Just Another Wannabe Pro...

[brianb]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to the forum, but have been doing carpentry/Woodworking as a hobby for about 6 years. Over the past 2.5 years or so I have become increasingly interested in this as full time gig. I have sold a few pieces, and have done a couple of commissions, but my plan wouldn’t be to strike out on my own out of the gate. Instead I want to spend 3-5 years working towards the goal of being a custom cabinet maker. I’ve met some guys who do this (my father delivered wood for a while and introduced me to a few) and it seems like it has a good combination of the “build something cool” satisfaction, while being a better financial prospect than custom/hand made furniture pieces.

I have outlined the rough idea in my head of how I could go about doing this, but don’t know of anyone personally I can bounce this off of.

1. Build more case work on my own, and start to try to work faster/more efficiently to get used to the expected pace when switching from hobbyist to pro. (1 yr)
2. Look for entry level work in a high-volume shop to get experience and "foot in the door" (1.5 yrs)
3. Look for opportunities with semi custom/higher end shops (3 yrs)
4. Work hard to improve skills and build systems from beginning to end (5+ yrs)
5. "Retire" to Maine and build 3-4 projects per year in my chicken coupe.
   • My father (used to deliver wood in Maine) claims every set of custom cabinets in New England is built in a chicken coupe in Maine 

I currently have a full time job doing marketing, so this would be a fairly sizable step down financially, but other than my student loans (working to get them paid before making the leap) I don’t have a lot of set costs, and unlike most 27 year olds, I don’t drink, so no excessive bar/restaurant tabs to reign in  Also, I grew up in my father’s body shop and doing landscaping, so I am no stranger to hard work and am prepared to start small.

My questions is, is the plan above realistic? If so, what tools/experience should I be going after? Also other than those listed below, what skills should I be building on?

• Current Skills:  operate/maintain all the basic power tools:
  • table saw, band saw, jointer/planer, sanders, routers, router table, nail and brad guns etc.
  • Communication: Currently work for a marketing agency managing 20+ relationships, so I would be good with managing customers.
• Major Skill Gaps
  • No formal experience reading blueprints/shop drawings.
  • Have only built small scale case work (single unit cabinets from scratch and installing pre fab cases)
  • Used to working at a hobbyist pace
• Also, I have about 6 years doing digital marketing, so If anyone is looking to trade some time giving me some in depth advice, I'd gladly give them a hand on their site/marketing. Here's my Linkedin Profile if anyone is interested.

 

 

[wtnhighlander]

No personal experience to offer, but the few cabinet shops I am familiar with all have a very specific set of tooling, which isn't cheap. The 'high efficiency' aspect of that work seems to dictate that most, if not all, stock is purchased pre-milled, and sheet goods predominate. The last cabinet shop I was in had a tablesaw, a shaper, and a huge wide-belt sander. Very little else, save for finishing gear and ginormous dust collection.

Not a hand tool in sight. And this isn't a "high volume production" shop, just a guy building custom cabinetry for homes in the upper end of the local market.

[Pwk5017]

Im 28, make a fair amount on the side woodworking, and my advice would be, "dont quit your day job". You are 27 and dont drink(just wait till you climb the corporate ladder, then you will), which means you should have no problems working 6-7 days a week. It is what I do, and i dont know how you could go straight from one career to small business owner overnight. This craft is all about portfolio, client base/making a name for yourself, managing clients/marketing and woodworking experience. Start photographing the crap out of everything you do and sign up for a facebook page, Houzz site, something else where people can leave public reviews. Do that for 1-2 years and see where you get. Did i mention the capital investment upfront isnt shabby? Certainly not beyond imagination to need a $20,000-30,000 shop to produce. You can do it with $500, but this is about making money, right? Hard to make money with a rusty hand saw, your grandpap's block plane, and a dream. 

 

Kitchen/bath cabinet making is fairly utilitarian product line that is dominated by very efficiently set up shops. What makes you better than the shop in town with $1,000,000+ in tooling? Unfortunately, they are better than you, they have better tooling to do it faster, and they buy their material wholesale at 25% the cost you do. See what I am getting at? Most of the very successful cabinet shops of the world arent small shops in a chicken coupe operated by James Krenov. Go on woodweb and start reading about cabinet shop start ups. Slider, edgebander, 3 shapers, widebelt, spray booth, and your standard shop setup to compete. Personally, I would think about the woodworking scene, and where you could best fit yourself. You are in marketing, so I suggest your best shot at being a successful woodworking pro is through marketing. Genius, right? My point is, you need to out-market your competition instead of out-woodwork them. Fact of the matter is your competition is a better woodworker than you. Find a product line that isnt produced well in your market and then go about producing and marketing it. In my case, i guarantee my competition is better craftsman/women than myself, but i communicate very well, architecture degree so i can draw, model, render professional presentations quickly, and my customer service is very engaging. I sell communication and customer service instead of "the finest product produced in america". Helps that i am local and lower than a lot of national competitors. Hopefully that came across as i intended. Sell your marketing skills, not your woodworking skills, because i think we both know which is better. 

 

Where do you live? Go talk to pros in your area, seriously. I routinely search out local pros and pros across the country. Heck, I cold-called this guy out of north carolina once, because he was doing the same thing i was trying to do at the time. Talked to the guy for 2 hours during my lunch break gym visit at the office. Still a mentor/friend i correspond with every month. Ended up buying a shelix head for my planer off him for a very steep discount. Old guys want to help young guys, take advantage of it. 

[TerryMcK]

Try getting a job helping out in a local cabinet shop before you decide to go on your own. Working at woodworking for a living for a while might diminish your current enthusiasm that being in your hobby shop brings.

You really need to learn how to read drawings because if you can't interpret what a client wants from paper plans you are on a loser. There will be part time courses (maybe evening courses) at local adult education colleges on drawing office practice (nowadays using computers). Class based learning is the best way in conjunction with reading books on the subject. Learning how to technical draw also teaches you how to read drawings too so it's a win win.

[Tpt life]

My dad has success in a custom shop for having an eye for color, tone, and grain while building. He also has endless patience for blending wax sticks to make pun nail holes etc. disappear. The hidden side of full time cabinet work is how many other trades will leave you needing to make those kind of field repairs for dings etc. The building is only one part.