Ordering furniture online means trusting a timeline you can’t see — no showroom, no sales associate confirming the truck is on schedule. Here’s exactly what happens between placing an order with us and finding a box on your doorstep, so there’s no guessing in between.
Handling Time: The First 3 Business Days
For general background on what “business days” means for shipping estimates and how it differs from calendar days, the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer shipping guidance is a useful reference. Once an order comes in, it generally ships within 3 business days. That window covers pulling your specific items, packing them knock-down into a shipping box with the correct hardware bag, and handing the package off to the carrier. Because everything is factory-direct — we’re not routing your order through a third-party warehouse — this step tends to be more predictable than furniture ordered through a big-box marketplace listing.
Handling time is separate from transit time, and it’s worth knowing the difference: handling is how long it takes us to prepare your order, while transit is how long the carrier takes to physically move the box to your address.
Carrier Transit: 2–7 Business Days
After your order ships, carrier transit typically runs 2–7 business days depending on how far the package is traveling and current carrier volume. Orders going to nearby regions tend to land on the faster end of that range, while cross-country shipments or periods of high carrier demand can push toward the longer end.
Put together, handling plus transit adds up to a total delivery window of roughly 5–10 business days from order to doorstep — a range we’d rather state plainly upfront than round down and risk setting the wrong expectation.
What Arrives in the Box
Every item ships knock-down — flat-packed rather than fully assembled — which keeps shipping costs down and reduces the chance of damage in transit compared to a bulky pre-built piece. Inside, you’ll find the furniture components along with a bag of 3/16″ stainless steel hardware and instructions. Assembly is designed to take about 20 minutes per piece with basic hand tools, no special equipment required.
Because everything ships free to the contiguous U.S. with no minimum order, there’s no separate shipping charge to factor into the delivery window either. That also means there’s no incentive to bundle items together just to clear a shipping threshold — you can order a single chair or a full patio set and the delivery window stays the same either way. If you’re ordering more than one piece at a time — say a set of chairs and a matching end table — it helps to unbox each item separately and match its hardware bag to that specific piece before starting assembly, rather than opening every box at once and sorting parts together afterward. That’s a simple way to avoid mixing up hardware between pieces that use the same 3/16-inch stainless steel fasteners, since the assembly steps are similar across products even though the pieces themselves differ in shape and size. For households with front-facing porches exposed to direct sun or rain, bringing boxes inside within a few hours of a delivery notification helps avoid unnecessary weather exposure to the packaging, even though the furniture itself is built to live outdoors once it’s assembled.
What to Do When It Arrives
Open the box as soon as reasonably possible after delivery and check the contents against the included parts list before assembling. A quick visual check before assembly begins tends to save the most time overall: confirm the panel count matches the parts list, check that the stainless steel hardware bag is sealed and complete, and look over visible surfaces for shipping damage before the first screw goes in. Assembling a piece first and discovering a problem afterward can make a straightforward exchange more complicated than catching it at the unboxing stage. Laying all pieces and hardware out on a flat surface before starting also makes it easier to spot a missing or mismatched part right away, rather than discovering it midway through assembly when it’s harder to trace back to a specific step. If anything looks off — a damaged panel, a missing hardware piece — our contact form is the fastest way to reach us so we can sort it out. Our full return terms, including timing and who covers return shipping in different situations, are outlined on our returns and warranty page.
Factors That Can Shift the Window Slightly
A few things can push delivery toward the longer end of the 5–10 business day range. Remote addresses further from major carrier hubs, severe weather along the shipping route, and periods of unusually high carrier volume — the weeks around major holidays, for example — can all add a day or two to transit. None of these are within our control once a package leaves our hands, but they’re worth factoring in if you’re timing an order around a specific event, like a party or a move-in date.
On the other end, orders shipping to addresses closer to our fulfillment point sometimes arrive faster than the stated window, since 2–7 business days is a range covering the full country, not a fixed number.
Planning an Order Around a Deadline
If you have a specific date in mind — a backyard gathering, a move-in, a holiday weekend — the safest approach is to order at least 10 to 12 business days ahead, giving yourself a buffer beyond the stated 5–10 business day window rather than cutting it exactly to the estimate. If your timeline is tighter than that, reach out through our contact form before ordering so we can tell you plainly whether it’s realistic rather than leaving you guessing.
How This Compares to Big-Box and Marketplace Shipping
Furniture ordered through a large marketplace listing is often drop-shipped through a third-party warehouse you never see, which can mean the seller themselves doesn’t have full visibility into exactly where the package is or how long handling will take on their end. Because our furniture ships factory-direct, handling time is something we control and can state plainly upfront — 3 business days — rather than a vague “processing time” that varies listing to listing.
Carrier transit itself (the 2–7 business day portion) works the same way regardless of who you order from, since it depends on standard ground shipping networks rather than anything specific to the retailer. The difference shows up mainly in the handling stage, where a factory-direct model tends to be more consistent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a faster delivery option?
Standard free shipping to the contiguous U.S. is a 5–10 business day total window from order to doorstep (3 business days handling plus 2–7 business days transit). Contact us before ordering if your timeline is tight and we’ll let you know what’s realistic.
Do I need to be home for delivery?
That depends on the carrier’s standard procedure for your address; most residential deliveries are left at the door unless a signature is specifically required.
Why does it ship knock-down instead of assembled?
Flat-packing reduces box size and the risk of shipping damage compared to sending a fully built piece, and keeps freight costs low enough that we can offer free shipping to the contiguous U.S.
Will I get tracking information once my order ships?
Yes — once your order leaves handling and enters carrier transit, you’ll be able to track its progress toward the estimated 2–7 business day transit window using the carrier’s standard tracking tools.
Does the delivery window change during holidays?
Carrier volume tends to increase around major holidays, which can push transit toward the longer end of the 2–7 business day range; ordering a few extra days ahead of a holiday-adjacent deadline is a reasonable precaution.
Does the 5–10 business day window include weekends?
No — both the 3-business-day handling estimate and the 2–7 business day transit estimate count business days only, so weekends and holidays can add calendar time beyond the stated window without changing the underlying business-day count.
Ready to order? Browse the full collection, including the Hampton Adirondack Chair, and see the delivery window for yourself.
