One of the most exciting aspects of designing a home or a public space is choosing the materials that will be used. Stone, wood, porcelain. It’s what’s going to grab the attention of clients and can really make something extraordinary. And it’s safe to say that when choosing materials for your upcoming projects, you have a lot of options. You can pick budget materials, or high-end ones. You can pick natural or man-made . You can also pick domestic materials or foreign ones. But, what are the risks of choosing a foreign supplier for building materials? And what are the keys to mitigate these risks? In this article, we talk about some of the answers to these questions. Keep in mind, we’ll only touch on a few of the risks, so make sure to do more research!

Language and Culture

One of the main things to keep in mind when choosing a foreign supplier is that you might not be familiar with the language or the culture. Not understanding the language of the country you’re sourcing from, can understandably lead to some communication issues. Smaller craftsmen and artisans that make unique items will most likely not speak English at all. And not only the language but understanding the culture and how business is run. Every country has their own way of doing business and understanding these differences could not be more important.

Quality

Related to culture, you’re also going to have to think about quality standards. Are the standards where you are planning to source from equal to yours and your country’s standards? Just because something is done one way where you are from, doesn’t mean you can expect it to be the same in other places. Understanding how processes are different and what to expect from foreign countries will make sure that you end up with what you actually want and are paying for.

Exchange Costs and Pricing

Especially when you are dealing with client budgets, you want to make sure to keep costs as predictable as possible. Calculating pricing, shipping costs, and exchange rates can get overwhelming quickly. Not only that but it’s not entirely uncommon to experience delays when shipping internationally. Having to wait on a specific material coming from abroad could potentially affect deadlines in a serious way. All this may sound almost impossible to deal with and frankly, you may ask yourself if it’s worth it. However, we believe that the key to success is hiring the right people. Someone or a company with expertise and experience on importing foreign goods. We at Atlantic Link have more than 20 years of experience, not only in importing goods from Italy but, consulting on what materials would work best for specific projects. We help architects, sales representatives and contractors get the highest-quality Italian materials on-time and on budget.