Does Building Your Own Furniture Save Money?

[Tom Walz]

Sure it will.

When I work with wood I really enjoy it. I like the planning and the material selection. It always seems to mean at least one new tool which is fun. When things work out exactly as I thought they would it is a rush. When they don’t work out exactly right (more common) I enjoy figuring out how to fix it. When I am done having all this fun I have something I didn’t have to pay for and that is really cool.

Same thing with fishing and hunting. I spend time doing something I really like and at the end I sometimes have free food.

So put me down squarely on the hobby side.

I manufacture tools. We do production and custom tools. Even when we use the same materials and equipment a single custom tool is still more expensive a single tool from a production run.

When we develop an entirely new tool the cost can be huge. Our first 10 x 40 ceramic tipped saw blade cost about $10,000 to build. We had the teeth custom made. Had to order special diamond wheels. Took a huge amount of grinder time.

[Kevin Barnett]

Or you could do the math this way...
15 weeks in the shop = 0$
Lumber and raw materials = $300
Tools needed depreciated over 15 years = $400
Total = $700

Or

15 weeks on the golf course = $1500
Cabinet purchase +tax+ship = $700
Total = $2200

[David Hostetler]

My best answer is, it depends...

I'll give you an example. I built a simple queen sized pine headboard to dress up a roller framed bed for one of my in laws. It was a simple post & rail with a bead board center section. Posts were pine 4x4s, rails were pine 2x4s (all planed / jointed mind you) and the bead board was simple 3/8" pine bead board. All sourced from the local lumber yard. I think a total of $40.00 + the cost of the stain / poly on it... So I had maybe $60.00 total materials in it, and 4 hours time. Being expensive on my time, let's call that $40.00 / hr. So I had $160.00 worth of time in it... Total investment of $220.00

A similar headboard, was being sold by a large furniture store near me using the same materials, and ran $600.00

The biggest part is, do you have the tools, and do you have access to the materials you want / need on the cheap? Many people do not. Some do. Craigslist is definately your friend, as is reclaiming discarded lumber. Honestly finding discarded oak, walnut, cherry etc... is a rare thing. Again Craigslist. There are a LOT of small urban loggers out there that are making some bucks milling and selling lumber that comes from local trees in many areas...

If you are already outfitted with tools and a shop, and if you can get reasonable prices on lumber and hardware, AND you are fairly comparing quality to quality, then YES you can save, quite a bit by building your own. If you are however thinking I can make this for less than I can buy a particle board and vinyl cheapie at Ikea or WalMart, forget it, you will be frustrated...

I would not recommend anyone dive into woodworking thinking it is a way to save money on furnishings. However if you LIKE woodworking, find it theraputic, and want TOP QUALITY stuff and are willing to put the time, labor and love into it, then compare that to the cost of pre made furnishings, and a therapist, then yes, woodworking IS a HUGE money saver...

[Don Alexander]

However if you LIKE woodworking, find it theraputic, and want TOP QUALITY stuff and are willing to put the time, labor and love into it, then compare that to the cost of pre made furnishings, and a therapist, then yes, woodworking IS a HUGE money saver...




i particularly like the therapist part hehe

[Kevin Begos]

Don't know if you have kids, but let's put it this way:

In 30 years do you think they'd care if you leave them
an old beat up piece of store bought furniture -
vs. leaving them something you made with your own hands.

And if you don't have kids, which do you think YOU will
feel fondly about in 20 years - the store bought or hand made?

I cherish a little Shaker cabinet my dad made - because he made it.
(and because he did a very good job, too)

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Absolutely it does. Whel, let me qualify that statement. You can buy comparable furniture for tons less than you can build it but without a work shop you might need psychiatric care to deal with your life issues. Building furniture takes your mind away from the real world long enough to be real therapy. Now, when you add the cost of the store bought furniture to the doctors bills, you save $$$$$.
fmr

[Warren Huisman]

Depends on what you are building Vs what you are buying. I just completed a new front door out of QSWO. I figure I have a little more than $1000 invested in it. Price out QSWO door and frame...way more than what I have invested. Plus, it is kind of cool to be able say you made every piece!

[Paul Ryan]

I am going to go against the grain and say YES. But as with most the answer is it depends.


If you dont own tools no it doesn't pay. If you own the tools than in some cases yes it does. Currently I am working on a mission style king bed for my wife and myself. I will have a total of about $250 worth of materials into it. The furniture store I bought the matress set from wanted $1099 for a queen size head and foot, just the wood no fabric. So if you consider I wood work for therapy so I don't go postal. I will be cutting wood no matter what, so my time is free. In this case it saves me tons of money. In the end though if you build it, you can make it exactly how you want it. What wood, what color, what finsh. It really has its benifits, and 9/10 times the quality of your build will be far superior to the factory made furniture. But in many cases it will cost you more. The dresser my children use right now was much cheaper to buy than build. However in due time will will build 2 dressers just because I can.

[Nathan Callender]

If you don't consider labor and cost of tools, and you shop around for good prices on materials (ie, good quality stuff, but maybe not crazy expensive items like quilted maple, etc) you can very easily save money when compared to an item of similar quality and design. Then, compare the cost of commisioning a piece to your own specs and you will be able to save money while factoring in your time and tools. :-)

If you are trying to compete with MDF pressure formed with veneer and cheap finishes, well, you actually might be able to save money there too but probably not.

But, one thing is for sure. Don't do it to save money. Do it because you want to build something that you'll be proud to have in your house. The savings, if any, are just icing on the cake.

[Don Morris]

The real pros put in a quality cabinet system during a whole home renovation. There were a couple niches still to be filled in. I asked them what it would cost to duplicate their design in each niche. $1500.00 in ea. I said I'd do it. I did for around $400.00. ea. Took me months, re-dos, lots of saw dust, learning, etc. I had fun, but when the contractor came over the other day to show someone his work, I showed him my built-ins and he was impressed. Of course he didn't know about the re-dos, months of saw dust, etc. I enjoyed doing it. So, yes, and no to the question. I can't match a production shop in quality/time/ but I have more fun/time. And my labor is much less/time.

[Karl Card]

As some of the others have said it depends on how and why you are building it. If you are building it to know what you have and assure the quality you probably cant beat building it yourself.

plus when you have visitors come over, you get braggin rights...lol

[scott spencer]

Building our own results in us having better furniture than we could otherwise afford, plus it's made just the way we wanted....'cept for a few deviations here and there! When you toss in the cost of tools, the furniture savings diminish a bit, but on the flip side of that argument, I still have use of the tools, and the inherent value of both. Quality tools maintain value pretty well too!

Not to mention that I really enjoy my shop, so "it's all good"!

[Jim Becker]

No, building your own furniture doesn't generally "save you money" over what's available on the market when you take into consideration the cost of good materials, good tools and your time. That said, building your own can be immensely satisfying and allow you to have both the quality and the unique design flexibility you can't often get from "affordable" stuff at the stores.

I both build and buy. The latter for utility and expediency when necessary and the former for the pure enjoyment.

[Mike Archambeau]

I think a good way to answer this question is by thinking about "out-of-pocket" costs. You can hang onto more of your money if you do things for yourself. You contribute your labor to the endeavor, and avoid parting with cash to pay others to do things for you. The cash is the out-of-pocket part of the equation. I find that the money I put into tools makes me more self sufficient. The tools I buy improve the quality of my work, and allow me to get more done (raise my productivity). Those tools always end up doing more than one project. Good tools last a lifetime and then some.

That 600 dollar piece of furniture is from your net pay. You have to pay your taxes on your income before you net the 600 dollars to buy that piece of furniture. Perhaps you had to earn 1000 dollars of income to net 600 dollars?

I own a large home made of wood. It requires a lot of work inside and out to keep it up to snuff. I have learned to paint, install hardwood floors, install crown mouldings, rebuild porches, replace exterior trim, rebuild shutters, make doors, the list goes on and on. If I had to pay someone to do all these things for me, I would have run out of money long before my work was done. The materials and tools are a fraction of the cost of me paying for other people to do all this work. And at the end of a productive day, I can enjoy a glass of wine and admire the days accomplishments

I am now building furniture for my home. Those same tools stand ready for the next phase.

I am largely self taught. Necessity required that. But I grew up in a home that my father built with his own hands. Only one he ever built and neccessity is the reason. My parents lived in that house for more than 20 years, and raised four children in it. The family that bought it has owned it for more than 30 years and they love it. My father is justifiably proud of what he built and it still brings him great pleasure 50 years later.

I think that watching him tackle whatever needed to be done as I was growing up, cemented the idea that you figure things out and get on with taking care of your affairs.

Today there are many excellent ways to acquire the knowledge you need to take care of your needs. This forum is an excellent example.

So if you want to move towards self sufficiency and keep more of the hard earned cash in your pocket, go ahead and build that first piece of furniture. You and the people you look after will be glad that you did. And the money still in your pocket, because you did it yourself, will take care of you are yours later in life.

BTW.....I for one look forward to your next post showing the furniture that you built yourself. Make it as beautiful as you can and enjoy it over and over again!

[Mike Hollingsworth]

The mass produced furniture of today (unless you go high end Henredon, Pulaski, etc.) is basically cr*p.

Even those aren't much to brag about anymore.
I wanted to cry when I last visited a showroom, seeing all the imported cr*p, thinking about our lost furniture manufacturing expertise in Grand Rapids and in the Carolinas.