Duramen Designs | Cardiff, Newcastle NSW

Full-time | Salary negotiable based on experience

Sales & Office Manager

Duramen Designs | Cardiff, Newcastle NSW

Full-time | Salary negotiable based on experience

Take ownership of our customer enquiries, sales pipeline and office coordination while helping drive the continued growth of Duramen Designs.

Duramen Designs is a custom furniture and joinery business based in Cardiff, Newcastle.

We design and manufacture custom vanities, furniture, tables, cabinetry and architectural timber pieces for homeowners, builders, designers and trade customers.

We're looking for an extremely organised, confident and proactive person to take ownership of the customer, sales and administrative side of our business.

This is not purely an administration position .

We're looking for someone who enjoys talking to people, keeps things moving and doesn't need to constantly be told what to do next.

The right person will become an important part of Duramen Designs – managing new enquiries, nurturing leads, coordinating jobs, keeping our systems up to date and actively looking for new opportunities.

What the role is really about

We receive regular enquiries from customers wanting custom pieces made.

An initial enquiry might simply be:

"Hi, I'd like a quote for a dining table."

Before we can actually quote it, we need to know the size, timber, design, finish, reference images, delivery location and other relevant details.

Your job is to own that process .

Speak with the customer. Understand what they're trying to achieve. Ask the right questions. Gather the information we need. Organise it properly and get the job ready to quote.

For custom work, you'll then hand a complete brief to the owner so it can simply be priced.

For products with established pricing already programmed into our system, you'll be able to prepare and send quotes yourself.

From there, you continue to own the opportunity.

Send the quote. Follow it up. Answer questions. Keep the customer engaged. Help get the job across the line.

We want every genuine enquiry looked after properly and no good opportunity disappearing simply because we're busy.

Customer enquiries & sales

You will be responsible for:

- Managing incoming emails and new customer enquiries

- Answering incoming sales calls

- Speaking with customers about what they're looking to have made

- Gathering dimensions, specifications, reference images, material selections and other information required for quoting

- Preparing complete quote briefs for custom work

- Preparing and sending straightforward quotes using established pricing

- Managing our pipeline of active enquiries and quotes

- Following up outstanding quotes

- Nurturing potential customers from initial enquiry through to acceptance

- Contacting leads generated through our showroom

- Re‑engaging previous enquiries and customers

- Following up deposits and job acceptance where required

- Making sure customers don't fall through the cracks

We don't want a "quote sent – job done" approach.

If a customer hasn't responded, follow them up.

Find out where they're at, answer their questions and see what we can do to move the project forward.

Business development

Generating new work is also an important part of this position.

When the immediate workload is under control, we want someone who naturally thinks:

"Where can we find the next opportunity?"

That could involve:

- Reaching out to builders and construction companies

- Developing relationships with interior designers and architects

- Contacting bathroom companies and other complementary businesses





- Building relationships with potential trade and referral partners

- Reconnecting with previous customers

- Identifying upcoming projects we could be involved with

- Finding new ways to promote our products and services

- Developing new sales opportunities and relationships

You won't be expected to spend every day cold calling.

But you will be expected to have the initiative to create opportunities rather than simply waiting for enquiries to arrive.

Bringing in new work is part of the position, with additional incentives available for exceptional new opportunities and business generated.

Job coordination & scheduling

Once work is accepted, you'll help make sure it moves smoothly through the business.

This will include:

- Making sure accepted jobs have all required customer information

- Coordinating the handover of jobs into production

- Scheduling upcoming work

- Booking site measures and customer meetings

- Coordinating deliveries and installations

- Keeping customers informed where required

- Chasing outstanding selections, dimensions or information

- Updating job information when changes are made

- Working alongside our workshop manager and production team

- Maintaining visibility over upcoming work and deadlines

Our workshop manager will remain responsible for the day-to-day management of production and current jobs.

Your role is to make sure the customer, information and scheduling side is organised around it.

Own our systems

We're currently implementing a centralised system for our enquiries, quoting, job information, scheduling and workflow.

You'll become one of the key people responsible for keeping this system accurate.

That means making sure:

- Current enquiries are entered

- Customer information is complete

- Quote status is current

- Follow-ups aren't missed

- Accepted jobs are correctly handed over

- Outstanding information is chased

- Site measures and appointments are scheduled

- Job changes are documented

- Production and delivery dates are kept current

- Completed jobs are properly closed out

We want the whole team to be able to look at our system and understand where a job is at without having to chase someone for an answer.

Protecting people's time

One of the most important parts of this position is being able to take ownership and solve things yourself .

Our owner works across quoting, design, purchasing, customers, production and the overall running of the businesses.

Our workshop manager needs to focus on keeping work moving through production.

We want this position to remove unnecessary back-and-forth from both.

Before escalating something, ask yourself:

"Can I handle this?"

If you can – handle it.

If you need input from someone else – gather everything they need first so they can make the decision quickly.

We're looking for someone who becomes a solution rather than another layer of management.

General office & supplier coordination

There will naturally also be general administrative work involved, including:

- Maintaining customer and job records

- Sending documentation and information

- General email and phone correspondence

- Following up suppliers and orders where required

- Confirming material availability and delivery dates

- Sending purchase information supplied by the production team





- Keeping records and internal information organised

- Helping improve our office processes as the business grows

You don't need to know furniture or joinery

Experience within furniture, joinery, cabinetry, interiors or construction would be helpful, but it isn't essential .

We can teach you our products.

You don't need to know how to build or price a custom vanity or dining table.

What matters is being able to learn what information is required and making sure we have it.

If a quote requires dimensions, timber selection, a reference photo, delivery location and basin specifications, your job is to make sure all five are there before it reaches the person pricing it.

We're much more interested in finding someone who can communicate, organise, learn, follow through and take ownership.

Who we're looking for

We're looking for someone who is:

- Extremely organised

- Confident and natural on the phone

- Warm, personable and professional with customers

- A strong communicator

- Comfortable asking questions and getting the information they need

- Proactive and self‑motivated

- Persistent without being pushy

- Commercially minded

- Interested in sales and business development

- Comfortable reaching out to potential customers

- Good at building relationships

- Able to manage multiple enquiries and tasks at once

- Confident with computers and learning new systems

- Able to prioritise what's important

- Someone who notices something hasn't been done and takes care of it

- Someone who genuinely enjoys making things happen

Most importantly, we don't want someone who needs to constantly ask what they should do next.

There will always be something to move forward.

Seven recent enquiries? Contact them.

Quotes haven't been answered? Follow them up.

Jobs are missing information? Chase it.

Next week's schedule needs confirming? Organise it.

Everything is under control? Find a builder, designer or potential partner we should be talking to.

That mindset is more important to us than having experience in our particular industry.

Why we're creating this position

Duramen Designs has grown significantly, and there are now too many opportunities, conversations and moving pieces for the owner to personally manage every interaction.

This position is being created to change that.

We want someone who can take genuine ownership of the customer, sales and office side of Duramen Designs .

The goal is for our owner to spend less time chasing information, organising appointments, following up conversations and handling routine administration – and more time focusing on the parts of the business where his involvement adds the most value.

For the right person, that means genuine responsibility and autonomy.

Opportunity to grow

This isn't a position with a rigid ceiling.

Duramen Designs is an established business with plenty of opportunity to continue growing, and we want the person in this role to grow with it.

As the business develops, this position could naturally move further into sales, business development, customer management, operations or broader business management depending on your strengths.

If you find better ways for us to operate, we want to hear them.

If you create opportunities, we want you to pursue them.

If you demonstrate that you can take on more responsibility, we'll give it to you.

We're happy to pay according to experience and, more importantly, the value the right person can bring to the business.

If you're highly organised, great with people, commercially minded and the sort of person who sees what needs doing and gets it done, we'd love to hear from you.

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📌 Sales & Office Manager (Maitland)
🏢 Duramen Designs
📍 Maitland