Money saving idea/question for contractors

[bradleyheathhays]

Hey there once again.  My daytime job finds me at my buddy's 'cabinet shop' where no actual woodworking is done.  We're a cabinet supplier with a little warehouse space to hold contractors' and clients' orders.  We can order cabinets either built or flat pack unassembled.  Over the last couple years working there I've asked a few contractors how much different the pricing would be if they got their cabinets unassembled instead of assembled...and most of them said they'd save about 50%.  100% of our contractors order them built btw.  Building them is crazy easy but everybody opts to pay thousands more to have us put their cabinets together.  A wall cabinet takes about 10 min to assemble and an average base about 15 min.  We just delivered 20k worth of kitchen and bathroom cabinets to my other buddy's contract built house; it was about 32 cabinets altogether.  If we were to have put together these same cabinets it would've taken us about a full day.

 

So you see where I'm getting to here?  Why don't I advertise myself to contractors as the guy who's been building their cabinets for the last two years and see if they're willing to order unassembled, save a ton of money and pay me maybe half of what extra they would've spent?  Sounds like a win win huh?

 

So my question is...what issues aren't I seeing yet with my idea?  My contractor buddy who's helping me work on developing this says he doesn't think contractors will want to get into the minutia of adding a different step to the process they've already settled into...building houses the way they do.  The way he put it is that contractors want to know one 'cabinet guy' who gets it all done from design to supply to installation.  Almost all the contractors we deliver to also use our company's two installers, and my idea would make things a little bumpier for them.  I'm sure lots of contractors in my city of 330k population have their own installers but my contractor buddy says that good installers are few and far in between.  Of course, all I see is a big chunk of change to be made, for both me and the contractors, and I think they'll be interested in hearing about my idea.

 

 

Any thoughts?  Thanks as always.

[Beechwood Chip]

I don't know anything about cabinets, but I do know a little about project management.  I agree with what your contractor buddy said.  I think you're also not thinking about time and space.  The contractors want the cabinets delivered, on time, fully assembled.  The cabinet suppliers want to deliver them flat pack unassembled.  That means you would need to have a space where you could accept deliveries of unassembled cabinets with someone to sign for them, space to store them before they are assembled, space to assemble them, space to store them after they are assembled, and a way to deliver the assembled cabinets to the contractor.  And a way to track which cabinets are going to which job site on which date.

[bradleyheathhays]

Thanks for the perspective Beechwood Chip.  I wish being in business were simpler, but you're right there are a lot of things to consider.

[Coop]

I see delivery as an obstacle as well. If the contractor receives damaged goods, they loading back onto the truck and returned for replacements with the factory or shipper responsible. If you damage them from your shop to the job site, can you absorb the loss? But I’m sure you are not the first with this idea and that some have succeeded. Good luck with your decision. 

[Coop]

On 4/20/2024 at 10:47 PM, bradleyheathhays said:

  I wish being in business were simpler, but you're right there are a lot of things to consider.

You are right. You are no longer an employee but an employer and owner of a business and must treat it as such. Workers comp, dba or LLC, taxes, product liability, etc.. It can be profitable and fun but it sure ain’t easy, especially at first. 

[bradleyheathhays]

Glad to have your thoughts Coop, and I appreciate your well wishes.