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I’ve recently begun operating a one-man shop. My first two jobs have been building kitchen cabinets. I just finished the first job which was a small kitchen with 26 lineal feet of cabinet including both uppers and lowers. The client has done all the finishing, so my work has involved building the cabinets and installing them. Their construction is of 3/4″ birch plywood for the carcasses; solid birch face frames; 1/2″ birch plywood drawers with solid birch drawer fronts; solid birch rail and stile doors with 1/4″ birch plywood panels. The doors and drawer fronts overlay the face frames and have 1/8″ chamfers all the way around; the doors also have stopped chamfers along the inside edge of the rails and stiles. Hardware consists of Blum Euro-style hinges, and full and 3/4 extension ball bearing drawer slides. The client is buying and installing the pulls.
I bid the job for $4,550, which worked out to $175/lineal foot of cabinet. Materials totaled $1,400, so I made $3,150 for my labor. The job took me 192 hrs which means I earned just over $16/hr. I had hoped to make $20+/hr, but I’m happy to have done as well as I did for my first such job. In the future though, I’d certainly like to do better. I have no idea how my pricing scheme compares to the going rate for custom cabinets. Is my pricing way too low or do I simply need to get faster and more efficient?
Thanks for any help.
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Jeff,
Although many guys here will probably disagree with me, I base my ideas on what others in your immediate area are getting. At least in my area, your prices are what would seem average to slightly higher than normal. Its all marketing as has been discussed here because many people would balk at $175. per ft. for birch cabinets yet others would rejoice at the price.
It does sound like you did a very professional job on them.
I guess what I would consider if I were you is...
1. can you do it any more efficiently? Did anything go wrong or did you have any time-wasting in the first go around?
2. if you're happy with what you made than "Way to go!"
3. are there more opportunities to make the same amount or more in the future.
I am basically in your shoes as I'm a one-man show but I've found as rewarding as shop work is, I can't live on $16 an hour.
For me its just one of those business mysteries I haven't solved yet.
Good luck in the future!
Mike
*JeffSorry to be posting late.Two things come to mind here:1) You have not included any overhead cost. Pick up a small business primer to get an idea of how to determine and allocate overhead cost.2) You should be building about 5 lf of unfinished cabinets/day. You did a little over 1 lf/day. You'll never make money at that rate, especially with birch frames.Michael on the Left Coast
*Michael,Thanks for the reply. You are right that I didn't take overhead into account at all. I suppose I really made less than $10/hour.Regarding your 5 lf/day figure, basically what you seem to be saying is that if I had a job building a 5 foot long vanity, I should be able to do it in one day. This means getting the material, building the carcass, installing the face frame, building the drawers, drawer fronts, and doors and installing these, plus installing the unit on site. All this I should be able to do in one day? Obviously there are economies of scale with a whole kitchen, but even so, a 5 foot long vanity like I've described would take me a week at the rate I've been going thus far. How does a one-man shop approach the level of efficiency you've suggested?Another question: Should a one-man operation even try to build kitchen cabinets? I could make more than $16/hour framing in my area.Any opinions, suggestions greatly appreciated.
*I am in that one man show category and I find the five feet per day a little high as well, although if you are just making plain buiscit jointed plywood or melamine boxes with edge tape, premade post formed counters and slab doors it is feasible. Problem is that this puts you in the same market as all the prefab kitchen companies with their economies of scale and it is not very gratifying work.I enjoy custom cabinet work but have found it is not the most profitable work because of all the materials handling. A good part of the time involved in the job is lifting and shuffling several thousand pounds of materials and components through the various operations required.The most enjoyable work is furniture but thats not very profitable either because I am just working my way into the market.Consequently, to keep income up, I also take work that is coarser (ie warehouse bins, flooring, finish carpentry, even the odd building) but more lucrative. This has the double benefit of providing income and exposing my work to a broader range of people who often do move onto cabinets, doors or furniture.As you say, you could do better financialy by framing, but do you want to? Will you still be able to when you turn fifty? If you start now on building a reputation and a customer base for your shop work, you should be in a fine position by the time you get to fifty and your back, knees and elbows will be in much better shape.
*if you are still watching this: do yourself a favour, get a subscription to Cabinetmaker magazine, and Custom Woodworking Business, both free to the trade. Both also have internet forums....do a search, they'll turn up easy enough.Cabinetmaker does a yearly pricing survey; a half dozen projects, people 'bid' on them to compare their prices with the actual cost of the as built project...this years version is hot off the presses. the average hourly shop rate is about $43 an hour, down from $45 last year....some go as high as $100. at $16, you cannot possibly survive, and all you're gonna do is tick off the people who are working hard to turn a small profit at $35-45 an hour. There are lots of ways to determine the going rate in your area, but be careful you compare apples to apples. And the most important thing is to know what your costs are....alll the costs, including rent at market value, labour costs plus all the payroll taxes, etc, the cost of having your money tied up in the business instead of out there working for you while you swing a hammer for someone else. This is the tip of the iceberg; if you don't pay attention to this now, you'll be out of business before you can say boo, or you will be stuck in the 'lowest price in town' ghetto.another place to watch is the Business forum at http://www.woodweb.good luck.
*Cabinet pricing here is about $350 nto $450 per foot canadian. Builders are putting in Home Depot mills pride for $300/ft installed. Don't sell yourself short. Good cabinets cost good money. I try to work it out to live with $45/hour in the shop. I am currently working on my contract outlining the cost for cabinety and will be specing 350 to 450 per foot with extra charges for hardware upgrades.CheersBrent
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