Showroom Etiquette

As a builder of high-quality homes, we strive to deliver something special to every customer. The days of "cookie cutter" housing are over! To insure that each home is unique, we rely on several resources to help our buyers fashion a house that reflects their individual tastes.
One resource is the showroom. Many of our vendors and trade partners include showrooms as part of their businesses, usually for retail (or walk-up) traffic but also for professionals like us and our customers. The best showrooms provide a wide variety of choices in real-world scenes or applications (called vignettes) that show how the products will look in a finished home.
The earliest showrooms showcased kitchen and bath products, such as cabinets, appliances, and plumbing fixtures. Recently, however, vendors of windows, doors, stair parts, countertops, trim, lighting, fireplaces, and other products have begun to use showrooms, too. That diversity has allowed us and our homebuyers to create truly personal and distinct home features.
When we use a vendor's showroom to make those choices, we usually have an allowance -- or specific dollar amount -- that we and our buyers have agreed to allot for those products. Our buyers (or prospective buyers) generally go to the showroom at their convenience, letting the vendor know that they are coming and what their allowance is. In order to insure an enjoyable and stress-free showroom experience, it is important for everyone involved to follow a bit of etiquette.

The first point of showroom etiquette is to make an appointment and stick to it. With an appointment, our clients are certain to have the expert assistance of the vendor's representative. Keeping a timely appointment means that our clients are more likely to make their choices on schedule. Like many of the decisions made in the process of building a home, selecting the many finish products within the agreed schedule is the buyer's responsibility and part of the partnership we strive to create between us.

The next item of protocol is to stay within the budget allowance. We make every effort to prepare (and remind) our buyers with regard to the budget choices they have already made. But showrooms are filled with variety and are designed to make the products look appealing. Many will be out of the range of the agreed budget amount. Although it is tempting to exceed the budget "just this once," getting off budget can have a ripple effect on other costs, pushing the buyers beyond what they can afford. The added stress may significantly reduce the owners' satisfaction with the building process and their new home. It is important to stick to the allowance amount and trust that there is a wealth of great choices within that number. We rely on our vendors, too, to stay within the identified budget and resist the temptation to "up-sell" to a higher-priced product line for their own financial benefit.

The last rule of thumb at a showroom is to make full use of the vendor's experts. Increasingly, these are design professionals who can help make product selection easier and more satisfying. Design professionals have a trained eye for what creates cohesiveness and comfort, such as selecting colors or finishes that complement each other. They are skilled, too, in assisting buyers to identify and satisfy their personal tastes. We encourage our buyers to ask questions and share their dreams with these professionals. We select vendors who have that expertise for our customers' benefit.

Equipped with these three simple rules, our owners will be able to relax, enjoy their showroom experience, and make satisfying choices.