Predator Blog · May 27, 2022
WiP 10 – Furniture comes and goes
Today was that time again. Huge quantities of boxes arrived. We checked, unpacked, assembled, checked. And complained, disassembled, …
Today, another large delivery of furniture arrived for our Molinar Townhouses. Peter, our maintenance colleague, accepted it together with Elena, our interior architect. And what’s in the many boxes on the freshly finished sidewalk? The contents are furniture such as beds, side tables for the sofa, and dining tables.
Furniture: theory and practice
Once again, there was the difference between theory and practice. All 8 tables had at least minor damage. So poor Peter had to pack everything up again, take apart the table that had been assembled as a test. And make sure it goes back to the supplier.
And Elena is setting out to look for other tables. Such a shame—really beautiful tables. Why they are all damaged is also a mystery to us. Probably happened during transport to Europe.
Furniture – buying in Mallorca: it’s complicated …
In fact, it’s not that easy to buy furniture in Mallorca. There are countless retailers, but nobody has these large quantities that we need in stock. Imagine: we are equipping 8 houses, each with three beds. Add to that individual special requests from tenants. And a bed consists of various components that often also come from different suppliers. And apart from maybe IKEA sometimes, you simply can’t go anywhere and say: “Load 24 beds onto the truck, I’ll pay by card.”
An island with two mountains
Similar to Jim Button, we too are on an island here. Here too there is only a meager railway line. But for furniture, the route to the island inevitably goes over the sea. Which is expensive. And slow. That’s why furniture retailers often exclude island deliveries.
We spoke on the phone with Spanish retailers. With French retailers. We offered to organize transport. In summary: the furniture industry is not the most flexible. And the furniture retailers who are the most flexible are the well-known big brands.
From IKEA to ZARA Home, Maisons du Monde, SKLUM and so on and so forth. There, the handling works relatively well. Delivery times are more or less in line with what’s stated.
In this industry too, I suspect that the online share will rise dramatically. Because retail here also has not been able to impress with either inventory management or great professionalism. At least not in our purchasing attempts.
The main part of the delivery, consisting of the bed frames, fortunately worked super well. Peter will assemble the bed bases over the next few days. Then the so-called “headboard” will be added and the mattress will be placed on the bed.
Not only furniture is different …
When buying bed linen, our customers then have to make sure that in Spain, duvet covers, as generally in Southern Europe, are different. More like the concept where you crawl under a blanket that is “tucked” under the mattress.
What’s next?
The kitchens are 60% installed, and the refrigerators are also fitted. We are still waiting for the final installation of the cabinets in the living room and the bathroom furniture.
Why wood by the sea?
I’m often asked what the difference in the façades actually is. The thing that makes our houses look so beautiful and others perhaps a bit paler. I believe the traditional wooden shutters, the persianas, play a major role. We had them painted according to our color concept. And we prevailed against the “pragmatists” who would rather use aluminum. Yes, that’s more practical. We don’t need to debate that. Especially so close to the sea, as the Molinar Townhouses are. But flair rarely comes from pragmatism.
Once again, this was a little update from Molinar. From our Molinar Townhouse project. We are very optimistic that we will be able to welcome our tenants on 01 July in line with our plan, into their new home!
If you’re interested, here’s a small list of what still needs to happen:
- Alarm systems were installed twice; one per house is enough…
- Inspection of all technical systems (started on 03.06.2022)
- Completion of the KNX programming
- Filling all pools (started on 02.06.2022)
- Assembly of the new tables, hopefully arriving in time
- Connecting the lamps in both bedrooms
- multiple thorough construction-site cleanings
- Planning the move-in and relocation of our new tenants and the tenants who are moving
- Completion of the rental agreements
If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to use the comment fields below. I’m happy to answer all your questions.
Kind regards
Arnd