What’s the Difference Between Commercial and Residential Furniture for Your Office?

Photography by Chi Lau/Applied Design Initiative LLC

The experts at Benhar Office Interiors are here to offer guidance when you’re tasked with furnishing your office space. We partner with you to deliver a final product that will stand the test of time, work within your budget, and express your company culture.

While furniture is essential for functional office spaces, there’s an extensive range of options with different price points, styles, and intended functions. Residential furniture is available as a mass-market option through traditional retail outlets, such as independent boutiques and online stores, with a modest range of prices. 

Commercial, or contract, furniture is a step above residential. Buyers must typically place orders through a dealer, who offer more room for customization and ultimately, access to better craftsmanship. 

Let’s explore more of the differences between commercial and residential furniture options. 

Commercial vs. Residential Furniture: Key Differences

Where To Get It

A quick Google search for “best office chair” or “what desk should I buy?” returns a host of results from every direct-to-consumer manufacturer and product round-up to the point of overwhelm. While Herman Miller offers direct-to-consumer and workplace-specific furniture, the easiest way to tell the difference between commercial and residential furniture is whether or not you can purchase it yourself.

Contract-grade furniture comes from authorized dealers because the manufacturers typically avoid sitting on inventory. Benhar is a Platinum-Certified MillerKnoll dealer with access to more than 300 product lines designed to impress and ready to order.

Residential furniture can be purchased online or in-store. That doesn’t mean buyers purchase items off the shelf, however. Instead, the furniture comes from a warehouse with a much shorter delivery window than contract-grade counterparts.

How It Looks in the Space

Often, buying residential-grade furniture boils down to a case of “what you see is what you get.” Manufacturers decide the specific configurations for selling these products, so you won’t have much flexibility to configure components or bring in additional features. 

Before making any product recommendations, furniture dealers like Benhar usually perform a thorough walkthrough of your offices to determine what makes the most sense for that space. Should you need to change certain elements, like cable management systems, we can work with you to order furniture that meets your exact specifications.

Lifespan

The level of durability represents one of the biggest differences (if not the biggest) between residential and commercial-grade furniture.

In commercial settings, residential furniture can fail in as little as one month, but particularly high-end options can last a couple of years. Workspaces with high traffic demands often wear out residential-grade furniture in short order. While a residential couch could last 10 years in your lower-traffic home, it may only last six months in an office. You never know how long it‘ll last, and you may be stuck with an emergency replacement if it fails unexpectedly.

Contract-grade furniture keeps this burden in mind by incorporating higher-quality fabrics and finishes built to withstand near-constant use. Investing in these options can provide peace of mind because you can trust your furniture is built to last.

Repair Options

Once you establish a replacement with a commercial-grade furniture dealer, you can access their ongoing services. Because your dealer retains in-depth records of your purchase and a working understanding of your aesthetic, they’ll work with you to repair, refinish, and update previously purchased furnishings as needed. 

This level of service doesn’t accompany residential furniture purchases, so you’ll have to locate and vet a contractor willing to accept your project. If repairs outweigh the purchase price of a given piece, this can lead to sunk costs. 

In contrast, contract-grade manufacturers offer longer-term warranties. While residential furniture may offer short return windows or limited guarantees, dealers and commercial manufacturers make more comprehensive promises about their higher-end products.

Customization

Custom furniture speaks for itself. With elevated decor, each minute detail tells your brand's story and shows clients how much you value their business. With commercial-grade furniture, you can fully customize items to your specifications and orient them for ergonomic needs and traffic flow. On the other hand, residential furniture is limited to the manufacturer’s pre-selected options. 

Working with Benhar Office Interiors gives you access to our full catalog of fabrics and finishes and guided showroom tours. We’ll give you all the information you need to confidently select bespoke furnishings that express your culture and evoke a welcoming ambience for your clients.

Expense

If durability isn’t the primary differentiating factor between commercial and residential furniture, then expense certainly is. Anyone can purchase residential furniture from direct retailers like Home Depot or private sellers on Facebook Marketplace, but you’ll immediately be able to tell the difference once you’ve seen commercial furniture. 

If you experience mild “sticker shock” at purchasing a $15,000 desk, remember it’s not in your home. Dozens of people have probably already sat in your chair, and dozens more may follow. If your furniture has been thoughtfully designed, you’ll never be able to guess how long it’s been there because it will still look brand-new for years to come. That $15,000 desk becomes less costly when compared to the ~25 desks you could purchase for $1,000 over the next decade.

Delivery Timeline

Custom furniture dealers and manufacturers need time to communicate and balance multiple client orders, which means getting contract-grade furniture delivered and installed can take some time. Residential-grade furniture may arrive in as little as a few weeks and may offer a worthwhile option while you await your commercial furniture delivery. Commercial-grade furniture, on the other hand, must be ordered three to six months in advance to guarantee enough time to meet your deadlines.