Two questions decide whether a supplier is even viable for your project, and both are usually answered badly: how little can I order, and when will it arrive. The numbers vary so much between manufacturers that buyers often assume someone is being evasive. Usually they are not — they are answering a different question from the one you asked.
This is the single most common misunderstanding. A factory's minimum exists because every model has a setup cost: panels cut to a specific programme, edge banding changed over, a finish mixed and sprayed, packaging sized. Running twelve units of one model costs nearly the same to set up as running two hundred. So a supplier quoting a minimum of, say, a few dozen units means per design — not a total you can assemble from twelve different models.
This matters enormously for contract projects, where an order of two hundred units across eight designs is a very different proposition from two hundred of one. Ask explicitly: what is the minimum per model, and does a mixed container change it?
None of these is wrong. They are different businesses, and the right one depends on whether you are buying a range or a project.
A single blended figure hides which half is slipping. What you need is production time — counted from when the deposit clears and the specification is frozen, not from the date of your enquiry — and transit time to your port, separately. Turkey to Western Europe and the UK is typically a couple of weeks by sea, with road freight available for urgent or part-load shipments; production is usually the larger half of the schedule for made-to-order furniture.
Also establish what starts the clock. Production almost never begins on the day you pay: it begins when the last open question about the specification is closed. If you approve a finish two weeks late, the delivery date moves two weeks, and a supplier who fails to say so up front will still be blamed for it.
Tell us the models, quantities and destination and we will come back with the minimum per model and production and transit quoted separately.
A deposit should buy a production slot and a date, not a place in a queue. Get both in writing on the order confirmation. The difference becomes visible when a larger customer appears: a supplier with a scheduled slot reschedules them, a supplier with a queue reschedules you.
That last one is worth asking early. A repeat order on an existing specification should be materially faster than the first, and a supplier who says it will take just as long is telling you something about how they schedule.
Projebaz manufactures bathroom vanities and mirror cabinets in Denizli, Türkiye — 41 collections, 250+ finishes, exporting to more than 35 countries. Browse the collections
Working on a project? Send us the specification, quantity and destination and we will come back with pricing and lead times. Request a quote