Hotel furniture from Turkey comes two ways. Custom pieces are drawn for the project and built to its shop drawings. Catalogue pieces come from a maker’s standard range, built to the maker’s own drawings, with a choice of finish, fabric or size from a fixed list. Neither is better in general. The room count, the design and the opening date decide which one each line should be.
Side by side
| Custom (to project drawings) | Catalogue (maker’s range) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who draws it | The factory side redraws the designer’s intent as shop drawings for your approval | Already drawn; you pick a model code |
| Order size where it works | Repeating rooms: the cost of drawings, samples and setup spreads over every unit | Any size, down to a single piece |
| Sizes | Built to the room: wall to wall, niche to niche | Fixed sizes, sometimes a few options |
| Finishes and hardware | Any veneer, laminate, lacquer, stone, metal or handle the spec names | The range’s own list; customer’s own fabric often accepted on seating |
| Samples | Finish samples, then a mock-up room or key pieces | Finish swatches; a showroom piece if one exists |
| Inspection | Against your approved shop drawings and the tolerances in your spec | Against the maker’s product spec |
| Lead time | Drawings and approvals come first, then production | Shorter when stocked; made-to-order ranges still need production time |
| Replacements later | Remade from the shop drawings on file | Easy while the model is in the range; harder once it is dropped |
| Fit with the room | Exact, because it was drawn for it | Depends on how close the room is to the range |
Order size
Custom work has a fixed front end: shop drawings, finish samples, a mock-up, jigs and machine programs. On a building with dozens of identical rooms that cost spreads thin. On five rooms, or a single villa, it weighs more per piece. That is why a custom package often carries the repeating guestroom items (headboards, wardrobes, desks, TV units, vanities) while one-off pieces (a lobby chair, a side table) come from a range.
Finishes and hardware
Custom gives full control: veneer species and cut, lacquer sheen, edge profile, hinge and runner brand, socket and USB positions, the cut-out for the safe. Catalogue gives a menu. Many ranges allow a choice of wood finish, leg colour or the customer’s own fabric on upholstered pieces. Past that menu the piece becomes custom, with its own drawing and sample.
Inspection
A custom piece is checked against the shop drawing the buyer signed: sizes, joints, hardware, finish against the approved sample. A spec can also name a quality grade from a woodwork standard. ANSI/AWI 0641, for example, sets tighter flushness and gap limits for its top grade than for its middle and lowest grades. A catalogue piece is checked against the maker’s own product sheet. In both cases a lot-sampling rule such as ISO 2859-1 decides how many pieces get pulled and opened from each batch.
Replacement cycles and stock programmes
Hotels refresh in stages. Soft goods (fabrics, carpets, curtains) wear out first; casegoods last longer. An HVS review of brand renovation programmes described soft goods being updated in the near term with casegoods replaced years later. Brands that run a standard room package keep casegoods and soft goods uniform across their hotels, which is a catalogue model at brand scale.
Two things follow for the buyer:
- Custom: the approved shop drawings and finish codes are the record. A damaged wardrobe door can be remade years later from the same file. Some owners also order spare doors, drawer fronts and tops with the main order.
- Catalogue: replacements are easy while the model is live. Once a range is dropped, a matching piece may not exist, so buyers on long programmes often ask how long the maker keeps a model in its range.
Lead time
Custom lead time starts with drawings and approvals: shop drawings, finish samples, then the mock-up, and only then bulk production. Catalogue skips most of that. A stocked item ships from the warehouse; a made-to-order item from a range still needs production, but no drawing or approval round. Where a date is tight, stocked catalogue items can fill public areas while the custom guestroom package goes through approvals.
When each makes sense
| Situation | Usually fits |
|---|---|
| Many identical rooms with a designed look | Custom for the room package |
| Built-in joinery: wardrobes, wall panels, vanities, bars | Custom; it has to fit the walls |
| A small boutique hotel or a single villa | A mix: custom for fitted items, catalogue for loose pieces |
| Replacement of a few damaged items | The original source: shop drawings for custom, model code for catalogue |
| Opening date close, design not final | Catalogue where possible; custom where the room demands it |
| Brand standard package with set models | Follow the brand’s list; the listed items are the “catalogue” |
How Rovers handles a mixed package
Rovers Contract prices each BOQ line on its own. Lines that need drawing go to the Turkish partner factory that builds that kind of piece, with shop drawings for approval and samples before production. Lines where a partner factory’s standard model fits are priced on that model. Both go through the same inspection before packing and ship in the same consignment.
What to send us
Send the BOQ or drawings, with any model codes the designer already picked. Mark which lines are fixed and which are open to a standard model, and we price both.
- HVS: Industry insights, impacts of major brand PIPs (uniform casegoods and softgoods packages; softgoods first, casegoods later), 2017-02-20 · accessed 2026-10-04
- ANSI/AWI 0641-2019 Architectural Wood Casework, aesthetic grades and tolerances · accessed 2026-10-04
- ISO 2859-1:2026 Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes (AQL) · accessed 2026-10-04