Most guides give you a list of questions. Very few tell you what to do with the answers, which is the harder part. A company can say yes to almost anything.The useful skill is hearing the difference between a reply that demonstrates knowledge and a reply that avoids the question. Vagueness is the signal to listen for. Someone who builds furniture properly finds these questions easy and often enjoys them, because they get to explain choices they have thought about. Someone selling standard units off a laptop tends to deflect toward materials, hardware or price.
Below are fifteen questions, each with what a good answer sounds like and what should give you pause. Written from over 20 years of surveys across Jersey, including plenty where the client asked exactly these things.
Before the survey: two questions on the phone
1. “Will you come and measure before quoting?”
Good answer: Yes, always, and here is when we could come. Free, no obligation, takes an hour or two.
Warning sign: “We can give you a rough price over the phone.” Or a firm price arriving by email without anyone visiting.
Why it matters: Nobody can price made-to-measure work without seeing the space. A price given without a survey is a price for standard units, whatever the quote calls them. This one question eliminates a surprising number of firms before you have spent an afternoon on them.
2. “How long have you been trading, and do you have your own workshop?”
Good answer: A specific number of years, and a clear description of the workshop, usually with an offer to show you.
Warning sign: Evasiveness about either. “We work with a network of craftsmen” often means subcontracting with no control over quality. “We assemble on site” means something quite different from workshop joinery.
Why it matters: Trading history tells you whether a guarantee is worth anything, since a five-year warranty from a six-month-old business is a hope rather than a promise. The workshop question tells you what kind of work you are actually buying.
At the survey: the questions about the work
3. “Are the carcasses made to my room’s dimensions, or standard sizes with fillers?”
Good answer: Made to your room. They will usually go on to explain how they handle the walls, unprompted.
Warning sign: Anything that avoids the word. “Everything is made to measure for you” without addressing carcasses specifically. Redirecting to door styles or colour ranges.
Why it matters: This is the single most useful question you can ask, because it separates genuine bespoke joinery from standard fitted units sold under the same word. Both are legitimate products at very different prices. You just need to know which you are comparing.
4. “What materials will you use, and why those?”
Good answer: Specific materials with reasoning attached. Something like: MDF for the painted doors because it does not move with humidity and takes a sprayed finish flat, birch ply for the shelving because a run that length in MDF would sag within a couple of years, moisture-resistant board on the external wall.
Warning sign: “Quality materials.” “The best available.” Or naming one material for the entire build.
Why it matters: Good fitted furniture usually contains three or four materials, each doing a job the others could not. A company that specifies one material throughout is working to a house standard rather than to your job. The reasoning is what you are listening for, not the material names.
5. “Where is the finishing done, and how long does it need to cure?”
Good answer: In a spray booth at the workshop, with a stated number of days for coats and curing before anything is transported.
Warning sign: “We paint it once it’s in.” Or vagueness about the difference between drying and curing.
Why it matters: Finishing is the stage that most affects how the furniture looks and how long that appearance lasts. Paint applied in a dusty room with variable humidity may look fine on handover and start showing marks within a month. A company that has thought about curing time has thought about the finish.
6. “How will you deal with the walls and floor in this room?”
Good answer: They will already have noticed. Expect words like scribe, level and pack, and a specific observation about your room, such as the wall leaning back toward the ceiling or the floor falling toward the door.
Warning sign: “It’ll be fine.” Or a generic answer that could apply to any room. Worst of all, no comment on the space at all.
Why it matters: In older Jersey properties this is where the job is won or lost. Granite cottages, farmhouses and converted outbuildings have rubble walls where reveals vary by 30 or 40mm along one run, and floors that fall noticeably. If a company has stood in the room and not remarked on that, they have not assessed the job.
7. “Will I see drawings to approve before anything is cut?”
Good answer: Yes, with a rough timeframe for when they will arrive and an expectation that you may want changes.
Warning sign: “We’ll work it out on the day.” Or drawings offered only after a deposit.
Why it matters: Changing a drawing costs nothing. Changing a finished cabinet costs a great deal and adds weeks. Approved drawings also protect both sides if there is a disagreement later about what was agreed.
8. “Are the backs and undersides sealed?”
Good answer: Yes, every face, including the ones nobody sees.
Warning sign: Puzzlement. Or “you won’t see them anyway.”
Why it matters: This is a quiet test and one of the most revealing. Unsealed backs and undersides are where moisture gets in, and against a cold granite wall in a humid coastal climate that is exactly where problems start. A company that seals every face is building for twenty years. A company that does not is building for the handover photograph.
9. “What hardware are you using?”
Good answer: Named brands, with the finish stated, and often a note about corrosion resistance if the room faces the coast.
Warning sign: “Soft close” as a complete answer.
Why it matters: Hinges and runners are the moving parts, so they fail first. In salt air, standard fittings corrode faster than they would inland. Naming the hardware also makes the quote comparable, since it is one of the easiest places to quietly cut cost.
The questions about the company
10. “Can I see photographs of similar work, or a completed job in person?”
Good answer: Yes to photographs, ideally including before shots and jobs in properties like yours. Often an offer to arrange a visit to a completed job, subject to the client agreeing, or an invitation to the workshop.
Warning sign: Photographs that look like a catalogue. Reluctance to show anything local. “All our work is confidential.”
Why it matters: This is the strongest evidence available to you. Look at the awkward parts of the photographs rather than the hero shots: where a unit meets an uneven wall, where a run stops at a window reveal, where two sections join. Anyone can photograph a straight run in good light.
11. “Can you give me a recent customer I could speak to?”
Good answer: Yes, with a name to contact once they have checked the client is happy to be approached.
Warning sign: Redirecting you to online reviews instead. Producing a reference from years ago rather than months.
Why it matters: A phone call with someone whose job finished six months ago tells you things no review does, particularly about snagging, aftercare and what happened when something went slightly wrong.
12. “Can I see your public liability insurance certificate?”
Good answer: Produced without hesitation, in date, with the cover amount visible.
Warning sign: “Yes, we’re fully insured” without offering the document. Or a promise to send it later that does not arrive.
Why it matters: If a fitter puts a foot through your ceiling, an uninsured firm means you claim on your own policy. Asking to see the certificate rather than accepting the assurance is not rude, and any legitimate company expects it.
13. “What does your guarantee cover, for how long, and is it in writing?”
Good answer: A stated term, a clear list of what is covered including the finish, honest exclusions, and confirmation it comes in writing.
Warning sign: A long headline term with no detail. Or a guarantee that turns out to exclude the finish, which is the thing most likely to disappoint.
Why it matters: A guarantee is only as good as its wording and only as good as the company behind it. Ask specifically whether the finish is covered, because it is the most commonly excluded element and the one you will notice first.
The questions about time and money
14. “What are the payment stages, and what deposit do you need?”
Good answer: A clear structure, typically a deposit of a quarter to 40 percent on order for materials, a stage payment at delivery or completion of the workshop build, and a meaningful balance held back until you are satisfied.
Warning sign: A large proportion of the total demanded upfront. Cash only. Or no structure at all.
Why it matters: Holding back a final payment until the work is finished is your main protection. Large upfront payments are the mechanism by which people lose money if a company folds mid-job.
15. “What is the lead time, and what happens if you find something unexpected?”
Good answer: A realistic timeline separating the wait to start from the making itself, plus a straightforward explanation of how discoveries are handled: they stop, tell you, price the extra work and get your agreement before continuing.
Warning sign: A timeline that sounds too good. Or no answer on discoveries, which usually means it becomes your problem.
Why it matters: In older island properties, joinery work uncovers structural issues regularly. Lift a rotten window sill and there may be a lintel needing attention. Open an alcove and find damp or a wall too soft to take fixings. The answer to this question tells you how much project management is about to land on you.
Quick reference
| Question | Reassuring answer | Warning sign |
| Will you measure before quoting? | Yes, free, here’s when | A price without a visit |
| Own workshop? | Yes, come and see it | “A network of craftsmen” |
| Carcasses made to my room? | Yes, plus how they handle the walls | Deflection to doors or colours |
| What materials, and why? | Specific, with reasoning | “Quality materials” |
| Where is finishing done? | Spray booth, with curing time | “We paint it once it’s in” |
| How will you handle my walls? | Specific observation about your room | “It’ll be fine” |
| Drawings before cutting? | Yes, with a timeframe | “We’ll work it out on the day” |
| Backs and undersides sealed? | Yes, every face | Puzzlement |
| What hardware? | Named brands and finish | “Soft close” |
| Can I see past work? | Photos plus an offer to visit | Catalogue-looking images |
| A customer I can call? | Yes, recent | “Check our reviews” |
| Insurance certificate? | Produced immediately | “We’re fully insured” |
| Guarantee terms? | Term, cover, exclusions, in writing | Big number, no detail |
| Payment stages? | Structured, balance held back | Large sum upfront |
| What if you find something? | Stop, tell you, price it, agree | No answer |
Three answers worth walking away from
Composite examples of replies that came up in real surveys.
“We can hold this price if you decide today.” A discount deadline in a trade where manufacturing costs do not expire at midnight. This is a device to stop you getting a second quote, which makes it the clearest possible signal that you should get one. Often it arrives alongside a headline figure halved during the same visit, which tells you the first number was never real.
“You won’t see the backs anyway.” Given in response to the sealing question. It is an honest answer, and it tells you exactly what standard of work is being quoted. In a granite property with a cold external wall and coastal humidity, unsealed backs are where the swelling begins, usually two or three winters in and well after the point where anyone connects it to the original decision.
“Everything is fully bespoke and made to measure for you.” Given in response to the carcass question, and technically true of a standard carcass with a door cut to size. Repeating the question specifically about carcasses usually produces the real answer. If it does not, the avoidance is itself the answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many joiners should I get quotes from?
Three is sensible. What matters more than the number is that all three are quoting for the same specification, which is why the carcass and materials questions come first.
Is it rude to ask to see insurance documents?
No, and any established company expects it. Reluctance to produce a certificate is a warning sign in itself.
What if a joiner gives a vague answer to one question?
One vague answer is not damning, since people have off days and some questions catch people cold. A pattern of vagueness across materials, finishing and construction is different, and it usually means standard units.
Should I ask these questions if the job is small?
Ask a shorter version. For a small job, the survey, materials, finishing and insurance questions still matter. The payment structure and drawings questions matter less.
What if the cheapest quote answers everything well?
Then it may genuinely be the best option. The point of the questions is not to justify a higher price, it is to make sure you are comparing the same work. Sometimes a smaller firm with lower overheads gives excellent answers and a lower number.
Can I ask to visit the workshop?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things you can do. Twenty minutes looking at machinery, a spray booth and other jobs in progress answers more than a fortnight of quotes.
Getting started
The most useful first conversation is about the room rather than the furniture, and a good joiner will steer it there themselves. How you use the space, what frustrates you now, what needs storing and how you want it to look in ten years shapes the design far more than any sample case. A proper survey then establishes what the walls and floors are actually doing.
Davision Interiors Ltd has designed, built, finished and installed bespoke joinery across all parishes of Jersey for over 20 years, covering fitted wardrobes, alcove units, media walls, kitchens, home offices, staircases, renovations and commercial fit-outs, with spray finishing and French polishing carried out in house. Ask us every question on this page. We are happy to show you completed work, explain the specification line by line, and tell you honestly if a room does not justify the spend. Every project starts with a free design and survey visit, all work is covered by our workmanship guarantee, and we are fully insured. Get in touch to arrange a visit and a no-obligation quote.