Originally Posted by
Will Blick
Nothing like a strong does of reality!
As often in life, Reality Bites.
When I see how high-volume wood products are made, I can fully understand why they sell so cheap....virtually no labor involved...these machines see and remove defects in the wood, dimension it, sand it, finish it, etc. etc. In the end, you often have a bunch of parts that can be assembled / glued in jigs very quickly... considering machines run 24/7 with no health care or sick time, the cost to make a product is so low vs. a person doing all this the ol fashion way....
or....you have the other end of the market... where more fine art intricate ww products, like jewelry boxes are made by child laborers making pennies.... sure the quality can be better, but its mind boggling this stuff can retail for $30 - $70 on avg. Welcome to the free world...
IMO, these two issues really changed the mindset of "value" of many ww products. Hence why custom made products, such as built-ins, crown molding, etc. will always escape the two issues above, and be done the ol fashion way... So if was to ever consider making a living, that would be the only aveneue, and even then, competition would be high and its hard breaking in any new busienss. Cabinets fall into the 50/50 range, since the BORG's have adapted mass produced ready to install boxes... But anymore, to seel cabinets, it often pays to have a nice showroom like the Borgs where the customer can see everything, touch it, view computer images of slight changes, etc. etc. Not easy for the small timer...