What is a Receiving Warehouse, and Why your Interior Design Business Needs One

Sep 16

Updated April 2023

Receiving fees, storage, white glove delivery, assembly, inspection, EEK! What does this all mean?

For some of our interior designer clients, the thought of finding and using a receiver is enough to make them not want to deal with buying and selling goods. But once you have a good receiver, it can make all the difference in your ability to source custom items, generate revenue from product sales, and have the ability to control the end result for those magazine worthy images.

But how does a receiver even work?

In short, a receiver (or a receiving warehouse) is a warehouse and delivery company that receives items from freight trucks, inspects them upon arrival (to ensure there are no damages), and then stores them on your behalf. Working with a receiver means you can purchase and sell large furniture items from your to-the-trade vendors, have them inspected upon receipt, store them safely until the home is ready for soft furnishings, and have them delivered with white glove delivery at a time that is convenient for you and your client.

And if you’re a new or new-ish designer trying to figure out the ins and outs of placing orders, working with trade vendors, using a receiving house, and more, join us in Design Business Foundations and set up your design business on solid footing from day one, with expert 1:1 support from my team.

Can’t you just ship stuff to your office/house/client?

When purchasing from to-the-trade vendors, small items (such as pillows, lamps, and accessories) can often be shipped to your design office, your home office, or directly to your client (if you’re okay with that). That means YOU or your client would then be responsible for receiving the item, opening it, inspecting it for damages, placing it in the correct room, and removing any packaging debris. This means your client won’t have to pay a receiving fee to the receiver, however, I would argue that if you are receiving the items at your office on behalf of your client, you should still be charging a receiving fee for you and your team to inspect, store, pack, deliver, unpack, and remove debris.

If you choose to drop ship items, this means the vendor contracts with a third-party delivery company to get the item directly to the job site. The downside of drop shipping is that it’s not white glove delivery so your client will need to be able to bring any large furniture pieces inside and place them where they belong. They also won’t have the luxury of a delivery window; pieces are simply dropped off (as the name implies). This means items may sit outside in heat/rain/weather and risk damage. The other downside to this is that your client will now be responsible for inspecting those items upon receipt so you can submit any claims if needed. So if your client won’t be able to open the package immediately and inspect for damages, you won’t have much recourse if multiple weeks pass and then you find out there’s damage. Your vendor has rules on claims timelines; be sure to find out what they are from your CSR.

When it comes to larger pieces of furniture, those options will not fly. Your design office likely does not have easy access for a semi-truck to maneuver (especially if you work out of your home), a loading dock, a team to unload large furniture pieces, space to unpack items and inspect them thoroughly, or the ability to safely store an entire room of furniture. And your client's home certainly doesn’t have these things either!

Here’s the simplified order:

→ Designer places orders

→ Factory makes items

→ Factory puts completed items onto a freight truck

→ Freight truck brings items to receiving company as specified by the designer

→ Local receiving company receives, inspects, stores item, and notifies designer when items arrive

→ Designer either waits for more items to arrive to schedule a large delivery (recommended) or has items delivered as they arrive

→ Receiver loads client items onto their truck for scheduled delivery day and sends a delivery team. Items are delivered via white glove delivery.

Large delivery trucks cannot fit (and sometimes are not allowed) on residential streets. A truck with one driver will need additional assistance to offload large items. Vendors will not be agreeable to liability for any damage during freight/shipping unless the items are inspected immediately after coming off the truck. And you definitely don’t want soft furnishings delivered to a job site that is still under construction.

For all these reasons, vendors will only ship larger pieces to a receiver.

What’s the process for finding a reputable receiver?

To find a receiver in your area, ask another designer, ask showroom staff for a recommendation, or simply google “warehouse and delivery services” in your area. There may be some paperwork for you to complete in order to have that warehouse act as your receiver, but it’s usually a pretty simple process.

When it comes to having your items delivered, every receiver is going to be a little different from what they require. Some will require that you send them images and purchase orders of the items they should be anticipating so they can compare those images against what actually arrives. Some don’t require anything more than a sidemark (Your business name-Client Name-Room) so they know it’s your item and which project it’s for. Then, when your items arrive, they’ll usually send you an email (sometimes with a picture) to let you know it’s arrived and it’s in good condition, OR, to let you know there are damages. If there are damages, most receivers have an in-house repair team they can use to fix the item OR you may need to find a repair person to fix the item. Before you move forward with the repair, you’ll want to send the claim and picture to your customer service rep immediately to make sure they will pay for the repair.

Oftentimes, they’ll offer you a credit for the repair, not a direct reimbursement or payment to the receiver (annoying!) so you’ll move forward with it, pay for the repair, and then submit that to your vendor. Your vendor will then apply a credit to your account so you’ll want to be sure to note that in your financial software so you don’t forget it (your vendor will not remind you of your credits!). If the repair is major, often the vendor will ship a replacement item. In these cases, they’ll either coordinate a pick up to pick up the item from the receiver and bring it back to their factory OR they’ll have you (or your receiver) destroy or donate the item.

Who pays for receiving?

This is part of the delivery expense to your client, just the same as if they paid for White Glove Delivery from RH or Pottery Barn. Your receiver may bill you monthly or per item at delivery, in addition to charging you for storage fees. So: there is freight/shipping/handling (this is to get the item from the manufacturer to the receiving warehouse) and then there is receiving and white glove delivery (this is to get the item from the receiver to your house).

Be sure to invoice your clients for all related costs above and beyond your sales cost for items: to have the vendor ship to the receiver (freight/shipping), to have the receiver store items until you want delivery (storage), and for the receiver to deliver to your client’s location (white glove delivery). How to handle storage fees when there are long wait times. This should be detailed in your interior design contract.

The above process relates to purchases made through designer showrooms and to-the-trade vendors where you make tax-exempt purchases at net cost (or wholesale). If you purchase through a retailer like Pottery Barn or West Elm, whether or not you use your trade purchasing option for designers, the process is much simpler. Since these retail businesses are very much accustomed to delivering to single-family homes, townhomes, or condominiums, they do have a network of smaller trucks that can make residential deliveries. These retailers really want to work with designers, so they coordinate the white glove delivery and help you set up all the necessary delivery details, including the delivery date.

The incredible benefit of working with a receiving warehouse is that you have control over the process: from being able to source custom items directly from your trade vendors and generate product sales all the way to being able to schedule a seamless one-day installation for your clients so they can walk in and experience a big reveal. Having a relationship with a reputable receiving warehouse is critical to your interior design business. You can read more about Why Paying Attention to Who You Use as a Freight Carrier Matters here.

Questions about signing up for trade accounts, working with a receiver, and all the other ins and outs of setting up your design business so you can show up like a pro from day one? Join us in Design Business Foundations where you’ll have six weeks of support from me and my team as you build your business on solid footing.

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