Casegoods, systems and collaborative furniture. How Commercial Office Interiors (COI) uses Kimball on open-line projects across New Hampshire and Greater Boston, and which brands it is bid against on the same brief.
Kimball is one of the large American contract manufacturers, now part of the same group as HON and National, and it covers the full floor: Priority and Xsede for desking and height-adjustable workstations, Narrate for private offices, Pairings for lounge and collaboration, plus tables and seating to match. COI carries it as an open-line option, not a house brand, which means it is priced against the field on every bid.
Kimball earns the specification on a project that wants design continuity across every room type without paying premium-tier prices for it. A reception desk, a boardroom, fifty workstations and a lounge can all come from one order with one finish card and one install crew. On a corporate headquarters that is a real advantage on the punch list and on Day 2, when every add or move is a known part number.
On price Kimball sits at the professional tier, usually above National and Lacasse and below Teknion and the premium names. COI's practice is to bid the private-office typical across National, Kimball and OFS and the workstation typical across Kimball, Artopex and AIS, so a client sees where Kimball wins on the look and where another line wins on the number.
Kimball holds a broad set of cooperative and state purchasing contracts, which is how it reaches a lot of New England higher-education and public-sector offices. COI confirms contract eligibility for the exact product and buyer before any item is described as available on contract.
COI carries the project, not one manufacturer. Every workstation, private-office and task-chair typical goes to several brands and comes back on one proposal with prices, lead times, warranties and finishes side by side. Across five New England projects in 2026 the gap between a single-brand bid and the COI open-line bid on the same scope averaged 32 percent.
2D layout and 3D render of every room before anything is ordered. No charge.
Kimball next to its alternatives, with the lead time for each configuration.
Every piece recorded at install so it can be moved, repaired or resold through RESEAT.
COI is an open-line dealer and specifies from 100+ manufacturers. Authorization, territory, warranty routing and the quotation path are confirmed in writing for the exact brand and product on each project, and nothing on these pages should be read as a standing authorization claim for a given line. COI is the Artopex dealer for New Hampshire and one of 10 RESEAT dealers in the U.S.
By bidding the same specification across several of them. A workstation typical, a private-office typical and a task-chair standard each go out to three or more manufacturers, and the proposal shows the prices, lead times, warranties and finishes side by side. The brief decides, not a dealer contract.
Yes, and most COI projects do. A typical floor pairs one manufacturer for workstations, another for private offices, a third for task seating and a fourth for the lounge, each chosen on merit for that room type. COI coordinates the finish palette, the schedule and the installation so the floor reads as one project.
Those brands sell through contracted major-line dealers, so COI does not carry them. When a client has a quote from one of them, COI prices an equivalent open-line specification against it line by line. Across five New England projects in 2026 the average gap was 32 percent on the same scope.