Help and support How we price products

How we price products

Quality, craftsmanship and excellent value for money — these are the values which we have built our business upon and which we believe are responsible for our success. This commitment to our values translates into the products that we build and deliver to our customers every day.

With these values in mind, when we started PORTABELLO, we decided that each product must:

  • Reasonably last at least 10 years or more.
  • Be built with ethically sourced materials.
  • Be built by workers paid at the very least, the National Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation.

This means that although we’re not well positioned to compete with the cheapest brands, when you take into account the service that we offer and the quality of product that we deliver, you are getting excellent value for money.

The PORTABELLO Service

When considering the pricing of our products, it makes sense to look beyond the immediate price of the piece of furniture that your considering and also take into account the complimentary services that come as standard with PORTABELLO products.

Guarantee

All our products are guaranteed for at least 10 years. We offer this guarantee because we are extremely confident in the quality and reliability of the products that we build. Whilst the guarantee is limited to ten years, we’re confident that the products that we build will go on to last much longer.

Furthermore, everything is built so that it can be repaired and upgraded in the future by ourselves or an upholstery shop of your choice.

On going support

We offer ongoing support to help you ensure that your products remain in the best possible condition throughout their lifetime. If your furniture is damaged we will give you specialist advice on how to deal with the damage in the best possible way. If the damage cannot resolved without specialist skills, we will give you a quote to repair the damage.

If we have to take away your sofa or bed for repairs, we’ll always lend you a similar model until the repairs are complete.

Delivery and Fitting

We’ve found that the delivery of the product can be a stressful occasion where things can go wrong. This is why we personally deliver orders directly to our customers with our own fleet of delivery vans. This allows you to pick a suitable delivery time and allows us to ensure that your order is delivered damage free. Because our drivers work with our products every day, they know which parts can be removed if getting into your house is a squeeze. If your order needs to be assembled, as is the case with our beds, our drivers are trained to assemble beds to the same standard as they’re buil. We’ll also take away any packaging or old furniture that you no longer need.

Free Alterations

Because we make everything to order we are often able to make small adjustments at no extra cost. This bespoke aspect of our service allows you to get a piece of furniture that is better suited to your overall living space.

How we price our products

The price of a product is based on its production cost with a 10% margin added to cover the costs of running the workshop and a further 16% for profit.

Here is an example breakdown of how we price a leather Chesterfield sofa:

Craftsman 22 hours of work at £9.50 p/h £209.00
Leather 2 hides of leather £322.00
Wood and fillings Wood for the frame, springs and foam fillings £290.00
Delivery This is variable as we offer free nationwide delivery £75.00
Administrative costs This covers the costs of keeping the lights on and running the machinery at our workshop. £89.60
Our 10% Margin This allows us to save for the future and invest in new designs and products £98.56
VAT The government charge a 20% tax on top of most products sold in the UK. £216.83
Total £1,300.99

Deals and promotions

This pricing strategy allows us to sell our products to you directly, at a cost that represents excellent value for money when compared with equivalents on offer elsewhere. It’s also good to know that we’re able to ensure that the materials we use come from sustainable sources and that our workers are paid a healthy wage.

Whilst many mainstream furniture retailers continuously discount their products, we prefer to offer a single fair price all year round. We’re confident that the products we make offer excellent value for money. We will sometimes however sell a limited number of new designs at a discounted price to see how well the product does. If a product performs well, we’ll feel secure in bulk ordering any special materials that we need to make that product in the future, which will in turn allow us to offer a good price.