FULL FRAME Installation
Handling Fabrics: A Lucrative Portion of the Installation Industry BY ROGER MAGALHAES
No interior decoration is fully complete without adding soft fabrics and textures. They provide luxury, depth and coziness to any room. However, adding fabrics may also increase stress levels and be worrisome to window treatment professionals when the goal is to provide a stunning installation. Soft treatments such as roman shades and drapery panels require extra time during installation because they are more delicate and the materials usually don’t behave as predictable as hard treatments. Also, not every installer has the patience, finesse or interest in learning this very lucrative part of the installation industry. Along with a shortage of installers, a strong demand for installation of hard treatments such as faux-wood blinds and roller shades has left workrooms very stressed out and struggling to find professionals to install their beautiful creations. I agree that installing hard treatments is much easier and straightforward, while installing soft treatments requires deeper math calculations, being extra careful handling delicate fabrics and out-of-the-box thinking. Unfortunately, many installers don’t see the benefit of investing their time in learning this very lucrative area of the installation world. Expert installers with a top-notch reputation for soft goods can easily make $125 to $175 per hour installing such treatments. If you are having a hard time finding a good installer for this area of the business, perhaps it is time to start grooming your own installer. I am going to share five tips to help you and your installer when the topic is soft treatment installations.
1
Keep hands clean, clean, clean.
It seems obvious that installers must keep their hands clean during installations. However, even the simple fact of grabbing screws, L brackets, moving the step ladder around or even handling a tape
measure can add fine dust to their hands. Things may worsen if the installer has sweaty hands or if the fabrics are a lighter color. The solution? The installer must develop a habit to constantly check their hands. Eventually, it will become natural to spot-check their hands, but at the beginning, they must remind themselves to do so. Additionally, a good installer will have cleaning wipes in their tool bag when a washroom is not available and even wear disposable gloves before touching the fabrics.
2
Use a pinsetter tool.
Not every workroom provides their drapery panels pinned. It is not a big deal when the installer has to pin a panel or two by hand. However, it may become a very tedious and time-consuming process if the amount of pinning is considerable. Also, when doing it by hand, the pins will be set at slightly different heights from each other and they won’t look professional. On the other hand, when the installer starts using a pinsetter tool, the
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