knapke41

patwreck,

I can relate to your thinking and worry, I got laid off from job with a pretty fat salary. Luckily my wife works and can pay most of the bills. I made a table for my daughter to do her home work at and that turned into doing built-ins for some friends. That got me a job doing some 'paintable' cabinets for a contractor. I loved that job because there was a specific challenge (bifold doors that slide into the cabinet for a LCD TV) but I disliked the end result (contractor painted them, poorly).

I have done a handful of other jobs of different kinds, but now I have 3 jobs big lined up that are interfering with looking for a 'real job' again. What to do? I have a luxury many don't with my wife working and being supportive. I have to decide soon which way to commit to but here are some things I would suggest:

- build things you like but go the extra mile to build that word of mouth 'viral marketing'
- before you quote the project ask what they planned to spend on the project. In my case I knocked $2k off a large set of built-ins in exchange for them hosting a party of their friends and some folks I invited (prospects) which got me a 3 more jobs lined up and several "I'm thinking about it please call me in a few weeks".
- Choose your tool investment wisely - it sure would be nice to have a Festool saw/guide combo, but my 18V Dewalt with a jig I made helps me break down plywood just as quickly...just a little more dust than I would prefer.
- Of the folks I have talked to and the family I did the built-ins for, there are some specific things they are looking for but there is a lot of room for "giving guidance". Certainly there are folks who want what they want and nothing else will do, for them the price goes up and I'd be ok not getting the job (a luxury, I know).
- Also talk to others in the field. Right now I am happy to do custom cabinetry but I am wise enough not to try to compete with standard, many shops seem to hate doing cabinetry work so I have had some jobs referred to me that way. I actually had a shop that offered to let me use some of their equipment because they referred a customer to me they had done a ton of work for but did not want to do these few cabinets. Now I have access to a wide belt sander when I need it.
- One other item that helps me is to help customers visualize the end result. For this I use Google Sketch-up. I measure out the space, play with designs in 2D, show them some ideas to narrow it down and then do a 3d rendering to give them a sense of what the result will look like. It is an investment to learn SketchUp but it paid off big for me. Nothing like taking your laptop in and plugging it into their LCD TV (most all have a monitor port) to show them Their customized design.

I know many folks don't like building cabinets, please don't ;-). There is a market I have found there to deal with 'dead' walls that turn them into a feature of the house...now if I can fit the projects my wife wants done...

all the best,
djk