When you’re doing a complete FF&E update and installation, the last thing you want to worry about is how all the furniture, fixtures, and equipment will get to Guam.

We’re talking about questions like:

  • When will everything arrive?
  • Will the job site be overwhelmed with all the “stuff” at the same time?
  • Will it all arrive in the right order? Or will the installation crew have to sift through everything to get to the materials they need each day?
  • Will I be able to find storage on Guam if I need it?
  • Will I have to pay extra if I need to store items in their containers longer than expected?

All of these questions can be answered with a well-planned phase delivery solution for your FF&E freight. Add in the ability to store items on the mainland, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a cost-effective plan to execute a smooth and easy FF&E installation on Guam.

We’ll show you how it all works.

What Is Phase Delivery, and How Does It Work for an FF&E Project?

To give you a sense of how phase delivery can solve a number of challenges that crop up during an FF&E installation, let’s walk through what a phase delivery plan might look like, using our experience on past projects as an example.

Place Your FF&E Orders & Ship to a Mainland Terminal

Once your design has gotten full approval, you’ll procure all the necessary FF&E to complete the project. With many of our past clients, we’ve arranged to have all that FF&E shipped to a mainland terminal owned by our DeWitt sister company, Approved Freight Forwarders. At this mainland terminal, all the freight is received, logged, and organized, then stored until it’s needed on Guam.

Storage on the mainland U.S. can be much more cost effective than storage on Guam. As a result, by using a mainland terminal as a staging area, you’ll save some money right off the bat.

Storing all your FF&E on the mainland also has another advantage: It allows the mainland warehousing team to establish a phase delivery schedule so items are only sent to Guam as they’re needed. In addition to saving money on storage, it also keeps the job site clear so only the items that are needed are delivered to the site on a daily basis.

Create Your Installation Schedule

As vendors begin shipping the FF&E to the mainland terminal, you’ll create your installation schedule. You’ll decide what items need to arrive at your Guam job site first—and when they need to arrive.

Share That Schedule with Your Freight Provider, Who Creates a Shipping Schedule

Based on your installation schedule, your freight forwarder will create a shipping schedule that moves all the items you’ve highlighted to Guam on the timeline that you’ve specified.

Everything Gets Packed Correctly to Improve Job Site Flow

And here’s the other benefit to shipping your freight to a mainland terminal. Based on your directions, your freight forwarder will pack your containers to maximize the installation crew’s efficiency at the job site.

Here’s why this is important: Let’s say that you’re doing an FF&E refresh for a hotel. When you order the furniture, the supplier may pack one container full of mattresses, one container full of nightstands, one container full of desks, etc. So when the installation crew goes to install the furniture, they’d need access to at least three different containers, which isn’t feasible at many job sites.

Instead, your freight forwarder can repack these containers on the mainland so that each container holds full room sets. So instead of delivering three (or more!) containers to the site on Guam every day, they can deliver one with 10 full sets of furniture, and then replace it once that container is emptied. This means much easier workflow for the onsite crew, who can go room by room and complete each installation.

Items Move to Guam on Schedule & Clear Through Customs

As dictated by your schedule, the FF&E moves in order—and packed correctly in containers—to Guam, where it’s cleared by customs.

Local Trucking Team Hauls & Delivers

Finally, the local team delivers only what’s needed to the site on a daily basis to keep the area clear and maximize the team’s efficiency for the day’s installation.

Phase Delivery: Solutions to Unique FF&E Challenges

Now that you know how it works, you can start to see how a phase delivery solution for moving your FF&E freight to Guam solves a lot of challenges that can crop up during an installation, including the following:

If your job site can even accommodate all of the FF&E at once—which isn’t a given—delivering all the freight immediately means a crowded job site that’s difficult for crews to maneuver.

Additionally, even if the site can accommodate all the freight, you might find that vendor-packed containers don’t make for an easy installation. For example, what if all the mattresses for your hotel project are at the front of the container, and all of the bedframes are stuffed at the back? You’ll have to spend the crew’s valuable time unloading the entire container, then reorganizing the FF&E, wasting valuable time that could be spent on installation.

Instead, your forwarder can unpack all your vendor’s containers on the mainland, store items as needed, and repack them in a way that allows for efficient installation on site on Guam.

Additionally, if you decide to use containers to store your freight—rather than a warehouse on the mainland or on Guam—you’ll run into per diem charges.

Ocean freight carriers allow you to keep a container for a certain amount of time, called free time. If you keep your container past its free time, you will be subject to per diem fees from the ocean freight carrier. These are daily charges for equipment use, often both the container and the chassis it sits on. The cost varies by carrier, and they can really start to add up.

So if you’ve decided to have all the containers delivered to the job site, where they’ll sit until needed, you’ll likely face pretty significant per diem charges. A phase delivery solution like the one we described above can eliminate these extra fees.

Finally, if you choose a one-stop provider to handle all of this for you—receiving and storing the freight on the mainland, reconsolidating it as needed, moving it to Guam, and delivering it to the job site on the island—you’ll simplify things for yourself considerably. You’ll have one point of contact managing the entire project. You’ll also establish a complete through-line of accountability, all of which 1) reduces the potential for miscommunication and 2) creates clear responsibilities for finding solutions in case of any hiccups along the way.

Finally, if you also choose a provider with installation capability on Guam, you’ll simplify your project even further. If the same team that’s shipping, packing, handling, and delivering the freight is also the crew that’s installing it, you’ll reduce the possibility of miscommunication even further. The installation team will arrive with the FF&E they need to complete the job for the day, making it easy to keep the job on track.

One Freight Strategy, a Myriad of Solutions

As you can see, by working with a freight forwarder who can create a phase delivery solution, you’ll avoid a whole host of questions, problems, and challenges that can crop up on even the most carefully planned FF&E project.

Talk to your forwarder about phase delivery, along with storage on the mainland. If you’re able to bundle all these services with a single provider, you’ll add an additional layer of ease to your project—and reduce the possibility of miscommunications between multiple parties. Plus, if you’re able to work with a provider that also has installation capacity, the amount of coordination you’ll have to do continues to shrink, creating a much simpler solution for your next FF&E installation.

Have an upcoming FF&E installation on Guam? Our team can handle it all—freight, mainland storage, phase delivery, local storage, local delivery, and even installation. Just give us a call to get a quote on your next FF&E project.

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