Drawer boxes -- buy versus build

[Jamie Buxton]

There are now many shops offering to custom-build drawer boxes, even in small quantities. I've been wondering if they'd make sense for me. After all, they're all tooled up to make boxes quickly. I'm just one guy in a garage-sized shop. Perhaps I should be subbing out routine things like drawer boxes. So recently when I was building a bunch of drawer boxes I kept track of the materials cost and manhours which went into the boxes.

These particular drawers are 48"x36"x3" (think flat file), and I built 8 of them. The sides, front, and back are 5/8" soft maple. They're machine-dovetailed at all four corners. The bottoms are 1/2" maple ply. They have three sprayed coats of waterborne varnish.

I spent $275 on materials (four sheets of plywood, 30 bdft of lumber, and a half-gallon of finish). I spent 15 hours building them, including the lumberyard trip.

For comparison, I pulled prices from Unique Drawer Box (ubc.cc). They're in California, like me, to control the freight cost. And they have an online price calculator. Their price for these eight drawers would be $858, including delivery.

That is, I'd have to value my time in the shop at more than $39/hour to justify buying these drawers instead of building them.

[Craig Mitchell]

I guess the question is opportunity cost. If you sub out the drawers, will that free you up to use your time to do more valuable things? Or perhaps give you the ability to take on more jobs becoming in effect a contractor bringing all the pieces together. It's a good question and a great thread.

[David DeCristoforo]

"... I'd have to value my time in the shop at more than $39/hour..."

Well, that's where the "rubber meets the road" isn't it? Setting aside all other considerations like how much control you want over your processes, overall quality, etc. it is all going to come down to what you think your shop time should be worth. If you are only charging ten bucks an hour, there is no way you can afford to buy those drawers. But most "professional" shops (at least around my neck of the woods) are charging at least $40 per hour for shop time.

[Doug Hobkirk]

I suspect the pre-made drawers would compare much better if your drawers were smaller - eight drawers, some 4" high, some 6" high, some 12" wide, some 18" wide, some 24" wide.

I've talked to a kitchen cabinet maker and I've read forums at WoodWeb - they say that the small shop cannot make drawers as cheaply as they can be purchased from the drawer specialists. Those CNC machines really produce precise products quickly!

[Phil Thien]

I suppose if you had a large order you could view the sub-out option as something like a temporary employee. It would allow you to break a project too large for a one-man shop into something you could handle and something you could let something else handle.

BTW, I wonder if the calculator was thrown off by the size of those drawers. Did you try calculating a more "conventional" drawer size?

[fred woltersdorf]

i've had good luck with Valendrawers.com. they ship them knocked down, takes about 5 min per drawer to assemble.

[Jeff Wright]

I am also considering whether to build all the components for our kitchen redo. I got an online quote for doors to determine the cost of ready-made ones versus building my own. As a test order (not doors for our particular kitchen), I specified 12 doors 30x15 with no edge molding (inset doors), made of soft maple, no finish. The cost was $385.92 plus $85 shipping for a total of $470.92, or $39.24 per door. There is NO way I can compete with that low cost.

I decided that I will build them nonetheless since I have the time and enjoy the work. I don't think I will build mine any better than the company (Cabinetdoorstore.com) since they have the equipment all set up and designed for door-making tasks. But I can understand why cabinet making contractors farm out the work and instead spend their time on building carcasses and installation and marketing their services.

[Jim Becker]

Jamie, on my big projects, such as our kitchen in 2003 and the vanities for the addition, I bought my boxes from Keystone. To save money on the product and shipping, I bought them knocked down and did the assembly myself. (Tightest dovetails I've ever encountered...) For these large projects with "deadlines", it saved me considerable time, even with keeping some of the work for myself. For less ambitious projects, I build my drawer boxes, using either dovetails or pocket screws, depending upon my mood and the particular project at hand.

For me, it's pretty much a balancing act between time available and the scope of the particular project.

Jeff, for doors, it would take a real crunch to get me to buy them...the "door houses" don't tend to take too much care in stock selection for both the rails/stiles and panel glue-ups and that would drive me absolutely nuts.

[John Viercinski]

I just ordered a set of drawer boxes for my kitchen project from Western Dovetail. They're also in CA. They're prices were reasonable... for 5 drawer boxes in soft maple, prefinished but not assembled, with shipping was around $200. Maybe worth looking into. I'll be sure to post pictures and let everyone know how they look once the whole kitchen is done.

[J. Z. Guest]

I don't think you should. When you outsource certain parts of the job, it is not quite like the piece is hand-made any more.

If that thought wouldn't bother you down the road, I guess do whatever makes sense. But that is where I draw the line.

[Jeff Wright]

Jeff, for doors, it would take a real crunch to get me to buy them...the "door houses" don't tend to take too much care in stock selection for both the rails/stiles and panel glue-ups and that would drive me absolutely nuts.

Jim, I agree.

I failed to say that I plan to build painted cabinets. You're right, if left natural I would want to be involved in the process of selecting grain patterns. That is, afterall, one of the benefits of building one's own stuff.

The cabinets will be a cream/white color with natural wood counter tops. Haven't decided on type of wood to use for the counters yet. I did just place a rather large order for cherry from Mike Morgan up your way. Maybe cherry??

[Jeff Duncan]

I think the simple answer is a small shop can never compete with a larger specialty shop. Whether it's drawers or doors or case parts, when they are setup to do a specific operation they can do it very quickly and cheaply.
Figure these bigger operations are buying material by the trailer loads and have unskilled labor just feeding stock into one end of the machine and you can start to see how they can do it for cheap.
As for me, I build as much as I can in house, I consider it a selling point. I looked recently and couldn't find a company that offered the drawers I wanted. I wanted a certain thickness and most of them only offer set options, like 5/8" thickness. Not a big deal for most applications, but it gives me a product I can try to sell as better then the norm.
good luck,
JeffD

[Mike Wilkins]

A lot will depend on your current tool set-up, how many drawers you need, and how soon do you need them. I recently made one drawer for a kitchen renovation to replace a broken one. Rabbet joint for the front of the box and a dado for the rear of the box. Routed a 1/4" groove for plywood. Glued and stapled the entire thing together, screwed an Oak drawer front to the box and called it a day.
Simple design, easy/quick to make and lends itself to a production set-up if needed. Not heirloom quality dovetails, not a high-end kitchen, but simple and quick.
If I was doing an entire kitchens' worth of drawers and needed them fast, buying them may make sense. But that is not why we became woodworkers in the first place. Go ahead and make some, get some needed practice and save the credit card for some nice lumber.
Just my .02 cents worth.

[Chris Padilla]

Jamie,

I think it would be good to establish a relationship with such a company in those times when you need to subcontract out things like that. It could be quite a burden lifter on you and might allow you to take on more jobs knowing you have a reliable helper.

It is like working on my BMW. I can do most repairs on it but when I don't have time or the will or I can't figure out how to fix it, I have my trusty independent mechanic (thank god for him, thank god I found such a mechanic) that will take care of me in a jiffy.

[John Thompson]

If I were commercial or it was just a re-model for my home kitchen-bath-etc. .. I would sub them if the numbers come up as favorable to save time and money.

But.. with that said, I would never sign my name with pride on a piece of furnituere that had drawers built by anyone other than me. If it is a personal piece and if you ask the question of should I sub them because it is cheaper.. then you probably need to ask the question would it not be cheaper to just get the piece from Ikea to start with?

Sarge..