An Admin’s Office Furniture Buying Checklist: Chairs, Glass Walls, and a Dry Erase Board

I’m an office administrator for a 210-person company. I manage all office supply and furniture ordering—roughly $400,000 annually across 15 vendors—and I report to both operations and finance. Since I took over purchasing in 2020, I’ve processed 60 to 80 orders a year: task chairs, desks, filing cabinets, glass wall systems, and more dry erase boards than I want to count.

This checklist is for anyone who buys office furniture for 20-plus people and needs to avoid surprises. If you’ve ever opened a delivery and found that a “standard” chair doesn’t fit the person who’ll sit in it for eight hours, you know the feeling. Here’s what you need to know: these eight steps cover about 90% of the problems I’ve run into. I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear. I’m going to tell you what to check.

Before we start—yes, the phrase “female delusion calculator” crossed my feed recently. Honestly, it’s not a bad way to describe the gap between what some managers request and what the space can actually support. This is the realistic version. No delusions, just measurements.

Step 1: Define the task before you choose the brand

It’s tempting to think you can just pick a well-known name and move on. But Teknion office furniture—or any brand—only works if the product matches the job. For an eight-hour task chair, I look at seat depth, lumbar support, armrest adjustability, and caster type. The Teknion task chair range (Nuova Contessa, Projek, Sabrina, Around) gets mentioned a lot in these conversations, and for good reason, but I’ve seen the same model work great for one team and flop for another because we didn’t check the seat depth.

Before requesting quotes, write down the user group. Are they in the chair for four hours or eight? Do they need a drafting chair for a standing desk? Do they want mesh or upholstery? If you can’t describe the job, you can’t compare prices. And if someone asks for the “best” chair, ask them to define “best” in inches and adjustability, not shelf appeal.

Step 2: Measure everything before you fall in love

From the outside, ordering a filing cabinet looks easy. The reality is that dimensions, drawer opening, and the path from the loading dock to the final spot all matter. I once ordered a mobile pedestal that was one inch too tall for the desk’s knee well. We ate the return shipping. Note to self: always ask for the shipping dimension, not just the product dimension.

Measure the existing space, doorways, hallway turns, elevator dimensions, and final footprint. For a glass wall system, you need to know whether panels fit the elevator and whether the floor can handle the load. For a dry erase board, measure the wall width and the frame, not just the advertised board size—a board listed as 48 inches can be 49.5 inches with trim.

Step 3: Get itemized quotes and ask what’s NOT included

I’ve learned to ask “what’s NOT included” before “what’s the price.” It sounds backwards, but it saves more money than chasing discounts. The lowest quote in a three-way comparison usually didn’t include freight, installation, old furniture disposal, or tax. Transparent pricing, where every line is listed, ends up costing less more often than not. (Surprise, surprise.)

Your quote should include: chair cylinders, armrest mode, caster type (hard floor vs. carpet), glass wall mounting rails, doors, pass-throughs, dry erase surfaces, and delivery inside the building. If a vendor says “installation included,” ask exactly what that includes. Does it include moving existing furniture? Does it include removing packaging? Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), advertising claims have to be truthful and substantiated. That doesn’t prevent gray areas, but it gives you a reason to ask for a spec sheet, not just a brochure.

I went back and forth between a lower-priced vendor and a Teknion dealer for two weeks. The lower-priced chair was $200 cheaper per unit, but the dealer included a no-charge demo session and provided measured drawings for the glass wall. Ultimately, I chose the dealer because the installation risk was lower. On a $120,000 project, a $4,000 difference isn’t worth a wall that doesn’t line up.

Step 4: Test a sample before you order a hundred

Specs only tell you so much. A Teknion task chair can look great on paper, but the lean-forward tension, cushion density, and armrest shape are subjective. I ask for one loaner chair for 48 hours, and I make three or four different body sizes test it.

People often assume that if one model is comfortable for one person, it works for everyone. The “one-size-fits-all” advice ignores the fact that seat width, armrest height, and lower-back support vary. Also, don’t buy the same chair for a receptionist that you’d buy for a person in an eight-hour engineering session. Different tasks, different budgets, different levels of adjustability.

Step 5: Verify the delivery path and installation conditions

This is the step that separates office admins from office decorators. I once scheduled a glass wall installation before checking the freight elevator. On install day, we found out the elevator opening was 32 inches and the panels were 36 inches. The crew had to carry the glass up three flights of stairs. I still have the photo.

Before you sign anything, ask: loading dock availability? Freight elevator? Stairs? Long-carry fee? Can the crew move the product to the third floor? For dry erase boards, ask if the board comes in one fixed length or if it can be cut. And for the love of whoever runs your office—make sure your label printer is working before install day. There’s nothing worse than trying to label twelve workstations while the help desk ticket says “why is my printer offline.” It’s usually the wrong tray, by the way.

Step 6: Set a timeline and add a buffer

Lead times vary. For Teknion office furniture, some task chairs are stock items with five-day shipping, while modular glass walls can take eight to twelve weeks. Get a promised delivery date in email, not verbally. Add a two-week buffer if this furniture supports a new hire class or an office move. (This is as of January 2025, at least. Ask for current commitments.)

If you’re consolidating orders for 400 employees across three locations, set your internal deadline two weeks before the real move date. You’ll need that buffer for missed deliveries, missing parts, and the inevitable “we thought someone else ordered the connectors” email.

Step 7: Inspect before you sign the delivery receipt

I learned this one the hard way. A delivery of fifty Teknion task chairs came in sealed packaging. I signed, then discovered nine chairs with damaged armrests. Getting replacement parts took three weeks. The vendor said if I’d marked it at delivery, they’d have swapped them on the spot.

Open one box of each product before the driver leaves. Note any visible damage on the delivery receipt. Take photos with a timestamp. Check that boxes match the packing slip. If the contract says “signing waives damage claims,” write “subject to inspection” next to your signature before you sign.

Step 8: Make a maintenance map

After installation, most people stop and give themselves a pat on the back. Then the warranty gets lost, and the spare casters sit in a drawer for a year. Create a simple maintenance sheet: model numbers, order date, warranty length, and the dealer’s support contact. I keep that on a dry erase board at the supplies closet. It sounds low-tech, but it works.

Write “no harsh cleaners on glass wall” and “use only furniture polish, not bleach wipes” next to it. If you have a dry erase board, that’s the physical place for this information. Mental note: I should actually scan these and put them in the shared drive, too.

From the outside, the final setup looks like the hard part. The reality is the hand-off—showing facilities and finance what we bought, why, and how to maintain it.

Common Mistakes and Final Notes

Don’t over-specify the task chair. If your team is at a desk for two hours a day, a $1,400 chair with synchronized tilt may be overkill. Spend the budget where people sit for eight hours.

Don’t assume “dry erase board” means one kind of surface. There are painted steel, porcelain, and tempered glass. A glass dry erase board can be magnetic if it has steel backing; if not, magnets won’t stick. Ask.

Don’t ignore the printer. If you rearrange offices and suddenly the printer is hidden behind a wall, someone will ask “why is my printer offline.” Before moving that wall, check the network drop. This is not furniture advice, but I have lived it.

If you take one thing from this checklist, make it this: the visible price is never the whole price. Measure twice, ask for the omissions, and keep a dry erase board somewhere for the details you’ll forget. It won’t make the process glamorous, but it will make the delivery day a lot quieter.