making money at woodworking
I am trying to develop the skills so that when I retire ... in about 15 years, I can make some extra money doing something that I really enjoy. I would like to benefit from the experience of The Creek to understand where the money is in woodworking. Here are some thoughts that I hope that you will add to:
1. Building and installing cabinets. I find it hard to understand where there is money to be made here, since you can go to any number of cabinet companies and order pre-made cabinets in so large of a variety.
2. Building furniture. Same as above.
3. Building custom -- very high end -- cabinets ... those that cannot be purchased. I don't really understand what this would mean ... again, because of the variety of cabinets available.
4. Building "fine" furniture. How do you find the market and what is fine furniture, and why does it command a price high enough to make money?
OK, so those are my novice thoughts. Can you help me out here?
This is all good information
Just for clarity on my particular desires -- I am not looking to make a living, just make some money. If I could make about $10,000 to $20,000 a year in profit (in today's dollars), that would give me some walking around money.
This Is An Interesting Discussion
And a discussion I have thought seriously about over the past 18 months or so. People are making money woodworking. Not a lot of people mind you but those that build something unique for a targeted market do make money. I know this because I know the people making money in the business. Now if you’re planning on making bird houses, wishing wells out of 2 x 4’s, and other assorted pieces like a bazillion other hobbyist’s do, you’re swimming upstream I my opinion. If you’re thinking about building cabinets to compete with the big box stores you’re going to go out of business in a heartbeat. One needs to think about the upper end of the market.
I don’t know about your Real Estate market but in my area many good cabinet makers have made a very good living over the past decade making high end cabinets for people redoing older homes. I’ve seen kitchens with furniture quality cabinetry homeowners don’t blink an eye in spending up to $100 k for. Unfortunately since the Real Estate down turn a lot of the custom cabinetry shops have gone out of business or have downsized considerably because they were unable to adapt to the changing market or are unable to branch out into other areas.
What one needs to do is create unique product and market that product to a section of the population that is looking for such a product. The higher the average household income the less these people are affected by a downturn in the economy which is already happening. And it costs money to market your products so be ready for that.
As I mentioned above and without going into too much detail, I’ve given this subject a great deal of thought and have decided to take the plunge opening a custom woodworking shop by the end of the year. I’ve spent the last several months creating, designing, and engineering a line of furniture that’s a mix of traditional styles. I have also targeted my market and have a marketing program ready to go as soon as I’m ready.
So far to date I figure it’s going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $35,000 to set up a complete one man woodworking shop with better than average equipment, I need a space of 1000-1500 square feet of shop area, and it will take about a year to build up any inventory to actually market. I don’t plan on selling a single item during this time; I will be just spending money on material and producing inventory. When I do have inventory ready to go I will then consider a combination workshop and showroom located near a good part of my customer base. Approximately 3 months before I’m ready to market my products I will have a web site on line and start additional advertising about a month before I’m ready.
I figure it’s going to take approximately 2 ½ to 3 years before I break even with my initial material and equipment investment before I start seeing any profit. By then I should have a solid customer base and be somewhat self-sufficient. I may also go bust and I’m ready for that as well but one never knows unless one tries.
Terry