One of the reasons that I started Downtown FabWorks is because I wanted to set a standard for quality from the beginning. Being a great company requires fidelity to creating a great product, and in the competitive environment of the experiential fabrication industry, you can only go so far if you don’t have incredibly high standards for the work that comes out of your shop. I’ve been in the fabrication world for a long time, and I’ve seen the consequences of substandard fabrication quality. I’ve been on tough projects with tough clients, I’ve worked for companies that are hard to work with and work for, and I’ve seen how quickly trust gets broken when your deliverables aren’t up to snuff.

As our team has grown over the last few years, we’ve put in a lot of hard work on quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). We’ve built systems and processes and tested them. Then we made some necessary adjustments, and then we tested them again (and again, and again). And we’ve done this while nearly quadrupling our facility footprint, increasing our revenue by 121% over the last three years, and growing our employee base by 300%.

Standing up for quality in the face of that kind of growth can be mind-numbingly scary and stressful, and it puts a lot of pressure on your systems and your team. But testing things in real time is the only way to really measure and gauge where you are, and our team continually rises to meet these tests and expectations while focusing on a culture of respect and inclusiveness. It is incredibly hard work, but I am really proud of the work that comes from Downtown FabWorks’ leadership, as well as the work that the whole organization does to ensure that quality is assured and controlled throughout the project lifecycle. 

But what actually are QA and QC?

What do these things mean in real life? And what do they mean to our organization? Without boring you with our full SOP stack, here’s a TL;DR: 

• ‍Quality Assurance is the overall focus on process and standards that ensures quality from the beginning. It is the culture. It is the fidelity of our SOPs. It is the hard front-end work by the leadership of the organization to coach our team and set the right processes in motion.‍
• Quality Control is the actual set of activities throughout those processes - the actual checkpoints. It is our internal review process. It is our work orders and signing things off before next steps. It is our communication both with the client and amongst ourselves.

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When you start an organization, you have some choices to make as far as what the team’s main focuses will be, the money that you'll invest, the time you'll spend, and the structures that you'll create. At times, this process isn't graceful, and you and your team will make mistakes. But no matter what, I determined from the outset that sacrificing quality is not a choice that I or my team will make. It’s simply not one of the options on our table.

And along the way, we’ve missed the mark on estimates, we’ve had team members make mistakes, and (gasp!) we’ve had times that we’ve run short on cash. (Crazy, right? Who would think that these would be challenges that a rapidly growing company would be up against?) In the face of it all, though, sacrificing the quality of our product and winding up with an angry/disappointed client is not something that we ever have—or ever will—consider. And I stand by the decisions that I’ve made to ensure that projects are delivered on time and on quality. 

Reflections from IAAPA 2025

Last week at IAAPA, I had the privilege of attending the TEA International Mixer at Universal Epic Universe's How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk. While it’s not a project that we worked on, I know a number of people who did, and I honestly can say that I was floored by the top-to-bottom quality that I saw at that property. So many aspects of the design were thoughtful and intentional. The quality of the implementation was amazing, and the finishes and scenic artisanship is next level. The industry expects an incredible level of quality, and the amazing people who put this project together did a fantastic job of it. Also, putting together that volume of talent and craftspeople from so many different aspects of engineering, fabrication, integration, and entertainment takes quality leadership and project management. It takes a village, and it was marvelously done. No wonder that Isle of Berk received a Thea Award this year.

I walked away from that experience inspired. How could I not be? But I also walked away knowing that my gut instinct to honor and protect quality craftsmanship is the right call for me and my team. 

What Comes Next?

As we continue on our journey of growth, we know that we will need to update our systems and processes. We will need to expand our employee base and our client base. We will need to refine our design processes as we bring on new capabilities. We will need to adjust our leadership styles to accommodate a new level of volume. But we will not sacrifice our fidelity toward the quality of our work. We will not sacrifice the expectations of the quality of our people. 

The team at Downtown FabWorks are Good People who do Good Work and provide Excellent Experiences.

And our quality speaks for itself.

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Let’s keep raising the bar together. If what you’ve read resonates, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What does quality look like in your world? Drop me a message on LinkedIn or reach out anytime—I’m always up for a real conversation.