How Do I know if I have a good closet design?

The simply answer is. You don’t!

The long answer is it takes a little bit of investigative work on you the homeowner. I come across a great deal of competitors’ closet designs and am always puzzled why the closet was set up in a particular way, violating the best practices in flow, and even making wrong measurements so the design would never fit in the closet.

But you are thinking “I hired a professional to organize the closet so it has to be a good design?” Just because a closet company designed your closet does not mean you have a good design. Similar to the example when you bring your car in for service you don’t always get a good mechanic who fixes the car right the first time.

Think about this problem. You sign a contract on a design. The day of installation you remove all of your clothes. The design drawing states you have 10’ of wall space on the design and you only have 8’ in the closet! What happens? So a reconfiguration needs to occur. Maybe you lose shelf sections, hanging sections and hopefully not drawers. Who does the reconfiguration? Is the designer coming back out? What about a credit? You never were told what each individual component costs as you were given a total contract price.

How do you prevent this dreadful scenario from happening again? For starters are you dealing with a designer working on a commission or are you dealing with the owner? If you are dealing with a commissioned designer there is less of an urgency to make sure you are satisfied and that they have proper training. Maybe this is a part time job for them and they plan on leaving the company when something else comes along.

• Are you dealing with the owner of the company? Working with the owner is a must!

• What is the background of the designer/owner? Do they possess a degree in ergonomic design? Do they understand structural viability?

• Look for references. There should be hundreds if not thousands.

• Do the installers work for the company or are they sub-contractors? If subs are used, look for another company. Think about who you will chase for warrantee issues months from now.

• Is the company using products from Easy Closets or Pro Closets? These companies are do-it-yourself companies where people can simply buy product and install it themselves. This is a major red flag as companies that use these products are typically comprised of handymen who happen to install closets. Closet companies need to be invested in their business with inventory, equipment and machinery as this shows stability.

• Warrantee. Make sure the company has a lifetime warrantee in writing.

When you schedule an appointment with All About Closets you will meet the owner/designer with a Masters degree in Engineering with extensive training and background in ergonomic design. All About Closets belongs to NAPO the National Association of Professional Organizers and can share thousands of references.