How do I Choose a Custom Closet Organizer in New Jersey

The million dollar question! Just like anything you do in life there needs to be a connection between you and the owner of a company you are looking to work with, invest in and allow them into your home. Whenever I invest in my home and invest in someone’s company I am always impressed to do business with the owner. I know if something goes wrong the owner will step up and solve any issues. Salespeople typically work on commission when designing custom closets and I assimilate the experience to used/new car salespeople working on commission. Once the car is sold you never speak to the salesperson but rather the service department. What percentage of salespeople are still around 3 years later when you are looking to re-lease another car.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression! You are looking for custom closets so your first thought is to do a web search and place a few inquiry calls. This should be the easiest process to make the appointment. Right from the beginning you need to assess the person on the phone. Are you speaking to the owner of the business who is responsive or are you talking to a call taker? I personally get frustrated when I call a company and I am told someone will call me back and I never get the call back. I think, “If I can’t make an appointment to get the person to come out for an estimate how can I trust they will show up on time to do the work”.

Prior to the appointment does your potential contractor call the day before to make sure the appointment time still works for you? When I get the confirmation call the day prior to my appointment I feel the potential company I am investing in pays close attention to detail, values my business and time.

If we have to discuss appearance of your business owner then there is a problem from the start. Everyone should be well kept on business calls and needs no further discussion. Upon the initial consultation does the business owner ask you questions to understand you and your requirements? The initial dialog should be driven by the consultant with him or her speaking 10% of the time and the homeowner speaking 90% of the time. After all, this is about you, understanding your requirements, digesting the requirements, measuring the closet(s) and being able to pictorially provide a 3D computer design satisfying your requirements and solving your organization problem!

How knowledgeable is your business owner? I am always frustrated when I know more than the person whom I may potentially hire to solve a problem I am looking to solve. How do you know if they are knowledgeable? Ask them tough questions! Answers should be fluid, articulated so you can understand and there must be a level of confidence with the response. I tout the fact that I have a Masters degree in engineering coupled with 15 years of corporate experience. How many times can you have an engineer provide a solution to your storage problem?

In today’s day and age there is no excuse for a business owner to use hand drawn designs! Period! We walk around with computers on our hip that can make phone calls. Why would a closet organizing company still use paper and pencil? Most of society cannot visualize a 2 dimensional hand drawn design in a 3 dimensional view. Wouldn’t you like to virtually walk into your closet and be able to rotate the views to see exactly what is being installed? How would you know if a hand drawn line on a piece of paper is a shelf, pole or smudge? The answer is you wouldn’t and if you don’t, how can you justify paying for that line that may never show up as a shelf in your closet.

So at this point, you have the warm and fuzzy feeling of your potential business owner. The 3D design looks great, information is disseminated appropriately and now it is off to product selection. Any good company should have a selection of different styles of drawers and doors. My line consists of unique drawers and doors that are not found amongst the competition.

• Is the system wall hung or floor mounted? Both systems offer a different solution to different problems. Unless of course you have a company that only sells one system then it is time for the square peg to fit the round hole!

• Are the poles round or oval? Oval poles are cheaper and offer no other benefit other than price.

• Are the fixed shelves supported by a single hole cam or a double hole cam? Single hole is cheaper and weaker.

• Are there shelves above every pole on the lower half of a double hang system? Plenty of companies leave this shelf out to save money on material cost at the expense of removing valuable space for the customer.

• Are the adjustable shelf pins flat or have a vertical post? Flat pins are cheaper and allow the shelf to slide when removing folded items risking a shelf falling off the pins. What happens if a child grabs a shelf to help stand pulling the shelf and falling backwards. Shelf pins should be used to stop the hassle of adjustable shelves moving when not needed.

• How deep are the shelves? Some companies use 12” deep shelves because it maximizes the amount of material they can get out of a 49” wide piece of stock. Unfortunately, 12” shelves do not maximize the amount of storage for the homeowner. Try the following test. Take a hooded sweatshirt and fold it like you would find in a department store. Now measure the sweatshirt and see if it fits on a 12” ruler.

In summary, you need to do your homework when investing in a closet company. Make sure you are dealing with the owner, visualization should be easy with 3D computer rendering software, choose the highest qualified person with solid background/degree in ergonomic design and construction credentials, follow-up with the company’s referrals and insist on seeing the company’s business license.