approved proofBe generous within reason
   You are entitled to charge in full. Offering the remake at cost is often the better business decision, and it is your choice, not an obligation.
3. Shipping damagePlan for it
   Ask for photographs of the box and the piece, claim against the carrier's insurance, and send the replacement without waiting for the claim. Better packing is the real fix.
4. They simply do not like itDepends on your policy
   Custom work is normally non returnable, and your policy should say so up front. A proof approved in writing is what makes that position fair.

When to say no

A customer who argues the quote, wants it tomorrow, cannot decide what they want, or asks for something protected is telling you how the job will go. Declining politely is a business skill. So is declining any request for a team logo, a character or a brand, however nicely it is asked. See legal basics.