Today we’d like to introduce you to Miranda And Zach Lavelle
Hi Miranda and Zach, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We started our journey down the path of creating custom furniture after we had moved into our new house in 2014. We weren’t able to find any dining table that we liked or one that fit the space that we had. Zach, who had done woodworking before and made me a small pedestal table for a wedding gift, said he could build a table to our liking. After a month and a half of working on it we were ready to bring it in to its forever home. After that, we would build a few other small things here and there before we decided to make a go of it. We had both kept full time jobs and would find jobs to work on one at a time out of our garage including repair and refinishing work. We would do most of the work once we got home from our day jobs and on the weekends with Zach doing a majority of the milling, building, working with clients, and finishing and I would help out when needed our would be the critical eye making sure a piece was ready to head out the door or when design decisions were needed I would handle that. We slowly built up our clientele from 2016 and would pour most of what we made back into the business improving the equipment and always using quality material. We had a chance to move into an actual shop in 2020 with Zach focusing on building custom furniture full time. We spent a majority of 2020 upgrading our equipment to even larger machines and getting the new shop set up while doing smaller jobs here and there. Near the end of 2020 we were full swing into creating new custom pieces for clients all across the country and creating working relationships with some home builders in different parts of the country to be able to offer our services to their clients. During this time we began to also finalize our initial offering of furniture that we would offer all the time with the option for clients to customize them to their needs while also continuing to create one off pieces. As our work grew our jobs became bigger for each order and more complicated, never shying away from a challenge that other builders didn’t want to deal with. At this point we are striving to improve each and every day while offering the same services we have always provided while also adding new services like teaching woodworking to those interested in getting started.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In 2017 we had our first shipping experience for a dining table headed out to Pittsburgh. Before this we had delivered pieces in person spanning from Western South Dakota to Eastern Michigan. We had crated up the table, having designed it to be shipped flat with the client able to follow custom assembly instructions. When the crate arrived at our clients place it was upside down with the bottom spacers gone, one end missing from the crate, half of the top portion missing, the bottom panel completely gone, and a deep scratch in the table top. So we had the client reject the shipment and received the damaged crate back in Fargo. Amazingly all the parts and the little baggy of connectors were still in what remained of the crate. We then had our first experience with freight insurance claims and eventually abandoned the claim so we could get the table top repaired and shipped out to the client again after an additional two months. After that things went smoothly until 2018, we had a client that was very specific in what they were looking for and I assured them that we would be able to make a table to their specifications. We had routine correspondence including progress photos so they were aware of the progress and how the table looked and could ask any questions if they saw something they wanted to know more about. They were located in Nevada and wanted quarter sawn material with a bread board end along with the top being nearly 50″ wide. Knowing the difference in humidity levels and what the wood would even out to with its moisture level, we knew that the table top would shrink nearly a half an inch after it arrived. In order to take this into account we were going to leave the main portion slightly wider than the bread board ends and explained the reasoning behind that to the client. They also wanted a certain style of cast iron leg that we only found from a vendor in Canada. It ended up being a nightmare to get the legs but they eventually arrived. We completed the project and provided finished pictures to the client and shipped out the table to them. Once they received it they called and complained about everything like saying we had a bad design because they stripped out the attachment points for the legs and that the top was wider than the bread board ends, and the finish didn’t feel right and demanded a full refund. We went out of our way to find a solution and eventually found a local repair shop near them that would fix any issue they felt they had. The client at this point began to verbally assault us over the phone not wanting a solution to any problem they said they had, but never provided photos to verify their claims,then proceeded with a charge back with our card processor. After weeks of dealing with the whole process the client received a majority of their funds back and kept the table. After this we began to not take verbal or emailed agreements at face value and began having clients sign contracts for the work being done with the scope of the project clearly spelled out and sign offs on all final design mock ups so we were better covered in the future.
It took nearly a year before we had our next bump in the road. This client was closer to home and everything went well from the initial face to face meeting at the clients home. Everything was agreed upon and signed off by the client before work began. Halfway through the project the client began making design change request with wanting the natural wood tone to be uniform across the table and modifications to the draw leaf design. After the project began to get drawn out from client requests and frequent modifications being done to the project we eventually got to a point where we felt that the working relationship with the client was not working anymore and that we would not be able to meet their ever changing mind. It was a tough decision to make and was hard to find the funds to fully refund the client but we were able to do so. This lesson taught us to better verify who our clients were and to identify potential red flags while interacting with them. We also raised our prices to a point where we were comfortable that we would be able to weed out clients that “had” money but were wanting projects done as cheaply as possible and able to focus more on clients that loved the work we had done in the past and were wanting a piece to be made correctly the first time and not rushed. After this point we have worked with many wonderful people and have had very little issue and if something were to come up we were able to work with a client to address their concerns to a satisfactory conclusion. This was until December 2022 when Zach ruptured a bicep while working on the largest table we have ever attempted. This table also was one of the most difficult ones engineering wise having to figure out how to support a 40″ fully extended end to a table without having any support leg directly under the extension or having any hardware that would be visible that would provide the support. Both obstacles required thinking outside the box and finding outside help for both problems. We eventually were able to find help for Zach, after he had surgery, with friends stepping up completing the build while Zach supervised (a new experience for him) and finding deflection tables and calculators to figure out material that was no more than an inch tall that could provide the required support for the extensions, which we finally figured out. After this Zach did not take on new clients for nearly nine months because he did not feel it was fair to take money from clients not knowing when he would be healthy enough to begin working again. The end of 2023 and all of 2024 felt like we were starting all over from scratch again trying to build up our clientele again and getting ourselves back out in front of the right consumers who were looking for custom furniture.
We’ve been impressed with Lavelle Woodworking Studio, LLC., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Lavelle Woodworking Studio specializes in building custom furniture and complex furniture designs. We do mostly dining tables but do everything from chairs and stools to built-ins and small trinkets and everything in between that can be made from wood. We are known for some of our own designs that hark back to the 1950’s and 60’s and look and feel organic like our Mastrud and Miranda tables and our Zenz stool. We strive to set ourselves apart from other companies by going the extra step with hand shaping the final piece, selecting material that based on similar coloring, grain patterns, or figure and trying to layout pieces that are visually pleasing. We don’t try to get things done quickly, we try to get things done correctly the first time realizing that we are not building furniture. We are building memories that families will create around each of our pieces for years to come as they gather around or grow up with them. A lot of ourselves goes into each and every piece and we feel that our clients feel that when they lay their eyes on them for the first time and are able to run their hands over the surfaces. We are proud to have reached a point that our clients and potential clients know how passionate we are about our work and the quality that we offer not wanting to let something out the door that we wouldn’t have in our own home. For potential clients we want them to know that we offer a complete experience when it comes to custom pieces from design work, hand selecting the material for their project, and providing updates and photos throughout the process and encourage them to stop in during the process so they can experience the process in person. We also offer a unique line of our own designs that can be customized to order with prices ranging from $1,800 to nearly $17,000. We also offer repair and refinishing services at $150/hr plus material. We understand that not everyone can afford to have a family heirloom repaired so we are willing to talk through the process from start to finish if someone wants to attempt doing the work themselves to save money. We also let them know to call us if they have any questions or reach a point where they are not sure of how to continue and will walk them through from their. We also started offering an Introduction to Woodworking class for people who want to get into woodworking or see if is for them at $150 a person.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We have had some good luck over the years connecting with people or companies through someone who knows us or just a random meeting and discussions that opens up new doors for us to enter or leads to new connections and relationships that we cherish.
Pricing:
- Repair and Refinishing Work $150/hr
- Introduction to Woodworking Class $150
- Zenz Stool in Walnut $4,590
- Mastrud Table in Curly Maple High Leg Option $5,900
- Miranda Round Side Table in Walnut 17″ W x 20″ H $2,430
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lavellewoodworkingstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lavellewoodworkingstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LavelleWoodworkingStudio
