Business consultant at Kbbsupport.com Toby Griffin says the design of kitchen furniture could help circumnavigate an installer shortage – and here’s how.

Here’s a controversial opinion: perhaps we don’t have a looming crisis in the shortage of kitchen fitters?

Before you start getting hot under the collar, bear with me for a bit. In June I gave a talk to a good-sized audience at The Kitchens of the Future presentation stand at The Installer Show entitled ‘Off-The-Shelf versus Custom-Made kitchens’.

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In it, I discussed how all the big-boys in the kitchen retail industry sell standard cabinetry, despite there being over 1,000 independent factories in the UK capable of making custom-sized furniture.  So what (you may ask)?

Well, talking as I do on a regular basis to kitchen fitters, most love custom-sized cabinetry, because it makes the installation much quicker. In fact I’ve been given numbers of around a 40% time saving on site, as there is a fraction of the cutting, screwing, re-sizing, frontal fitting, mechanism/drawer fitting, etc.

There’s even a reduced requirement for panelling in many designs, as the carcases can be built to co-ordinate with the colour of the doors.

So let’s ‘do the maths’ here.  If a kitchen normally takes a week to fit – but with custom-made products can be fitted in 40% less time – over a two-week period, instead of installing two, a fitter can complete three, and have a day off!

Therefore the same labour force of installers could install 50% more kitchens.

Advantages of custom

But, you may say, custom kitchens are like bespoke kitchens, and are way out of the budget of most clients. It seems that this is not true.

A custom kitchen (by which I don’t mean a bespoke kitchen with unique colours, and special pieces) is generally competitively priced against the national brands, which surprises most installers and end-clients.

So why aren’t all kitchens made in this way then?

Well, custom-made furniture is not ‘a bed of roses’, and requires much more thought and preparation than off-the-shelf.

With products being made specifically for each client/project accurate measurements are required, plans need to be checked with issues highlighted and resolved by smart order-processors and lead-times – generally of two weeks for a UK manufacturer – are required from order to delivery.

What about remedials then?

Being able grab a length of plinth at the last minute to get a job finished is definitely handy, but most smaller factories can quickly fly through a panel, plinth, carcase in 24 hours, so there’s not a big wait, and it’d be made exactly to size too, so quicker and easier to fit.

All of the above cuts down on waste product too (of course better for the wallet, the environment, and disposal), brings more skilled employment to the local factories.

In addition, it makes for a happier end-client as they don’t have a fitter camped out in their home for ages, and the finish is improved as a factory cut’n’edge is generally better than one done on site.

Shift workloads

In conclusion then, I believe that the crisis of kitchen installers could – in part at least – be avoided by reducing the work done by the fitter on site, and shifting it to the offices and factory of the kitchen supplier.

I understand that this will upset the model of many of the country’s biggest manufacturers, but it can – and perhaps must – be done to keep this industry from withering due to a skilled kitchen installer shortage.