Hancock & Moore vs. Bradington Young

[drcollie]

I am often asked "Is the extra cost of Hancock & Moore worth it over Bradington-Young?"

There is no right answer to that. I sell both lines, and if I didn't believe the product wasn't decent, then I wouldn't carry them. Both have an outstanding record of longevity and durability, but yes - there are differences that don't really have a huge effect of how the piece will stand the test of time. As I have said many times, there is no rocket science in this industry, this is a business of labor and material, and the combination of the two. If you want to build the best product in the trade (Hancock & Moore) then your standards are exacting and that reflects in the prices paid. If you don't want to compete with a company such as H&M head-to-head, and want to position yourself at 20 % to 30% lower in the price points in the market, then you have to either reduce your labor or material cost. It's actually just as simple as that. Some of the differences you can't see, such as the frame construction. H&M builds of solid maple, Bradington Young of high grade plywood. That's a big difference right there in material/construction costs, but the plywood is not going to fail, it will just flex more over the solid maple frame.

Here's a few visuals as well.

Note that on the first series of photos of the arm on both a BY Tappan Sofa and a H&M LaCross, you will see a Welt Trim closing the panels, then a row of nails as decoration. On the BY, the welt trim is eliminated and its a nail trim closure only over the stitching that holds the panels together. This saves a considerable amount of time and leather as welts may seem simple and inconsequential, but they are not. They use up a lot of hide to make and require extensive sewing operations. There is a lot of money to be saved by eliminating the welt trim, but that also means that BY will not do a nail delete on this piece without charging you to make a welt closure.



Now onto the back of the same two sofas. Here you will see the welt trim (again) but notice how the corner edge on the H&M is stitched and seamed, whereas the BY is merely tucked and folded. You have a defined corner on the H&M piece that shows the art of furniture making whereas the BY is a simple fold operation. Again, time and labor to do it the H&M way.



Will either of the above effect how the piece sits or how long it lasts? No, it will not. But there are probably a hundred small differences between the products and I've just shown you two. It all adds up to reducing that cost by 20 to 30% overall.