Now you're ready to discuss pews with companies

Ask a few of the companies that sound good to you and have them explain their pews and options for your church.  They'll typically ask questions before they come in like what is your time frame, what is your budget, how many feet or how many people are going to be seated, is it part of a remodel or a new building, are you working with an architect or a decorator, etc.  There are lots of questions that will help the sales person hone in on the solution that is best for your church prior to coming out.

You'll have to decide as a committee if the group, a sub-group or just one or two members will meet with the representatives and if you'll do it on different days, consecutively on one day or in some other fashion.  I have seen it done all different ways, but my recommendation would be to meet with manufacturers on different days and take careful notes so you can review them later as a group.  When a committee meets with multiple manufacturers on the same day there is a tendency to confuse them and the probability of this increases with the numbers of manufacturers who present.

You'll have a lot on your plate as a building committee without even considering your family life, so scheduling is hard and sometimes you're almost always facing a deadline.  So do what works best for your situation, but whatever it is take good notes and ask lots of questions.  If you don't know or if you think there is any vagueness in a response, seek clarification and take notes on that reply.  You'll go back to your notes again and again.  If you have notes you want to share on your experiences, add them to this blog.

Pew reps sell what they have and do that well or are force out of the business because they can't survive.  A person with particle board pews will talk about the advantages of engineered wood and someone with solid oak will stress that.  You'll hear lots about foam density, seat curvature, back height, anchoring systems, cap rails, seat pan construction and just about every other item that could be considered on a pew.  It's up to you as a committee to sort through it all and determine what is best for your style of worship and fits your budget.  Some companies will talk about a lifetime warranty and others a 25 year warranty.  These warranties only cover material and workmanship and don't mean a thing if the company is no longer around.  Warranties won't cover abuse, normal wear and tear and acts of God, so most companies can get out of any claim they don't want to honor.  Don't get hung up on warranty.

Some manufacturers try to get away from construction and move to the aesthetics of finish and fabric as soon as possible.  Be careful to get back to construction.  Most manufacturers have the same fabrics or similar fabrics available, so learn as much as you can about the pew construction and later move to finish and fabrics.

The next post will deal with questions for the pew companies.