Jishang Furniture review.

After talking to a few other homeowners who used Jishang Furniture, I realised there's good and bad with them, like with most service providers. Up front: Jishang is basically run by one person — the owner, Mary (she's listed on the contractors page). When I say she later, I mean Mary.

Another Jishang owner told me:

“I literally took a leap of faith with Mary. I didn't know anyone who used her. So far the experience has been good. She's super responsive and assuring.”

I'm not going to sugarcoat and say all good things about Jishang. I'll put up the real things I am aware of, so you can make your own judgement. This sits alongside the recent remodel write-up and the Jishang contractor entry.

Jishang pricing is of course great value. Reason is simple — true direct factory to consumer: no middlemen markups, no ad spend, Mary's showroom is her own flat, and no salesperson on the ground. The con is mainly that Mary doesn't have an admin person. I'm not sure if that's to keep costs low, or because she doesn't trust someone else with it — more on that under admin.

10/10 here for sure. These are real money saved. Not free upgrades that most people offer to trick you to sign with them.

Mary is a one-man show. Which means when concurrent Jishang projects are running, things will stretch — and as all human beings, we cannot handle that mental load. Imagine many customers having issues one by one at the same time. It just don't scale.

I am a big fan of productivity. But I can totally see that Mary is handling quotation / invoicing, admin support etc all on her own. And it seems without any form of tools. Sometimes conversations get missed out, so you might need to chase a little.

Mary's a bit kan chiong I feel. But good for me as a consumer. When she's on it, she's responsive — which fits the 7/10; things can still slip when Mary's juggling projects.

Another Jishang owner told me:

“Yah she's damn hungry for business. She literally replies within 2 sec and SG takes days.”

I would rate Jishang customer support probably 7/10.

Jishang installation note

Install experience varies. Mary / Jishang works with several installation teams — they are not Jishang staff, and they are not the carpenters themselves. My install was arranged through Jack, and the actual installer on site was Meng. I'm not sure how many teams Jack himself works with. So the other owner's experience below may not apply to every job — progress can slow after day one when the crew size drops, but that depends on who shows up for yours.

Another Jishang owner told me:

“Similar to you where the first day four pax came and then slowly two and one pax so the progress is not as what I had expected.”

This is rare. Mary doesn't shy away from problems and is willing to address them. I guess this is China standards. Unlike a lot of local companies who often disappear or reply slowly.

Jishang after-sales is definitely 10/10.

China carpentry is unmatched. No formaldehyde. No glue smell. Very strong in terms of quality. This applies to almost all vendors — others you can find in the market locally. These are the China standards, so it won't vary much from different providers in my opinion.

Another Jishang owner told me:

“The carpentry is really solid.”

Definitely a 10/10 for Jishang quality.

Admin here refers to invoicing. Plenty of room for improvement. Do check through. I think Mary is just not good with admin. So check through your Jishang quote and question if something is off.

Mine personally also encountered a bit off. A few items wasn't charged properly. Went through a bit of back and forth to nail it down. 6/10 for Jishang admin.

The designer gets the job done. I think Jishang might also hire part timers to fill in gaps. So those may not be that experienced.

Issues I personally have are mostly carpentry that sits in the corner. In my case, it was in the kitchen — usage details that didn't quite land in the design. The other owner ran into the same kind of gap:

Another Jishang owner told me:

“The designer however did not take into consideration actual usage and hence I had a few design flaws here and there.”

The other owner also mentioned that after-sales support is there. And the quality is great. 8/10 for Jishang design.

Jishang score summary

Conclusion

Yes there are inconveniences with Jishang. Would I engage Mary again? Definitely. The inconveniences are pretty minor to me. The pros definitely outweigh the cons.

That said, adjust your expectations a little — especially on the Jishang quotation front.

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