IKEA PART IV- THE ORDERING

Normally the flow of the model home goes like this: Client sets the budget, we present, they love it, we order the furnishing and 3 months later, Voila! The amazing model home is installed and ready for new house hunters to walk through in delight.After the initial budget is set, costs are not mentioned again by the client.  However, these IKEA models for Lennar Homes are paving a different path.  This time, we have to carefully catalogue all the items we plan to order, with each associated price and provide it all to the client, Lennar Homes, so they can add it all up as we go.  In the end, they want to say to their buyers – Hey Mr and Mrs Homeowner! This is how much it would cost for you to create your whole home using only IKEA furnishings (ahem, ahem, minus the professional design team). Another thing we have to account for is the additional charge of a team of workers to put together all the furnishings. This is IKEA after all. Almost everything comes in a box and has to be assembled. That is going to add days and cost to the project.  Our specific designer accounting software doesn’t let us itemize quite the way Lennar wants it so we end up creating Excel spreadsheets and essentially doing the write up work twice.  The flexibility of Excel is better for everyone so we move ahead.Sam and her team of Amanda and Brianna are getting the ordering going. As usual we start with the main pieces of furniture. After that is ordered the team moves to the soft-goods such as rugs, fabrics and window treatments.  Finally they will order the accessories and artwork closer to the installation date.  Why don’t we order it all at once? Two main reasons: 1. Time.  Furniture has the longest lead time so we want to make sure we get it all in for the install.  Also, if there is a problem with a main piece we have to have time on our side so we can re-order or select a replacement. 2. Warehousing. All furnishings ordered go into a main warehouse until the install date. The warehouse charges us daily per sqft of space we take up, so we order things at the right time to make the install date, and not before.Most of the design work is completed at this point, and it’s mainly on Amanda and Brianna to work their magic.  They need to make sure everything is ordered, processed, shipped and received undamaged at the warehouse in time for the installation.We will be ready for our first install in January! Stay tuned!!