I am always interested in finding inexpensive and simple ways to improve the customer experience. I noticed Builders and Remodelers often give their clients a scaled copy of their floor plan after the contract has been signed. That is a value-add for the customer. They use the plans to help them finalize details for other parts of the project.
As a value add, at our plans and specs meetings, in addition to the plans, I would provide customers with a furniture template. The generic furniture on the template was scaled the same as on their plans.
I would spend a minute describing the different pieces of furniture, and provided instructions for using them by cutting out the pieces.
I also explained that I would soon be needing locations for any phone/media jacks. I understood that this would mean they needed to know how, furniture wise, each room was going to be laid out. I also knew that for most customers, it was too early in the process to be thinking at that level of detail. The templates provided some relief because they would help customers "scale" their own furniture.
Many times, at follow-up meetings I would see customers had either have taped cut-outs on the plan, or traced them as they went about planning how they would live in each room.
If you are going to provide your customers with a template, I suggest printing them on colored card stock. This makes the pieces easier to find and also makes them easier to handle.
Customer bonus:
Often times your project is a customer's first time working with a scaled drawing. Consider providing a scaled, printable paper ruler as well!
As you will see, it does not take a lot of time, effort or expense to provide your customers with a better building experience!
