A commission changes the obligations of a build, not the craft. Building for a client adds three requirements: the maker's decisions must be explainable in plain language, the margin for error shrinks, and the piece must last in an environment the maker will never control. The first question before accepting a commission is how the piece will behave where it is going to live [1][2].
What a commission changes
A piece built for the maker's own use can be adjusted, repaired or lived with when something goes wrong. A commissioned piece leaves the shop, and a failure in it becomes part of the relationship with the client [1].
A client usually cannot fully specify what a piece needs. Part of what a client pays for in a commission is the maker's judgment about what the request means in wood [1].
Decisions have to be explainable
A commissioned piece needs its deliberate choices stated in one plain sentence: the decision and its practical reason. "Quartersawn, because it moves less in a heated house" is a complete explanation for a client. Shrinkage coefficients are not [2].
Quartersawn stock moves less across its width than flat-sawn stock of the same species. For white oak, the Wood Handbook's dimensional change coefficient is 0.00194 per 1% moisture content change radially (quartersawn face) and 0.00376 tangentially (flat-sawn face) [3].
The margin for error shrinks
A commission calls for more planning before the first cut, more test cuts, and more conservative choices on borderline joints. A problem that costs an afternoon on a shop project can cost a client relationship on a commission [1].
The piece has to last without the maker
A commissioned piece enters an environment the maker cannot control: heating the maker never saw, cleaning products the maker would not choose, and handling the maker would not allow [1][4].
A commissioned piece should be joined for the worst-case seasonal movement of its new home, not the typical case [4].
A commissioned piece should carry a finish suited to the client's likely maintenance habits, not the ideal maintenance schedule. A finish that needs yearly attention fails in the hands of a client who never touches it [4].
The craft does not change
A joint, a species and a finish behave the same way in a commissioned piece as in a shop project. White oak moves the way white oak moves wherever it ends up [1].
A commission makes the maker's existing obligations binding: species behavior, joinery selection, finish preparation and site conditions were already part of good practice [1].
Where the piece will live comes first
The same species and the same construction behave differently in different homes. A coastal home and a mountain cabin heated by a wood stove put the same table through different seasonal moisture swings [4][5].
Seasonal movement across a board equals its width times the species' dimensional change coefficient times the moisture content swing in percentage points. The swing comes from the environment the piece will live in, so the movement calculation for a commission starts with the client's home, not the maker's shop [3][6].
Sources
- Hewn heuristic entry HEU-R854, the accountability shift in commission work, 2026-03-16, Hewn internal, unreviewed. The entry is derived from the original post and names no outside source.
- Hewn heuristic entry HEU-R855, decision communication to non-technical clients, 2026-03-16, Hewn internal, unreviewed. No outside source named.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282), Chapter 13, Equation 13-3 and Table 13-5, dimensional change coefficients, valid 6 to 14% moisture content (as listed in Hewn's notes, entry HEU-R735).
- Hewn heuristic entry HEU-R856, designing for longevity outside the builder's care, 2026-03-16, Hewn internal, unreviewed. No outside source named.
- Hewn heuristic entry HEU-R859, site installation types in British Columbia, 2026-03-16, Hewn internal, unreviewed. No outside source named.
- Hewn heuristic entry HEU-R736, moisture content swing by environment: use the delivery environment, not the shop, for clearance calculations, 2026-03-15, Hewn internal, unreviewed.