An Installation Resource in Your Back Pocket

Matt Sharp, Installation & Service Contract Manager – Palmer Hamilton

Hiring a third-party company to work with a school on a furniture installation is kind of like hiring a babysitter to watch your kids. They will do the job well enough in the short-term simple situations, but they don’t have the same knowledge and insight as the parents for more complicated decision making. Instead, Palmer Hamilton takes a hands-on strategy to “product parenting” by offering a full-service approach from the project intake through completion.

Recently, Palmer Hamilton has begun incorporating a factory-direct installation program where someone from our team goes to the school to install the products instead of an outside vendor. Bringing this part of the process back to Palmer Hamilton has already proven to be huge in increasing safety, return on investment and ease of doing business for customers.

Safety

Safety is the number one concern for every new product we develop, and we are meticulous about creating an installation process that eradicates as much risk as possible. Factory-direct installation is another step towards ensuring that the process is followed to the letter and keeping the staff and students who use our products safe.

The initial focus of this new program has largely been our more intricate products, like the wall pocket tables. These products have a lot of moving pieces and extra steps required during the installation, which present more room for error and potential injuries if not done correctly.

An outside company will have instructions on how to install the tables, but they will not have the in-depth product knowledge the manufacturers possess that allows them to understand why they need to be installed that way. Not only will a Palmer Hamilton employee have a better grasp on the initial process, but they can also offer best management practices to help the school avoid injury in the future.

Return on Investment

In addition to protecting the people, this installation method helps preserve the product. Many wall pocket tables have been in schools for decades, and while some may look their age, others are still in pristine condition. The difference is how the tables have been treated over time.

While Palmer Hamilton employees are on-site, they can share tips on how to keep the tables in top condition with the school’s unique environment in mind. This comes from the wealth of knowledge and experience built up by working with these products every day. School staff would have no way of knowing this information, and outside installers don’t know the product well enough to offer it to them. Installers from Palmer Hamilton bring in that additional resource to help increase the lifespan of these products and preserve their integrity for years to come.

Ease of Doing Business

Another element that factory-direct installation has shown to improve is the customer experience. Whether the school or Palmer Hamilton is the one hiring and coordinating with an outside installer, this increases the logistical legwork required to get anything accomplished. Two schedules are always better than three when trying to set up an appointment.

Streamlining the number of people on a job also simplifies who to contact for any needs going forward. If there is a warranty issue shortly after the installation, the customer would normally have to try and figure out who to reach out to, the manufacturer or the installer, so they can remedy the situation. With factory-direct installation, Palmer Hamilton is both, and the question of who to contact is easily answered.

We’ve already seen these benefits play out and heard about the positive impact of factory-direct installation from schools. Now, all that’s left is to grow the program to include more products and a larger geographic area to help more of our customers do even more with their space.