Minimum Order Quantities & Minimum Value Orders

 

Our minimum order quantity is....... well lets just say that it depends on a number of factors, so we are unable to give a blanket cover answer to this question that covers every situation. This is why every quote that is submitted needs to be validated by our staff at web central first and only if required, adjusted accordingly.

All prices advertised on the website for cabinetry, panels, bench tops, etc. have been caculated on your order being a medium to large order (typically 10 to 15+ cabinets, plus panels and kickboards). This is the size of a typical order we receive from our Builders, Cabinetmakers, etc. that use our website, and our pricing matrix has to fit within this criteria. This ensures the pricing is competitive, fair and correct. Pricing for smaller orders is different, and this is discussed in more detail further below.

Note: We are not a small order specialist company, nor is our price matrix set up this way. Our goal is to provide high quality, custom sized cabinets at extremely competitive prices.

Unlike other modular or set-sized flat pack suppliers, we don't mass produce the exact same cabinet. We custom manufacture every single order to your specific sizes, which makes us a more bespoke/boutique manufacturer. Whilst this does make the production costs higher per job (compared with making 100's of the same sized cabinet/s), it does however mean that we don't have to have big warehouses all across Australia to store it all - so it all ends up pretty well balancing out in the long run for meduim to large sized orders. 

 

Small Jobs: Whilst we try to validate every order that is submitted for the advertised price displayed, the reality is that sometimes this is just not possible for small orders. As explained in more detail further below, the cost of production and/or packaging/transport can sometimes far outstrip the actual quote value. Even with a small administration cost added in, we often just try and break even on the small job.  So this is why every quote that comes through, needs to be validated by our staff at web central first and adjusted accordingly.

If you are after just one or two cabinets, a few panels or a small bench top, then there is likely to be an extra cost to cover the manufacturing of small orders. The best way to avoid any small order extra costs, is to simply add in more cabinets to your quote (even if it's for another room, home office/study or even some garage cabinetry) - anything to make the job more viable in order for it to be processed.

Small Poly Painted Jobs: There are extra processes (on top of just running a normal small job) involved with Poly Painting. Please see here for what these processes are and what is involved: 

 

See further below for more infomation about running normal small orders:

Note: The factory outlets at Kilsyth (Vic) have a minimum $880 joinery order value (subject to certain material selections). If your joinery order is only a small order (under this amount), then this may need to be manufactured by a different factory. It will then either need to be sent to a Depot (closest to you) for pick-up or sent to you via Home delivery - there are additional costs associated with this. Once you submit your quote for validation, we will advise you if this is necessary.
 

Below is a brief explanation of what some of the 'fixed' costs are associated with the type of custom manufacturing that we do.

There are 3 main areas that effect cost for custom sized manufacturing:

1. Administration Costs:
   With every job there is a minimum office cost to cover things like job detailing, processing and bookkeeping, etc. In a normal sized job, these costs are spread out over a large number of items, however with a small job this is not the case and so a minimum administration charge needs to be applied, in order to cover these costs so the job is economically viable.
    
2. Material Costs:
   Normal sized jobs often use mutiple sheets of material whereas smaller jobs often use only 1-2 sheets, so the off-cut wastage % is much higher in small jobs. In addition, all suppliers charge an order fee for colours that need to be specially ordered and typically this is around $25-$30. If your job requires just the 1 sheet, then the whole cost needs to be added to that one sheet. Another factor is the cost of edging, as some edge tapes are only available in 100 L/mtr rolls. So if you were just ordering one or two cabinets, you would still need to buy the same amount of edging as if you were doing 15 cabinets. So as you can see, there needs to be an extra cost added to small jobs to cover these.
    
3. Delivery/Freight to Depot Costs:
   If there are any Delivery associated costs (Home Delivery or Delivery to a Depot), there is a minimum cost to do this. If a job is required to be boxed and sent to a Depot or home address, then there is a cost in materials and labour to make the box. It is basically the same cost to make 1x box for say 15 cabinets, as it is to make 1x box for one or two cabinets or a small bench top. 

 

In summary, with normal sized jobs all of the above costs get factored in, and these fixed costs are then spread over the number of cabinets ordered (typically 10 to 20 cabinets in a normal sized order). Therefore these 'fixed costs' work out to be a much smaller overall percentage (5 to 10%) of the job value (as they are absorbed in the overall sale price). With smaller jobs, this percentage is much higher.
 

Time Frames for Small Orders: Sometimes the time frame for small jobs (selecting from the pre-set colour range) is purely dependent on when another liked-material job comes along for that factory, however we understand that there are some jobs that are time critical. So if your job is one of these, please let us know and we can re-adjust the quote (typically around 20-25% extra) to incorporate the extra wastage involved.  If you need the order ASAP and you would like to know if your job falls under these conditions, please contact us and we will advise you. 


Q. Why can't you simply calculate a correct price at the time of the online quote for small orders?

A. Whilst in theory this is possible (nothing is impossible), it’s just that the extent of the development required is a lot larger than what first appears. To offer a fair system for all circumstances, one must take everything into account, and the development process would have to cover numerous factors like material type, where the job is going to, which factory is used, size of box required, current workloads, other 'like material jobs', active jobs, etc. So for us to engage the web developers into all the research, planning, development, coding, implementation and testing would cost tens of thousands of dollars, and given that these are such tiny jobs to begin with (and also the requests for small jobs is actually very rare), it is actually not economically viable.

 

Final Note for Small Orders: We try to validate all orders, but sometimes this is not possible (for the reasons detailed above), and so we reserve the right to decline a quote if it's just too small and not viable to manufacture.