Planning Your Hardwood Purchase

by Crystal Hosking - Hosking Hardwood Flooring< © 2013 Copyright protected. All Rights Reserved.

All too often, we see customers find the perfect floor for their home, only to find out it can't be delivered to their home within the time frame that they've set. In these cases, the customer is either forced to push off their project or choose a different product. This is why it's important to be aware of what kind of time frames are involved in a purchase --- from the time you order to the time your new flooring is delivered to your home.

We recommend placing an order for the material you're interested in as soon as you are sure it's what you want. If the product is in stock, we can at least hold it for a reasonable amount of time if you don't need it right away. If you wait to place your order and the product is all of a sudden "out of stock," we are at the mercy of the manufacturer's mill, timewise.

Time Frames to Keep in Mind

ORDERING || BACKORDER LEAD TIMES

Is the product you're interested in currently in stock? Is it in our warehouse and ready to ship? Is it at our supplier's warehouse and needs to be transferred first? Does it need to be ordered in from the manufacturer's warehouse?

Products which are kept in stock are typically ready to ship out within 1 to 2 business days. Sometimes in-stock items are kept at a different warehouse and take time to transfer to our own warehouse before we are able to ship out (approximately 2 to 3 business days for transfer). But on some occasions, products aren't in stock or there isn't enough in stock to complete your order. This is when a hardwood flooring product would need to be backordered.

Backordered items can typically take anywhere from a few days to a month (or even longer) to bring in. Lead times are dependent upon how often truckloads are brought in from the manufacturer. Sometimes a product is brought in as soon as an order is placed. Other times, in order to keep costs low, suppliers try to fill up trucks before bringing in backordered products.

If the mill is out of stock on a product, we can typically get in touch with manufacturer and see if there's a date in the system for production. Many times, with less popular products, manufacturers will set a date for production, but then postpone production if they have no backorders in their systems.

You can check stock on any product on our site with just the click of a button: 

This button can be found on each individual product page, underneath the picture of the product. If we get a check stock request during regular business hours, we will contact our suppliers and get you an approximate lead time answer ASAP. Requests made outside of business hours will be answered as soon as we get back to the office.

In some situations, the hardwood flooring will be instock and ready to ship out, but the hold up comes from matching moldings that were included in the customer's order. Sometimes moldings are in stock, but any backordered molding lead times generally run about 7 to 10 business days. Since moldings are usually the last part of the hardwood floor to be installed, many customers with backordered moldings opt to have their flooring shipped out right away and the moldings shipped separately once they come in. This allows for the actual flooring to be installed ASAP. There would be an additional charge for shipping the moldings via UPS Ground (usually around $35).

WAREHOUSE PROCESSING

Once the product is in the warehouse, it usually takes a day to get it wrapped up and ready to ship out. Orders shipping out from our warehouse are carefully inspected for damage and then banded and wrapped in plastic for superior protection during transit. Once an order is wrapped, we will call in the trucking company to come pick up. Typically, once all the pieces of an order are all in our warehouse, we will wrap it up and ship out same day if possible. We know you're anxious to get your new hardwood flooring and we're anxious to get it to you.

SHIPPING || TRANSIT TIME

Transit time to get to your project location obviously depends on where you live. Unfortunately, our trucking companies do not deliver on weekends. Once the trucking company processes your shipment, you will get a call to set up a delivery appointment. This will be a day and time frame (usually a 3 hour window).

If it's more convenient for you to pick up at the trucking company's local terminal, please let us know and we can definitely arrange them to hold it for pickup.

If you're shipping into Canada, keep in mind that transit times can be extended a few days for the brokerage process.

ACCLIMATION OF HARDWOOD

It's typically recommended by hardwood manufacturers and by flooring professionals alike that real hardwood flooring be acclimated for a particular period of time in the room where it's going to be installed. Make sure to check the installation instructions of the specific product you purchased, but it's generally an acclimation period of 48 hours.

Acclimation is a very important step, especially if you're in a different region of the country than where the flooring was being stored before your purchase. You want to make sure the wood flooring has a chance to adapt to the atmosphere it's going to be installed in. Failure to let the hardwood acclimate may cause problems down the line after the flooring has been installed.

INSTALLATION OF HARDWOOD

We always recommend that customers wait until they have their new hardwood flooring in possession (or at least until it's on it's way to you) before scheduling a flooring installer. If flooring needs to be back ordered in, we try to work with manufacturers to get our customers the most accurate estimated availability dates, but sometimes things go askew with production or transfer and lead times can't help but be extended.

You can find more information on ordering hardwood flooring, shipping, returns, etc here: Customer Expectations When Buying Hardwood Flooring

By: Eva Hull
Date: May 30, 2016

Page Rating: (5.0/5)

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You are great help Thank you very much Xxxxxx

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