When decorating, choosing branded whole-home customization or finding a carpenter to build on-site is a choice many homeowners need to face. The editor will make a detailed introduction from the following points for your reference:

1From the perspective of effort

Generally, whole-home customization only requires cooperating with professional designers to complete measurement and design, then you can sit back and wait for installation. But cabinets made by carpenters have neither design drawings nor construction drawings. Cabinet doors, countertops, etc. require homeowners to go to locally small factories recommended by the carpenter (everyone understands what 'recommended' means) for processing, with generally lower quality and no environmental protection guarantee; basically made of 'toxic cardboard' density board. Moreover, during the carpenter's construction process, homeowners need to purchase various specifications of hardware, screws, nails, adhesive tape, foam glue, structural adhesive, glass glue, keel, bottom board, gypsum board, wood frame, hinges, door locks, handles, etc., various trivial items, requiring a lot of time and energy to compare and purchase. And because everything is purchased locally, it's difficult to buy well-known brand hardware and environmental adhesives, not only time-consuming and exhausting but also burying many environmental hazards. And it's not like once you finish buying everything it's over; the carpenter will call you anytime to buy additional items. After the project is completed, you still need to return various excess materials; small items are fine, but returning large items like wood boards, gypsum boards, wood frames still requires hiring people and vehicles. Homeowners become the carpenter's helper in minutes, being told to go here and there. Regarding supervision, because the carpenter is a guerrilla (informal worker), don't expect any quality guarantee or after-sales service. If there are after-sales issues, if they come for a free on-site visit without needing to treat them to a meal, you're lucky. To reduce quality problems, you still have to stay and supervise every day. If you're not careful, key positions miss a process, cabinet bodies have extra nail holes - these are very common. After all, it's manual production, accidents happen often. To reduce flaws, you also have to consider the carpenter's mood, at which time you can only smile and say 'please pay attention next time, master.' But whole-home customization doesn't have so much 'social niceties.' After measuring the house, the full house renderings are done on the computer, allowing real-time modification of colors and designs. The selected adhesives, materials, and hardware are all imported first-line brands. Furniture after leaving the factory is installed by professional masters on-site, following standard procedures. Homeowners can rest easy and feel at ease.

2From the perspective of price

Some people say hiring a carpenter to work on-site is cheaper? Then you're wrong. The cost of cabinets made by carpenters includes labor fees, wardrobe board costs, wardrobe hardware, custom door panels, glue, screws, air nails, countertops, countertop installation fees, various material delivery fees to upper floors, shipping costs, cigarettes, wine, tea, and water expenses, kickoff meal, completion meal, etc. When you finish renovating, you discover the materials used are not particularly good, yet the money spent exceeds that of whole-home customization significantly. Even spending a hundred or so daily, you can't calculate the total clearly. Additionally, the time and effort spent supervising, along with personal time costs, are extremely high. Choosing whole-home customization offers all-inclusive pricing with materials and hardware from legitimate major brands, which is definitely cheaper than carpenter work for the same renovation effect.

3From the perspective of materials

    Is the material used by carpenters better than custom-made? Some people say that the materials used by carpenters are solid and you can see the quality. The "eco-board" commonly used by carpenters is made by gluing together softwoods like Chinese fir and poplar. In reality, poplar and Chinese fir are the lowest-end wood materials, and many branded custom wardrobes don't use them because the board's performance is simply poor and would damage the brand image. The so-called eco-board is actually the old joinery board, large core board, just with a layer of melamine paper on top, rebranded as an eco-board. The core material using poplar and Chinese fir (market price 240-400/sheet) is considered relatively good, while in more third and fourth tier cities, you can only buy eco-boards made from mixed wood and recycled waste wood (market price 180-210/sheet). Since they are all made from wood strips assembled together, a large amount of glue is needed to fill gaps and cover knots, insect holes in the wood. And due to processing technology limitations, only urea-formaldehyde glue (made from urea + formaldehyde) can be used for bonding and production, resulting in serious formaldehyde exceeding standards. It is the culprit behind childhood leukemia, adult pharyngitis, rhinitis, and allergic urticaria. While allvs whole-home customization selects particleboard from international first-tier brands as material, with environmental protection level reaching ENF grade, using MDI aldehyde-free medical glue + European pine production, ensuring environmental protection and health, with the entire production line investment scale reaching over 100 million yuan. The eco-board production line investment can start with just over 200,000 yuan, so particleboard in the market only has a few major brands, while eco-boards have dozens of regional brands in each area, most can't be found online, basically produced by local small workshops, with no guarantee of quality or environmental protection.

4From the perspective of craftsmanship

    Skilled carpenters indeed make good products, but this is limited to manual craftsmanship only; don't expect them to have any sense of aesthetics in design. They cannot compare with professionals trained by higher education institutions. Training a designer to undergraduate graduation requires 15 years of study, mastering knowledge from multiple fields, and cultivating excellent design aesthetics. Only professional designers can perform interior design according to the homeowner's needs and living habits. A tailor who's good with scissors can't become a barber, a painter who's good with brushes can't become an artist, a calligrapher who's good with writing can't become an author. If you're preparing to hand your house over to a carpenter, then don't have high expectations for renovation aesthetics.    

5From the perspective of environmental protection

    Whether board materials are environmentally friendly depends on testing. Many eco-boards are produced by small workshops that cannot be found online at all. During processing, large amounts of urea-formaldehyde glue are used. To reduce odor, illegal chemical raw materials such as formaldehyde trapping agents are added to temporarily hide the formaldehyde. With slogans like "eco-friendly, formaldehyde-free, children-specific" printed on them, they are shipped out truckload after truckload. A large-core board costing just a few dozen yuan is transformed into what carpenters call solid wood eco-board, with the price multiplied more than ten times. Through mutual flattery and hype, homeowners' money mysteriously ends up in the pockets of dealers and carpenters. This is not alarmist—everyone can search "eco-board scam" online to see how many children have developed leukemia or even died from so-called eco-boards, how many families have been destroyed. Carpenters do not have professional testing equipment, making it difficult to determine whether the materials are environmentally friendly. allvs selects the most environmentally friendly materials, and is equipped with American-imported INTEASCAN 4160 professional formaldehyde testing instruments, conducting secondary testing on each homeowner's furniture before it leaves the factory.

6From the perspective of service

    Custom wardrobes have professional staff following up from measurement to installation, with formal contracts signed. Hardware like hinges that are easily damaged all come with lifetime quality guarantees, and any issues during homeowner use have professional after-sales service. Furniture made by carpenter guerrilla teams has materials purchased in scattered batches, no formal contracts, and when quality problems arise, there's no recourse—only accepting bad luck.

7From the perspective of safety

    Hiring carpenters for construction poses significant employment risks. If workers have accidents during construction, regardless of reasons, homeowners bear 80% of legal responsibility, compensating for medical expenses, lost wages, nutrition fees, and various other costs.