What’s the Deal With Lead Times?
If you’ve ever contacted David or me about hiring Yellow Weld for your project then chances are we told you that your project would take some number of weeks, most often between 6 and 10 weeks. I am writing this as the “man behind the curtain” in our Emerald City that is Yellow Weld’s shop space (aka I am responsible for organizing the calendar) who keeps everyone busy and keeps our ever-shifting schedule on track so we can turn around project in the timelines we expected at the start of the project.
And let me tell you, spinning this many plates at once is no small feat. This article will show you a Production Manager’s thoughts about why a 3-4 day fabrication project will often take around 2 months to complete (and maybe give you some tips on how to speed up the process together).
It all starts with the initial phone call: Boom. David was charming as always and you’ve agreed to work with us for your residential project (let’s say it’s a simple exterior railing for your porch).
David will send you some basic paperwork outlining the project details and our basic contract along with a link to pay your initial deposit. Until paperwork is reviewed and deposits are paid, the project can’t be scheduled. This is done early on so that there’s plenty of time to look over the details before we visit for our measurement appointment.
Next we will need to come to your house and take some measurements for your railing. Let’s say the best time for all of us to find availability for an hour is next week. While we’re there we collect the deposit to get on our schedule. Start the 8-week countdown. The count down doesn’t start until the deposit is paid. Providing payment during our measuring appointment not only moves your project through the timeline more efficiently, but it also minimizes the length of time we need to remember all of the details about your project before it gets drafted and designed. A project that is fresh on our mind is easier to design, gets done more quickly, and is less likely to have mistakes or confusion that could delay the project.
Now that we’ve done the paperwork and taken care of the deposit, what’s next? The ball is in our drafting team’s court to draw your dream railing and get it approved by you. Drawing up a project can take a few days of focused attention. When we have renderings to share, they go back to you for approval. A few tweaks here and there is normal to get the railing to look just how you want it. We don’t buy any material or begin building anything until we get a green light from you and know the design is just right. To keep your project moving forward, having good pictures or references to share with our team before design begins will help us start in the right place. Modifying the design isn’t always a simple process in our drafting program, so the closer we can be to your vision at the start the better. Prompt feedback and approval can keep your project moving smoothly through our process. It may be more common than you think for it to take a week or even two to get a response on design, meaning our team has to push back the next steps of your project while we await approval.
Everybody is now on the same page about what we’re building for you. Here’s the point I’m looking at my calendar to see when my team and I can build your railing in the next 3 weeks. It is typical for us to have a dozen or two open projects at a time of all shapes and sizes, and scheduling our work efficiently requires we consider a large list of factors. Availability of materials, allocation of our equipment on current projects, and allocation of our team and what projects are best suited for who. 99% of the time your project won’t be built the day after you approve the design.
Let’s say I can squeeze your railing into next week’s production. I’ll spend a day combing through blueprints and ordering your materials, and when everything arrives in a week (granted we don't hit any supply chain issues) we’ll get to welding. Another 2 or so weeks gone, 4 to go. If your project includes any specialty hardware like lambs tongues, finials, or stainless cables, we may be waiting even longer before all our supplies arrive.
Building often goes by quickly. We spend almost as much time cleaning the railing in preparation for powder coating as we do actually building it. This ensures a smooth finish, free of defects, burrs, and weld spatter. We’ll use an example that takes us a week to build from start to finish while keeping all of our projects moving along. 3 weeks remain on my deadline.
We take your railing to the powder coaters and now the timeline is in their hands. 7-14 business days is what we’re typically told. Depending on their workload, sometimes we get things back very quickly. Other times we have a few weeks of waiting. During this time we will be working on another project in our queue to keep our team busy and keep everyone else’s timeline in check.
Once powder coated, our install guys pick up your railing from powder coat after those 2-3 weeks, install it to your satisfaction, and everyone is happy! 0 weeks remaining on my countdown.
Your railing that took half a week to weld together is finally finished after 8 weeks. If everyone was attentive to the paperwork, deposit, and design approvals, sometimes we can save a week or even two along the way. Turning around our projects on time is always a high priority, but many don’t realize how much more there is to the process than simply building the railing. Weeks of preparation can go into just a few short days of building.
Here are some other things that can sometimes help a project reach completion sooner:
Call us in the winter months. Like many industries, we do have a slower season. Giving us a call from November to March is a great way to get to the added to a shorter queue when we have less to balance. Like clockwork every year, the spring season comes and the phones don’t stop ringing until winter. Please prepare for this and be patient with our estimated timeline. We know your project is important to you. The other projects we have are important to the clients that brought them to us as well, and we want everyone to be happy with the service they receive.
Consider what hard-to-find materials & hardware you’re requesting. Many clients want specialty materials like forged and cast railing caps, finials, and lambs tongues. These may suit the style of your house well, but they don’t always suit the timeline you had been hoping for. Any time we deal with unfamiliar vendors or supply chains it can be difficult to know if they will deliver our order on time, that our order will be correct, or at times, that the part we ordered will even work for your project. Many of these specialty materials include very little detail in their listings making it challenging to know what we are ordering until it has arrived. Some don’t even include up to date pictures of their parts. We’re eager to begin building too, but we can’t begin until we have everything we need.
Relationships matter. We want everyone to have a good experience with us, and hope everyone will come back for another project down the line. The reality is, many don’t have consistent needs for the services we offer, and many do. Those who continually invest in our vision, our team, and our relationship by supporting us with projects get our gratitude and devotion most. Working with people we trust and enjoy is important to us. Building a relationship that will last is good for everyone involved.
All in all, we got into this business to help provide people with high-quality products and services that will bring them joy and improve their lives. We wish we could do all of that with the snap of a finger, but the reality is there are many people behind the scenes working tirelessly to bring your visions to reality. When you’re trusting a team to create an heirloom piece for you, we hope you’ll see it is worth the wait.
Love,
Yellow Weld’s Production Manager, Charlie.
