Why Custom Millwork Should Be Considered Part of the Architectural Strategy

Modern businesses compete for the attention of brick-and-mortar shoppers in highly competitive spaces. Designs that set businesses apart also set them up for success, as 71% of customers expect their interactions with companies to be personalized. Additionally, 76% of customers are actively frustrated when their shopping experience seems generic.

When planning the architecture for a business building, custom millwork is a valuable tool for seamlessly blending design and function and impressing the intended visitor. Business millwork artisans help designers, owners, and contractors consider each part of their architectural strategy to maximize the impact of design decisions on their business’s performance.

In This Blog: This article reviews how to maximize custom millwork in the architectural design stage, including the benefits businesses can achieve by attracting and retaining their target customers through distinctive designs.

What Custom Millwork Can Be Incorporated Into Architecture?

Many builders and owners are familiar with custom millwork as a finishing touch to completed designs, such as siding, trim, molding, and baseboards. These additions can add character to a space, but custom millwork can do much more. Custom business millwork incorporated early in the architectural design process can create more functional and distinct spaces that impress the target visitor.

Here are a few design examples to clarify how custom millwork can be built directly into a business’s design:

Example 1: Banquette or bench-style seating can be built into the architecture

Use Case: Imagine an unused wall in a retail lobby being repurposed as functional seating without tables or chairs. Banquettes can be built into restaurants to save floor space and fit more customers. Unused lobby corners can become intimate waiting areas.

Example 2: Shelving can be incorporated directly into the architectural design phase

Use Case: Office spaces can pre-plan their displays to focus on brand identity and client engagement. Retail spaces can apply product display strategies in the architecture phase to create a more distinct shopping experience before construction even begins.

Example 3: Panelled walls can change the depth of a space while adding identity

Use Case: Panelled walls creatively use custom millwork to reinforce a brand’s identity in spaces such as conference rooms, retail lobbies, and offices. They can be decorated with products, messages, or custom decor, or they can stand alone to display high-quality materials to clients, customers, and guests.

Example 4: Custom-built-ins create a more personalized customer experience

Use Case: Built-ins can be used to store amenities to help staff create a more seamless customer experience or hide functional aspects of operations from visitors’ view. Cabinets can create spaces with more visual depth and utility. Built-in reception desks or counters can be customized to the exact dimensions of the space and constructed to hide utilities such as POS systems.

Other Millwork Examples

Custom millwork can also be used to augment architectural design, such as in custom doors, built-in tables, and more. Choosing custom millwork is not simply an alternative method to furnish a new business. Instead, customization enables business owners, designers, and contractors to personalize the business flow, communicate its brand identity, and create the intended visitor’s ideal experience, even in the initial design phase.

Benefits of Custom Millwork in Modern Business Spaces

These examples demonstrate some of the functions of custom millwork in modern building design. Owners and designers can use these examples and others to reap these benefits in their businesses:

1. Adding Value to the Business With Originality

Custom millwork adds value by incorporating branded designs into the space, creating a more original and engaging experience for visitors. The result will flow better than generic designs, with millwork used only as a finishing touch, and this originality will extend to essential indicators of business success, such as customer retention and satisfaction.

What the Data Says: According to McKinsey, personalized customer experiences are so in demand that they can drive a 10–15% lift in revenue.

2. Achieving More Durable Fixtures

Generic millwork fixtures often sacrifice durability by using mass-produced materials and designs. This can not only lower the business’s resale value but also affect the returns on its daily operations. Uneven or accelerated wear and tear on seating due to low-durability materials negatively impacts customer satisfaction and brand integrity.

By contrast, high-quality, durable millwork made from premium or reclaimed wood draws eyes and improves outcomes.

3. Enhancing the Professional Experience

Many business spaces are designed for employee performance rather than customer satisfaction. Personalizing the architecture with custom millwork can have just as strong an impact on employee satisfaction and productivity. Ergonomics can be reshaped by the flow of millwork fixtures, utilizing accents, built-ins, and custom seating designs to help workers achieve a better flow, innovate in their daily activities, and facilitate technology use.

What the Professionals are Saying: According to David Dewane, the CXO of Physical Space at geniant, “Experiences need to include areas that touch not just space, but culture change and digital touchpoints … to create the best experience across the full employee journey.” Custom millwork arms designers with the tools to create these touchpoints, not as an afterthought, but in the design itself.

Connect with Our Custom Business Millwork Designers

At Sixth Avenue Custom, our experienced millwork artisans create custom business millwork pieces that designers, contractors, and owners can incorporate into their architecture. By sourcing high-quality wood and personalizing the millwork design to the intended visitor’s needs and the business’s vision, our artisans make businesses more competitive, engaging, and beautiful.

Contact our team today to learn how custom millwork can improve your business in Maryland, DC, Virginia, and surrounding areas. At Sixth Avenue, you supply your vision for your space. Our artisans will take it from there.