Everybody's Favorite Excuse

We made two orders in 5 months. They were both custom orders and set us back a hefty sum. They were simple orders, and small, the first being a flat crown mold for the Glenwild home in Park City, about 150 feet of quarter-sawn African Mahogany with funky angles on each edge. The second was a large American Walnut traditional crown for a home in Provo. Wood costs alone per board foot is around the $5 range, and then the special order and knife grinding costs added to the price per foot.

The Mahogany showed up with knife marks along every foot of each piece. I was not happy. I put our $10 an hour guy on it for a few hours anyway and moved on. When the second order showed up in January, I was fed up with suppliers in this "economy".

What a great excuse for any business: "With this economy, we have had to cut back," or "With this economy, we don't offer those options any more," or "With this economy, we let our best guy go." Good idea, nice.

So the quality of craftsmanship and customer service has strait up gone to hell. Our main parts, hardware and finish supplier has toasted any chance of recovery just from their terrible customer service with us and every shop that I know. They couldn't get our stain colors right over and over and told us that is just the way it is. "Just tone it in, it will be okay." Over and over the wrong orders would show up and somehow it is our fault. And, when I found out an order was delivered to another shop, they let me know I could pick it up there. Thanks!

My wife and I visited a restaurant for our 4th year anniversary last week. This particular restaurant was a staple up until now. Done. Never going back. Service was lame, and I couldn't even get black olives on my pasta. I was offended and I even consider myself a faithful patron.

When the trust in the great American economy went south, pops and I decided that we would step it up a little. All we could have going for us is quality. We definitely can't compete with price; the dude in his basement or garage, farming everything out and has no overhead. And, we can't get things done faster than the big guys, it's just a few of us. That's where we are at now, try and keep them pumped on what we send out the door, and maybe they will come back. Or a referral. Or at least a pat on the back.

There is one reason, and one alone we shop the crown from this particular business. Usually, when it shows up, it needs no attention at all and goes straight to the finish room. These folks are more expensive, and 1 hour further away from the closest supplier (who is 2 minutes down the road, literally). These guys have earned their reputation.

After two bad runs in a row, and other suppliers giving us the run-around, I was fed up and made a call. With the manager on the other end, I explained and told him I was at the end of my rope. He asked how long I would be in the shop and if he could come down to sand the crown. I stammered a bit. "Uh, yeah, if you want."

I thought he was driving an hour in his fancy pick-up just to spite me and tell me his crown was just fine, that if I was so picky, that he would take time out of his busy schedule as a top exec and spend 3 to 4 hours to prove that I was an idiot and didn't know anything about how hard it is to mill crown molding, and all you had to do was spend a bit to sand it.

Nope. Dude shows up with his own sand paper dressed in his Patagonia jacket and apologizing profusely about the lack of quality. He couldn't understand how we ended up with 2 orders of junk. Then, he spent the next hour and a half sanding just like I did when I was 14 years old, helping at the shop.

I asked how business was, and he explained how it had hit them like a ton of bricks. I asked if maybe they had let the good guys go and the scrubs had let the crown out of the mill looking like this. Turns out, they let all the scrubs go to compensate and left all the high dollar guys in the shop to ensure quality. He still isn't sure how we ended up with two bad runs, and never offered up excuses. Crown turned out like a gem.

I did not expect this. Kudos to Bringard Mill and their attitude. This attitude may not save Deep Creek, or Bringard or anyone else who might be putting in the long hours doing the scrub work, but at least they can stand up tall and look people in the eye reflecting the integrity and hard work that actually put this nation on it's own two feet.

God bless all those who actually give a crap.