Frequently asked questions

Yes. Most commissions begin with your concept or technical drawings. We assess feasibility, propose materials and detailing, and prepare samples and a quote before anything moves to production. Your design intent leads throughout. Where a detail can be improved or a tolerance matters, we will say so, but the creative direction is always yours.

Yes. We quote on a trade basis for interior designers and architects, transparently and line by line.

Every cost is itemised (materials, labour, finishing, hardware and freight), so you can see what each specification decision costs and brief your client with confidence. We price against your drawings and finishes schedule and can return a detailed breakdown suitable for a competitive tender; where specifications are still open, provisional sums are shown with their assumptions written down. If a package needs to come in lower, we set out the as-drawn price alongside alternatives, such as a veneer achieving the drawn effect of solid timber or a change of sheen, so the design team decides what changes, not the maker. Once scope is agreed the price is fixed, and variations are costed in writing before any work changes. As a guide, our cost guide puts a bespoke dining table at £3,000–£30,000+ depending on size, materials and finish. There are no hidden margins.

Most commissions take 10 to 16 weeks from approval of shop drawings and samples to delivery, after two to four weeks of design development.

By discipline, casegoods and upholstery typically run 10–14 weeks, fitted joinery 12–16 weeks including site survey and installation, bespoke lighting 10–14 weeks and Murano glass lighting 14–18 weeks; stone and specialist materials add four to six weeks. A complete fit-out is planned as a programme rather than a single number, run backwards from your installation or opening date. We flag long-lead components (Murano glass, quarried stone, bespoke ironmongery and COM fabrics) in the first programme, so they are ordered against drawing approval rather than discovered mid-production, and we report progress against the programme at agreed milestones. Programmes slip on approvals far more often than in the workshop, so we agree decision dates with you at the outset, and where a date cannot be met we say so at quotation. See our lead times.

Yes. We coordinate freight, customs where needed and white-glove delivery to site, and install alongside your project team through to handover.

Pieces travel in custom transit cases and crates built to the piece. Before delivery we check site readiness against the programme and protect adjacent finishes; fitted joinery is scribed to the room and fixed to structure, and furniture is positioned and levelled in place. Installation typically takes one to five days on site, followed by a formal snagging inspection with you and a written sign-off. On hotel and commercial projects we work inside the main contractor's programme, with inductions, RAMS and night working where a venue is trading. After handover we stand behind the work: if something needs attention, we come back, and the project record we keep means a finish can be matched or a piece extended years later.

Yes. We make across all four disciplines, so a single point of contact can coordinate the whole package for a room or a building, rather than splitting it across several trades. This simplifies your programme and reduces the risk of conflicting schedules.

We work with practices across prime central London and internationally, from our studio at Chelsea Harbour. Recent projects include commissions in Monaco and the South of France, and our work has shipped across Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

Production draws on a network of fifteen partner workshops and factories: ten in the UK, backed by specialist factories in Italy, Poland, Turkey and Oman. Each is chosen for the discipline a piece needs, from upholstery and case goods in High Wycombe and residential joinery in Essex to lighting in the West Midlands, hand-blown glass on Murano and rare decorative techniques in Oman. That gives a single commission access to more than 450 craftspeople without forcing every element through one facility's strengths. For international projects our project management team coordinates freight, customs and installation partners on the ground, with the studio as your single point of contact throughout. See our manufacturing network.

There is no fixed minimum. We are as comfortable with a single statement piece as with a multi-floor fit-out, and the approach is the same at any scale: proper sampling, transparent pricing and quality control at every stage.

What scale changes is the programme. A single piece of furniture typically runs 10 to 14 weeks from approved drawings; a full hotel or residential package is planned in phases, with prototypes of repeated items signed off before the run begins. For a small commission the fixed stages of a bespoke process (shop drawings, samples, project management) are a larger share of the cost, and we will tell you honestly at enquiry whether bespoke is the right route for your client or whether an existing range would serve better. For repeated items the arithmetic works the other way: a design prototyped once and made forty times spreads its development across the run. Send the brief and we will advise.

Email studio@makebespoke.com with your drawings or brief, or fill in the enquiry form on our trade page. We can also arrange a 30-minute call to talk through your scheme. Most designers start by sending a set of drawings and a brief description of the project.