Out of my element

[Alan Turner]

Well, time came to pay the piper, or rather to pay for some of the new toys I have been accumulating for a second shop. So, I took on a millwork job. This is not my usual cup of tea. I wonder what a mill shop quoted this contractor. More than I did I bet.

Anyway, I agreed to make 31 roof supports, and 10 wall supports, for a Vicotrian addition. The roof supports are 31", 2.125 x 3.5, plus a diagononal, which requires an epoxy, structural, glue joint. Two patterns as there are corners. Curved, of course, with a fancy end.

The wall supports are 36" by 16", with a glue joint, and the odd one is 50" long, for a corner. Each is 2 pieces of 2 by material, sandwiching a piece of 1/2" marine plywood. And the ply is recessed 1/4" on the curved section, and both the top and bottom of each 2 by has a 1/4" champfer. Will order the shaper cutters tomorrow.

I figured it was 4 days work, with the contractor supplying all of the materials, delivered. Well, 2 long days are down, the wall supports are glued for width, and no way is it 4 days work, since each piece is curved. Took me 1/2 day to draw, cut, and shape the pattern. Ton of time for stock prep. Cooked the capicator on my BS, so Fed Ex is helping with that one, and it will be back up and running tommorow. All of the 2 1/8 by 3 1/2 stock is coming from reclaimed 4 x 6's. All douglas fir. Yuck - pitch. It will take a day just to clean up to blades and tools.

I will be pattern shaping the curved sections. But just handling all of this wood has got me tired, and I am wondering if I made a good deal. Sort of doesn't seem like it.

Oh well; live and learn. Be glad to get back to some furniture. Sorry for the rant.

[Mark Singer]

Alan,
It si good experience! You wil get through it....you need to shift gears and not be the perfectionist you are....I know that is not easy;)

[Dan Forman]

Hey, we all need a good rant sometimes. Hope the rest of the project goes smoothly. Remember always "This too shall pass.".

Dan

[Walt Pater]

Two words: Change Order. They make me uncomfortable, but sure make the rest of the project less stressful. I'm sure that the builder willl understand. FYI, a fellow I know who runs lots of millwork routinely doubles his bids, and still has more work than he can keep up with. But just so that you know you're in good company, I'm in week six of a job that I thought would take me a month, soup to nuts. Good luck.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I run into projects like this from time to time...I think of them as cash flow as well as a doormat to more work down the road with that client. Since 40% or so of our business is return clients, it works. So put in a day or two extra and just go on to the next project.

[Richard Wolf]

Kelly has the right idea, its all about education. Hopefully down the road you will reap the benifits.

Richard

[Ray Bersch]

Guess we have all chewed on a job like that - its part of the learning curve that seems to never end. I did it once on a house I bid in late spring with an early sumer anticipated start - as represented by the customer - but approval delays made it a winter start - a bad winter at that - and my contract did not allow me to pass on the additional costs - oh, they did pay for snow removal on their lot but that was it - a bad winter in Black Rock. Completed the job and moved on - and added two or three more paragraphs to my standard contract.

I learned to inisist on a Change Order if something represented by the customer turned out to be different - so in your case, if you were not aware of the quality of the material being supplied or if it was represented as something it is not, then an extra charge is perfectly legitmate - not enough to cover your bid mistake, but at least something to make up for the lost time associated with that part of the job.
Good luck.

Ray

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Hey Alan, look at the bright side, now that you have experience with that type of work you'll know how to estimate future jobs. There's a lot of that type of work available and not too many people who do it well. Sounds like an opportunity.

[Alan Turner]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. When I asked the contractor for tolerances, he said +/- 1/8" I burst out laughing. Now quite like furniture making. I don't know if I can work to 1/8" tolerance. Might have to figure out how to make my tools less accurate. (:

[Alan Mikkelsen]

I'm doing the same thing right now, running maple and cherry trim for our oldest daughters house. I'm so sick of it I could scream. I've created several bags of chips in my 3 hp dust collector this last week. It's just plain time consuming and boring, but like my wife says with a sweet smile, "it's for the kids, honey".

[Steve Inniss]

Alan,
There is/was a related article by Mike Dunbar in Apr/03 FWW(p96).

-Steve