#HTE

Designer/Builders: If You Were Commissioned to Create Custom Furniture for the White House, Would You Charge More, Less, or Regular Price?

It’s a tradition for incoming U.S. Presidents and their spouses to redecorate the White House upon moving in, and thanks to the GSA (General Services Administration), the public can see exactly what they spent. The Trump administration has spent $1.75 million to date, slightly above what the Obama administration spent ($1.5 million) over roughly the same time period. I’ve been going over the list of furniture vendors used to see what they make and what they charge.

According to NBC, one of the White House’s recent procurements was for a custom conference table commissioned from Kittinger Furniture Company, based in Buffalo, New York. Kittinger is a 150-year-old company that produces fine furniture with an emphasis on traditional craftsmanship; it’s the same company that Richard Nixon commissioned to refurnish the West Wing in 1969. (Nixon, however, paid for the furniture out of his own pocket.)

In any case, the cost of the new conference table was $12,800. And knowing what I know about high-end furniture design/build houses, that actually sounds kind of low to me. First off, here’s the table Kittinger built for Nixon, which has remained in the White House as a gift after his departure:

That table is a massive 24 feet long. 

According to Newsweek, the Trump administration “purchased a custom conference table made for President Richard Nixon in 1969.” The language is confusing, but that seems to indicate that a table of the same design was purchased. Indeed, the Daily Mail says that this is the newly-purchased table:

So assuming the table we see in recent images of the Cabinet Room…

…is a newer duplicate of the Nixon table, then $12,800 seems pretty reasonable to me–because we’re talking about a 24-foot-long mahogany table with gold inlay produced by a company that employs master craftspeople. If you’d told me this table was $20,000, I wouldn’t bat an eye, based on the expense of the raw material and more importantly, the labor that I know went into this thing. And look at the table’s perimeter, where the grain is all radiating outwards; assuming that’s not veneer, that’s all got to be quartersawn material to prevent it from warping and cracking.

So here’s my question to you furniture designer/builders: If you were commissioned to create a piece for the White House, would you

A) Charge less than normal, as it’s an honor and/or you gain bragging rights, which will hopefully bring in more work

B) Charge more than normal, because you feel you can probably get away with it

C) Charge the same as you’d charge anyone else