What are the Pros and Cons of Customising Furniture?

When it comes to deciding whether to go down the path of custom street furniture, there are a variety of factors that need to be considered. Custom furniture can sway a project timeline, budget, or aesthetic appeal in a variety of ways, so the beginning of the process is the time to do your research and make that crucial decision. To help our clients get on their way in their street furniture journey, we wanted to take the time to highlight a few pros and cons that might influence your decision when choosing custom street furniture.

The EXACT Design You Want….

The most obvious advantage of customised street furniture is that you are able to alter the design of standardised furniture pieces to suit your landscape area, capacity requirements and desired look. This means that by purchasing custom made furniture, you will be able to fill your space as efficiently as possible. Many facilities may be space conscious, with tight areas that require furniture to be made to your specifications. Project requirements may also specify specific seating capacities or waste management streams that aren’t often standard options. Being able to customise furniture to suit your facility is an easy way to ensure you meet the specifications of the project.

The EXACT Colour You Want…

Another aspect of street furniture customisation is colour. The customisation of colour with street furniture items creates a complete one-of-a-kind seat, bench, or litter bin item, unique to your facility. By steering away from the standard advertised colours, it allows our clients to be able to align their facility with the street furniture. This is another extreme benefit of Australian made street furniture as in house production and manufacture allows for these customisations as majority of street furniture items that are manufactured overseas don’t allow these alterations.

Too Expensive? Or Worthwhile Investment?

Along with these advantages, on the downside, customisations of street furniture are generally more expensive. Additional alterations to standard designs, colours, and styles will incur extra charges as making those customisations have longer production processes and additional materials may be involved. Although customised furniture is more expensive, it is a long-term investment. If your company has the funds available to invest in quality, custom made furniture, it reduces the frequency of new furniture being required. If you design your street furniture items according to the facilities specifications, this means it is unique to your space and you won’t be tempted to update your furniture in a few years’ time to better manipulate your space.

Extended Lead Times BUT Still Shorter Than Most Alternatives

Customisations will also be met with slightly longer lead times to allow time to complete all the custom finishes that have been requested. Although any increased lead time may be a frustration, an advantage to Astra’s Australian made items is that the lead times for customised products are still shorter than most alternatives. Some other street furniture alternative suppliers can provide lead times of up to 12 weeks!

As you will be able to now tell, there are many factors to consider when deciding whether customised street furniture is the right choice for your space. It may not be feasible for all of our clients, but we do highly suggest taking the time to make the correct decision! Here at Astra Street Furniture, we are able to offer our clients a 3D render of what their space would look like with our street furniture pieces placed in that space. All we require is a photo of your space and the products you would like to see placed there and we can work our magic to get that drawn up! If you have any questions regarding our custom street furniture, don’t hesitate to get in contact with one of our friendly consultants!