Now, I'm Not Saying That We're Gold Diggers-

Here's a tid-bit of information for you:

Gold and yellow colors are TOUGH to match. Whether it's binding or serging, yellows and golds don't have much of a selection available for match up.

 

Part of our polyester binding chart.

As you can see from the selection, there is ONE yellow and it's very pale. The other options that would even be close to yellow or gold are more in the orange family. From there, they get rustier or browner in tone.
The carpets that come in to DWP Carpet Binding of a yellow or gold nature usually presents a challenge for us. Although we try our best to get a good match, typically we have to settle for less than best.

In other news:
I was very disappointed upon the arrival of oriental runners with beautiful end caps fabricated. "End cap" is a term that is used when you fabricate a runner with mitered corners to complete the ends with the same bordered look as the sides. Two pieces came in with serged ends, yet the customer wanted fringe. Upon arrival I immediately growled at the serging work. It was awful. This instance was the second time that I saw this type of serging work done.
The first time was when a customer came in to ask us if the serging job was defective or if that is just how it looks. We told the customer that it wasn't defective, yet it looks as if the machine wasn't calibrated correctly for the carpet. However, with this secondary job, I now realize it's just an awful serging job being offered. Beside the fact that it was awful aesthetically, it costs TWICE as much as what we charge for our minimum serging charge.
TSK.TSK.
Nobody should pay for such an awful job.

Serging done from the factory: binding is showing through serging; serging is sparse near the end. Tsk.Tsk.

Factory serging: thread stitching can be seen from front face. Tsk.Tsk.

Factory serging: the "zig-zag" stitching should be drawn down tight; the thread should not be showing at all. Tsk. Tsk.

 

 

Despite being able to see the binding through the serging yarn, you can also see a fraction of it showing beyond where the serging is stitched! When that happens to DWP Carpet Binding, we take the time to cut the extra material off with a carpet blade, so that the job is done correctly!  
Hence our business name Done with PRECISION!
The only factor I could give them credit for is the serging thread was of good quality. However, their serging yarn was thinner gauge than our cotton serging yarn (which is probably why the serging looks sparse). 

The overall evaluation of the serging would be graded very poorly. Calling that a serging job is an insult to the people/businesses that offer binding services. Giving them a D- would be considerate of us. Not to say that we're always perfect. Although, our track history would show that we have had very few complaints since the start of business to the present day.

If you are going to spend good money on end capping a runner, make sure the serging they use to finish the job looks good. Accepting sloppy workmanship allows for them to continue to do such horrible work.

Over the past couple of weeks we have met many new faces!
We would like to thank everyone who has come in with binding needs:

Thank you to:

Alan , Bruce, Bob, Chris (or Kris), Becky, Karl, Kathy and Tony!!

All came in with different binding needs & left with a smile!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we are at yet another commercial holiday. Although, it may have been a genius to concoct such a day! Despite the fact that it's a day that the stores can capitalize on and push for a few extra sales in the quarter, it is indeed a day intended to openly express your appreciation and LOVE for someone significant in your life. Well, today I challenge everybody to get real. I ask you, who or what takes up more of your time than work?! Upon such realizations, my challenge is then extended to ask what is it that you LOVE about your job?

It's not everyday that you may ponder such a question. In fact, I bet more people spend more time expressing feelings of distaste more so than appreciation towards their job. In today's economy, most of us are lucky to even have one. Businesses have scaled back so much, that most likely your job of one title has turned into having to do the duties of four people, making it that much more difficult to keep a positive frame of mind towards your work. Not to mention the fact that most people who have been working for 30 - 40 years are working for less money than they were in the 70's (by comparison of today's value of a dollar).

Back to the challenge at hand.

I asked Dan to tell me five things he loves about his job. At first he laughed, thinking I was joking. Then when he saw my face while I waited for his answer, he began listing some things off:

1. "I love that we're manufacturers."
What we're able to do as a company is take a "raw" product and make it into a usable piece. Different jobs that exemplify a manufacturer's work would be carpet base jobs, or even custom shapes and sizes.

2. "I love that we're environmentalists."
Dan rarely lets anything go into the dumpster. When there are scrap pieces left over from a job, DWP Carpet Binding saves them to use for future pieces. This is how we were able to design and fabricate so many custom area rugs. You can check them out on our etsy page!
Etsy Store!

3. "I love our customers."
Dan has been in the flooring industry for quite some time now (over 20 years!). As a salesman it took charisma and intelligence to gain a customer's attention. However, it was through being himself and his lovable personality that gained him respect. Over the years, Dan not only was able to establish business relationships, but he was also able to establish friendships with most of his customers. Anybody can give you a song and a dance, but Dan will give them to you to his own tune!

4. "I love the hands-on work."
Dan's father was a potato farmer. Dan jokes around that his father's options were to "work in the field" or "get the belt and then go work on the field". It was the farmer's ethics of work that influences Dan to this very day. Sure, it may be tough on the body on occasion, but it sure beats sitting at a desk day-in and day-out.  

Between you and me, Dan isn't capable of doing nothing. He's constantly got to occupy himself with some sort of work.

5. "I love the excitement of potential business; there's no predictability to our day."
This is very true. There isn't one day that goes by that is the same as the previous day. Every day we meet new faces, face new challenges and have different tasks. One day it could be 3,000 linear feet of carpet base, the next day it could be serging three area rugs. Every carpet requires different attention, which is exactly why no day is the same. Again, it is far different from sitting in front of a computer day-in and day-out.

Now, it wouldn't be fair for me to challenge Dan with the question "What do you love about your job?" without having to also answer it! So here are five reasons that I love my job:

1. My boss is an honest, hard-working and caring man.
I'm not working for some multimillionaire that only cares about reaching his next million. I'm working for a man who isn't afraid to get on his hands and knees to cut a carpet, or thinks he is above taking out the garbage. He has taught me a great deal when it comes to work ethic, simply by observing his daily actions.

2. I get to do whatever I want.
It may sound immature, but I assure you that I am always completing one task or another. When your job tasks include inventory, e-mails, web-site building, writing blogs, price quotes as well as the binding labor it is very easy to lose track of what you're doing. Yet, to keep my attention at focus, I mix my day up. A little bit of binding here, doing e-mail marketing there, writing a blog every so often. Dan trusts that I am a diligent worker and allows me free reign of my work day; as long as I get all tasks completed by the end of the day.

3. I love that I learned a useful trade.
It's not everyday that a young person gets offered to train for and learn a trade. In fact, many people my age or younger have been told they'll spend the majority of their life in front of computer. I am happy to say that is not the case where I am concerned. My day is spent with sewing machines! By learning the carpet binding trade, I've also become familiar with sewing machines, that I can fix and run just about any model. I even asked for my own sewing machine a couple of Christmases ago and have created special items or repaired favorite articles of clothing. When my hands become too tired/weak to work with carpets, I can move on to cloth!

4. I love that I've learned to make custom carpets.
One of DWP Carpet Binding's customers is a man named Bill Craig. He makes custom carpets... really really beautiful custom carpets. I've had the special honor and privilege of learning new tricks every time he comes in to see us. After about six years (plus or minus a few months) I am now contracted to do custom pieces; or have the honor of gifting custom pieces for special events, such as weddings and birthdays!

First custom piece ever made: free-hand heart. Clearly, I needed more practice!

Samples I made to show the differences between serging, polyester binding and cotton binding.

Latest custom piece: for Mackenzie's bedroom. My abilities have certainly developed!

5. I love that my hard work and dedication is going towards my parents' retirement.
I stated before how my boss is pretty awesome. Yet, my job is more valuable because this business will be the allowance to my parents' retirement. Granted, Dan's hard work in customer service is what grew the business to make it as successful as it is today; it'll be my hard work and diligence that continues to keep this business running! There will come a day that I will call the shots and get to tell Dan, "Don't worry about coming into the office today, everything is taken care of". Which will be the day that I will certainly admit being proud of what DWP Carpet Binding has allotted for. Working for family is far more valuable to me than climbing the ladder in a corporation or "Big Business".


So on this Valentine's Day, I challenge you to think outside of the commercialized box. Instead of showering your loved ones with chocolates, flowers and "I love you's"; why not give yourself a gift and remember a few reasons why you LOVE your job?!

Happy Valentine's Day!
-The Team of DWP Carpet Binding

Just Want to Say Thanks!

This week DWP Carpet Binding kept busy with projects involving carpet base, serging, many binding pieces and a couple of fringe pieces!

We had the pleasure of meeting a few new faces as well!

With that being said, DWP Carpet Binding would like to thank the following people:

Thank you to Alan for repairing fringe on two woven pieces!

Thank you to Jeff who came in with a remnant to be cut and bound!

Congrats & Good Luck on your first bundle of joy ....

(He joked that he hopes it's AFTER the big game!)

Thank you to Lisa & Amy who came in together looking at DWP's stock pieces! 

Thank you to Ruth, who had pre-cut pieces bound for her bathroom!

Thank you, to the woman who came in with leopard printed remnants for binding!

(She might come back to have some pieces re-fringed!)

Here's a short tale for all the readers:

I constantly/consistently forget to introduce myself to new comers. I really just focus on getting the job done, that my attention always goes to the task at hand. I always end up saying, "Oh, by the way, my name is Kelly" as the person/people are walking out of the door! Typically I find that amusing, because it's common sense to introduce yourself first, not after. There have been times that I forget all together, which also means that I never catch the customer's first name. 

This case and point, is what happened with the nice woman who came in with the leopard printed remnants. She said she may return with pieces that need to have repairs done to the fringe, in which case, I hope I remember to properly introduce myself & catch her name for a proper DWP blog thank you! 

On that note, I wish every body a happy weekend!  Be safe if you will be indulging on Superbowl Sunday!

 

Risky to Say, but Don't Overthink It.

There have been some cases in which one of our customers send their customer to us for more information. Recently, a customer's customer came in. Dan spent a lot of time with the couple helping choose a binding color and explaining our procedure of work. We didn't receive their carpet in at the time, so without knowing the severity of the problem, he couldn't exactly comment on what work would need to be done.

After receiving the carpet, Dan thought it best that the entire carpet be rebound. The details behind the carpet is that it was an existing area rug the couple wanted re-sized, then bound on the one side that was cut. Upon receiving the carpet, the existing binding had a few "problem" areas. The "problems" were, that in two areas the existing binding had large skips in the stitching, which honestly, is probably normal wear-n-tear. In a couple of other areas, the binding was pulled from the carpet. More so, the carpet had ripped & the binding was still attached to the backing. This happens often. In some cases, the carpet was mishandled and the backing was not strong enough to hold up. In other cases large items (such as furniture) are moved across the carpet and upon doing so, it rips the carpet where the binding was stitched. There are other examples, yet, those are more so for high traffic areas in commercial settings, such as a shopping mall or store entrance.

To properly complete the job, Dan felt it was best to cut back the existing binding, squaring the piece to the largest size possible and binding four sides. Based upon the binding still being attached to the carpet backing, Dan's assessment & hypothesis was that furniture was dragged across the carpet. Now, we're not detectives, so there's no laboratory that we can use to investigate whether or not our assumptions are correct about how the carpet was handled. The actual occurrence that caused the problem is a secret to the world. Especially since there are several parties involved; our customer,  their employees, their customer, and ourselves.

The couple had called to ask if it was true that the carpet needed to be rebound on all sides. They also asked what happened to have caused the "problem" areas. However, when Dan gave them his assessment they were not satisfied with what they heard. The gentleman even said aloud "Oh, I don't believe that."
Which is certainly his prerogative.

My overall point in sharing all of this is simply, do not overthink things. If you are trying to salvage a used area rug, trust that the people who are working on it are doing what's best for the longevity of the carpet. In all honesty, DWP Carpet Binding could have done the one side of the carpet and left the rest of it alone as it was, but we knew that it wouldn't make for the best result in the long-run. The couple would have needed  repairs for those exact "problem" areas in the near future.

Dan's actions is what I'd like to call "preventative service". What Dan did, was preserve the longevity of the natural wear-n-tear that is bound to occur. He looked at the carpet, assessed where the carpet had "weak" spots , then made a decision he thought was best for the piece. By all means, one carpet will never produce enough of an income for him to retire on. So, if one were to think "he probably did that to get more money" they would be wrong. DWP Carpet Binding doesn't do anything that isn't necessary, when completing a job.

In previous blogs I've encouraged people to ask a lot of questions to be sure they are getting their needs met by someone who is knowledgeable in the trade. I would still encourage such a thing. Yet, unless you are well aware of the topic being discussed, I don't think it's wise to counteract a person's willingness to help answer your questions by doubting that what they're saying to you is true.
(Especially one who has been in the trade for over 15 years!)

We currently have a job in house now. The only task we were asked to perform was binding a carpet on four sides. That would be all well and good if the carpet didn't have a major "problem". The piece had previously been seamed, I assume when it was first bought. The seam is dry-rotted and coming apart. I made the suggestion to our customer that they have it seamed again, to preserve the longevity of the carpet. Considering it was a used piece that was re-sized, the owner of the carpet is obviously looking to maintain the quality and life span of its (the carpet's) use. The customer was willing to pay the extra money to have the piece seamed as necessary. I assured my customer it was the best way to go, to which they agreed.
I can guarantee that the piece will be useful for three to four times the amount of time after we get done with it...It is our job to do so!

One quality about DWP Carpet Binding, that we proudly admit to, is that we learn something new everyday in this trade. Ok, maybe not everyday, but at least once a week or every couple of weeks. We have seen hundreds of types of carpet. We've seen old, we've seen new, we've seen black and we've seen blue. (Sounds like a Cat in the Hat riddle, doesn't it?) We have seen so many different types of carpet that required all sorts of fabrication work, which we have excelled in performing, with very minimal complaints over a seven year time frame.We are not perfect, but we take lessons out of our mistakes.

A key to our work ethic is this phrase:
If it isn't good enough to go into our home, it isn't good enough to go into yours.
Everybody (or most people) want the best for themselves... so why wouldn't we provide that for our customers and their customers?

In other news:
This week has certainly been a busy one! This time of year is often so slow, yet thanks to the sales staff our customers have, we have been able to stay busy every day of this week! I'm not quite sure what their secret is this time around, but DWP Carpet Binding is certainly thankful for it.

Speaking of thanks, DWP Carpet Binding also had the pleasure to have a few walk-in customers this week!

Thank you to Steve, who had small mats bound

(Also,thank you for the letter thanking us because you loved the way your pieces came out!)

Thank you to Mariah, who came in with carpet remnants!

She had a 6 ft. by 7 ft. area rug cut & bound and a 2 ft. by 7 ft. runner bound.

Congrats & Good Luck when your first bundle of joy arrives in May!

Thank you to Barb, who came in to check out our stock pieces!

Thank you to Greg, who had runners made up for a set of stairs!

As always:

Thank you to our regular customers & your staff!

You've jumped our "slow season" and this January is off to a GREAT start!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Finishing The Week Off Strong!

We had the pleasure of having a woman come in, who was recommended by a gentleman who previously did business with Dan but has since retired. What a pleasure it was to have her and her friend in house. They both were fascinated by what our binding machines do because they both have a hobby of sewing themselves!

Dan jokingly made an offer for employment. Although, if they accepted, I'm not sure that he would take the offer back. [wink, wink]

One woman needed a rug squared & bound. She also was looking for an area rug for her living room as she had just purchased a new set of furniture. After her 40-minute visit here, she walked out with her bound remnant for her daughter & picked out a 9 ft. by 12 ft. that we needed to size to difference specifications for her.

What luck she had. She was wondering how she would get the 9 ft. by 12 ft. (now an 8.5 ft. by 11.5 ft.) home. We happened to have had an installer (a regular customer of ours) in house fabricating a piece that required seaming. He heard that she needed a delivery and kindly offered to do it for her!

At DWP Carpet Binding, not only are we a source for your binding needs, but other needs as well. We can't personally make residential pick-ups or deliveries, however we know many people who would be willing to do so!

A big thank you to Sandy of Simsbury for bringing in your remnant for binding & purchasing a DWP stock piece!!

I will also add:

DWP is wishing you a warm and healthy "29th"  birthday too!

[We all stop aging after 29, right?!]

Have a great weekend everybody!

Compliments Always Welcome!

Yesterday I received a complimentary e-mail from Trish. She is the woman who sent us a carpet from Maryland to be cut & serged. It is as follows:
     "Kelly,
         Just wanted you to know how delighted I am with how my bathroom rug turned out. Your suggestion of using the various colors that matched the adjacent striping turned out even better than I had imagined. It's absolutely perfect. I'm giving your info to the 3 places I went to get it done before I found you. Now they'll have another, more skilled, resource to help their customers who want more challenging rugs cut down and bound.
 Thank you thank you thank you..."

It was quite a nice wake-up call. When I usually check our e-mail the inbox is over run with promotional ads and sales from suppliers. However, this e-mail was worth reading, which is probably obvious.

Dan has a key statement:
"You can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. I prefer to be a part of the solution."

Having a satisfied customer out of state is one example of how DWP Carpet Binding is a part of the solution. Although we are asked to do certain tasks that can't always be accomplished, more often than not, we will find a way to make it happen! 

This past week, the first full week after all of the Holiday buzz, we have had a busy week. It was slow to start with, there wasn't a lot of work at hand. Then it quickly picked up. We had the pleasure of a few new walk-in clients and some returning ones as well!

DWP Carpet Binding would like to thank:

Gary, who had small mats made up from carpet remnants.

Paris, for having her beautiful runner reserged!

Joanne, for coming in with a remnant. 

She had it cut & bound using our "service while you wait". 

She was in & out within 10 minutes. She was also so thrilled to have been able to get it done so quickly (and surprised not only with our willingness to get it done, but that we could do it). 

Also, thank you to Trish for writing us about how happy you are with your carpets! 

It's great to hear the feedback.

Last, but certainly not least:

Another big thanks to our regular/returning retail & commercial customers! 

Without you, we wouldn't be here!

As we clean the office, sweep the warehouse & gear up to close for the weekend, we can begin to feel the amount of work we pumped out this week. It's setting into our bodies, with various aches and pains. Our energy levels are depleting and the thought of going home to take a nap is the only thing in mind (...well, my mind at least, I won't speak for Dan. Although I'm sure he too is eager to get home to watch his favorite show, Judge Judy!). 

On Monday, we'll start a new work week, revived, rejuvenated and ready for action! 

Yes, we WILL be open on Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

8 am - 4 pm.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Unheard of: "Where's Waldo?" 2012!

With this incredible weather, something that's never been done before will happen....

Dan a.k.a. "Waldo" will be a vendor at a flea market in January!

DWP Carpet Binding is starting 2012 with a bang. 

Come find a great bargain for top quality goods:

This weekend you can catch "Waldo" at the Wallingford flea market!

Redwood Country Flea Market: Directions 

Stop on in & look for DWP Carpet Binding's Trailer loaded from bottom to top with area rugs, hallway runners & small mats!

Have a great weekend!