I think I want to build furniture for a living

[Dan Barr]

I would like to solicit all of the advice anyone is willing to give. Im currently in the military. But when i retire, if this is still a suitable option, i would like to explore building furniture for a living.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. both on the craft and the business side of things.

thanks,

dan

[Paul Girouard]

Retire as a Echo -9 or maybe a O-3 , or W-4 , you guys have any enlisted to officer programs , like the Navy's LDO / Warrant programs?

But sure either find a nice spot you can develop your clientele or consignment shops to sell out of as you go long now.

That spot should be near a big city out here where I live near a NAS on Whidbey Island the shops are small and the people not "AS well to do" I should get some stuff in the city , I think that volume of people that SEE your work must make sales easier.

Start keeping a woodworkers log of the time spent building what your building now so you have a better idea of the REAL time it takes instead of the ESTIMATED time. OK Lie a little to your self about how fast you where in building a piece , but NOT TO MUCH:D

Develop good work habits , shop organization etc .

Are you currently using a base hobby shop for your building ? Or a shop / carport in housing??

Take lots of photo's of your work , track that time maybe on a puter spread sheet , that computer time will cross over to your books keeping , how you write up proposals etc .

There so much more but those are starting points.

[Brodie Brickey]

While you're in, get the highest security clearance you can. When you get out, transition to a high paying position that requires that high security clearance. Build up your nest egg, acquire the house, shop, and some land.

For now:
Work on your woodworking skills, join a woodworking club, keep designing. Enroll in a community college woodworking program if they are offered in your area. Enter various competitions, local fairs, juried shows, etc. To really be successful, you'll not only need the promotional smarts, but also some level of uniqueness.

Like any business, you'll need to make a name for yourself. Your work seen at competitions and juried shows will really help. You can also make a piece and donate it to a local charity having an auction.

Since you aren't planning to launch right now, working to acquire good tools will help you to make the pieces that will push your abilities further.

[Michael McCoy]

It's easier to do this as a side job till you develop clientele. I had to turn down work at my last location because I was on travel so much. I've just been in my current spot for about a year and I'm planning on calling it quits at the end of next year since my favorite place in the world is NOT Afghanistan. Word of mouth goes a long way if you put out a quality product.

[Mike Henderson]

It is VERY difficult to make a living building furniture (as opposed to cabinets - like kitchen cabinets). To do so, you need to be able to design some new and distinctive look that people like and are willing to pay for. If all you want to do is build furniture that's already been built, it's unlikely you'll be successful. The furniture in furniture stores is sufficient for most people and it's cheap - you'd have a hard time buying the material for the price they sell the finished furniture for.

The number of people who have tried, and failed, to make a living making furniture is legion. The best thing to do is to find some profession that you like and which pays a good salary and has good benefits - and do woodworking on the side.

Mike

[Phillip downs]

The advice given is all good and pertinent. However don't fail to use the internet as a selling tool, a good place to start is E-bay. Hook'em there and move them to your store. In the long run I would also like to pursue this. Was thinking of 1 or 2 items, easily broken down and reassembled for shipment to customer. Ultimately find a few popular pieces and set up a small retail shop/ area in a tourist area and assemble some and talk it up with the customers, maybe major production in another spot less costly. You can then take special orders.

Good luck

Phil

[Richard Dragin]

North Bennet Street School.

[Jay Brewer]

It is VERY difficult to make a living building furniture (as opposed to cabinets - like kitchen cabinets).


Hi Dan, Mike couldnt had said it better. When the customer can go to Wal Mart and buy it for $50, its hard to compete. Yes, yours will be built better and hand crafted, But most people that know nothing about woodworking could care less. Furniture is also hard to price unless you build the same peice over and over. IMO there are 2 types of woodworking busisness. The ones that does it because they love it, and the extra money is a bonus, and the ones that run it as a job. It took me a while to learn that the customers coming to you probably make a good living doing what they do. Why shouldnt you???

I built furniture for about five years, after running the numbers, I could have made more money working at McDonalds. I found my niche, custom kitchens. Most people will still spend an amazing amount of money on cabinets. Even the Big Box stores custom stuff is around $500-$600 a linear foot not including installation.

A few words of advice:

Find a niche, and a good clientele that is willing to spend for quality.(preferably while you still have a steady pay check )

Keep a job folder for every project. Keep all the drawings in it and write down everything, what you did that day and the hours ( helps with future pricing)

Do EVERYTHING you say you are going to do, and maybe then some. Bad news travels faster that good news. Example. I just finished a kitchen remodel where the clients were out of town for 2 weeks. When I was finished, I paid a cleaning company to clean the entire house. When the customers came home, they were blown away that I would go through the trouble. That $200 will come back to me 10 fold in repeat business and word of mouth.

Set a shop rate and stick to it. DONT WORK FOR FREE ( That was the hardest thing for me to learn). Remember that sooner or later, all that equipment will wear out.

If you can master these thing, I think you will be well on your way.

[Scott Seigmund]

[quote=Mike Henderson;732711]It is VERY difficult to make a living building furniture (as opposed to cabinets - like kitchen cabinets).


I built furniture for about five years, after running the numbers, I could have made more money working at McDonalds. I found my niche, custom kitchens. Most people will still spend an amazing amount of money on cabinets. Even the Big Box stores custom stuff is around $500-$600 a linear foot not including installation.

I would suggest that you lay down until the fever breaks.

In all seriousness, the above quote from Jay is absolutely true. You would make a much better living building cabinets and custom millwork for which a great deal of people will spend a lot of money. Realize that most homes and remodels are financed, and the cost is spread over many years for the buyer. Handmade furniture is a luxury good for the very affluent who can pay with cash. This is dramatically smaller clientele.

If you enjoy woodworking as a hobby, I can assure you that your personal relationship with the craft will be much different when your mortgage depends on it.

Regards,

Scott

[keith ouellette]

I would like to build furniture for a living also. I wish I had advice for you but I am long on dreams and short on talent. Its a great dream I review often.

[Bob Feeser]

I learned much reading this post. Thanks to those posting it. I have a view on the subject. I started to do woodwork professionally, registered the name MillCrafters as a legal trade name to do business under with the dot com etc, and started doing work. Competing with the big box stores was not impossible, but it wasn't going to make me more than 35k per year for example. From that I adopted an understanding. This is just my opinion, but as was mentioned here top line cabinet work, for those who are willing to pay for it is one way, what I want to comment on is the other way.
This country went through an industrial revolution, where things that were made by hand, one at a time, couldn't compete with the new mass production methods. Consider the time it takes to design a project custom, pick up the wood, take the time to set up each machine, with the specific router bit, dimensioning of the lumber etc. all takes a lot of time to set up, and only seconds to make the final cut. You could just as easily make 50 of them in not much more time then it takes to make one. That is why the successful stores such as Ethan Allen, Wood Mode etc. all take a specific style, or models, and keep making them again, and again. I know it is boring standing at a machine turning out 200 of the same piece, but it is the efficient way to make money at it. You can even incorporate the profitable method of being a middle man, leveraging others behavior. Oddly enough once the machine is set up right, hiring an inexpensive unskilled worker to run pieces past a router all day is possible. Ok that is the nuts and bolts of efficiency, and maximizing profits in woodworking.
On the other side it takes all of the creativity, and joy out of it. So for some they abhor that routine, but manage to complain when they are not making enough on their projects.
General Motors spends millions of dollars building a prototype, but then mass produces the same car for only 15k, and makes a profit, due to mass production menthods, plus they spread the design and engineering amongst millions of that model. What we are doing in making custom woodwork is building that prototype, and trying to charge a competitive price, and compete with the big box stores, who are putting the inexpensive mass production, minimum salary guy behind the router, or even quicker with automated machinery.
Getting someone who is willing to pay for prototypes is not very common, but it does occur.
I have some associates who brag about spending 30k on their kitchen cabinets. Wood Mode seems to be getting large amounts of money, and are introducing additional product lines with reduced costs.
I guess I am rambling at this point, hope this is food for thought.

[John Thompson]

I think we all have an inner desire to build furniture for a living. Long ago and after Vietnam, I had that desire and channeled my thoughts toward that. I went through the paces, acquired the skills and slowly accumulated the tools as that was the destination I dreamed of reaching. About 20 years into the plan I felt those skills had been honed and I was ready.

But... the reality was that I had met and knew professionals that were weening away to write books on WW.. articles.. teach.. do seminars.. etc. as making a living doing "one-offs" was becoming more and more difficult. The population has changed their views on what they want and just how much they will pay to get it.

We are in a throw-away world. You can purchase cheap and just get rid of it when the hot new trend goes south and that is often. The value of hand built is becoming a thing of the past and the established, long time "one-off" builders are aware of that and having to diversify to put bread on the table.

Good luck with what you decide.. take your time.. investigate and give it some deep soul searching...

Sarge..

[Mitchell Andrus]

You won't make a living building furniture. You'll make a living running a business that sells the furniture you'll be making - and there is a BIG, HUGE difference between the two.

I've been at for 11 years now. I had 22 years experience in the business world before I launched. I do very well, but it isn't easy and success isn't free.

[Craig Earls]

You won't make a living building furniture. You'll make a living running a business that sells the furniture you'll be making - and there is a BIG, HUGE difference between the two.


I think that is the best, most succinct description of the real issue here. You want to work wood professionally, but do you also have the chops to be the front man in the office (and the garbage man and the file clerk, etc.) I ran across another thread here that put it in another way: if he was buying materials, he wasn't building, if he was selling, he wasn't building, and if he was building he wasn't selling...

I retire from the Navy in about 18 months. I am staring down the same tunnel as you, luckily (in the glass half full sort of way) I have five young kids, and a wife who is too risk averse to allow me to seriously consider such things. Although in my case it would be building cars for people...

[Bob Feeser]

Had a business for 20 years, at one point had 11 people working for me. Other points in the business I had a few. I will never forget what a gentleman told me that had several businesses in Germany, while observing me running up and down the steps from the refinish room of the shop, then back into the front office. He stopped me and said, "If you do this up here, fine, if you do that down there, fine, but if you do this up here and that down here, not fine.

[Jim Marshall]

There is some great advice here, I wish I had been able to talk to some of you guys when I started my business years ago. For 20 years or so I went from one thing to the other trying to find my niche in wood working. I tried furniture, hospital casework, production furniture, custom stairs and many other things, but building furniture was still what I wanted to do. I built several pieces and one on one building is very costly as has been said here already. Finally, after 20 years, found my niche which was restoring the old homes of the Early 1800's. I reproduced some furniture of that era but mostly reproduced many things that were of that era including trim, stairs and such which could not be bought at a store. The last part of my career I did quite well and had a waiting list of up to two years for our work, but there were quite a few times that were very lean also but the bills still had to be paid.

These fellows have given you some fantastic advice and it is coming from experience which is golden. Wood working is a tough business to break into so be patient, it was my career for over 37 years, I wish I could still be out there working.

[Chuck Lenz]

That is why the successful stores such as Ethan Allen, Wood Mode etc. all take a specific style, or models, and keep making them again, and again. I know it is boring standing at a machine turning out 200 of the same piece, but it is the efficient way to make money at it. You can even incorporate the profitable method of being a middle man, leveraging others behavior. Oddly enough once the machine is set up right, hiring an inexpensive unskilled worker to run pieces past a router all day is possible. Ok that is the nuts and bolts of efficiency, and maximizing profits in woodworking.

Thats the way things USE to be. Ethan Allen and Lane no longer produce furniture in this country that I know of, if they do it's very little. Inexpensive workers become expensive when you have to pay workmans comp, unemployment, and match social security and taxes, then theres bennefits if you want to keep anyone dependable. Personally, I would advise against going into such a endevor.

[Ellen Benkin]

The best advice I have gleaned from these responses is to retire on a pension (with health insurance) that you can live on and then try to make furniture for a supplemental income. If you are good and lucky, you will be able to make good money. Otherwise, you will just enjoy making furniture.

[Rick Gooden]

It's all about finding the clients. If your going to do furniture it needs to be high quality and unique. You will need to find a high end circle of clients to sustain this type of ww. As has been said here before, everyday furniture can be found for a lot less than you can make it. Get a job to support your passion, hone your skills (both ww and presentation), find an outlet. I have an interior designer to the high end market that takes me to the client. She provides me with as much work as I want and I can be selective. I work for her exclusively as far as designers go, and have done a number of pieces for her personal residence (for cost of materials and minimal labor). I'm not any better than anyone else and there are many here that far surpass my abilities, but marketing makes the difference. I have another occupation and only do 6 to 8 projects per year which is a nice supplement.

[George Bregar]

Very good thread. My thoughts...as I too at some point would like to WW for $$$. Clearly there is no way to compete against furniture stores, high to low end. And the cabinet business is very competitive. I personally would stay away from both.

My cabin is in the northwoods of WI, and although the local population is not a very good market, there is huge money coming in from Chicago and the Twin Cities. A modest lake home runs $250k, and there are many many $1 million+ plus homes in the area. The nearest big box is an hour away.

People who have second homes in this price range have money. I talked to a high end furniture store (just bought a $2,000 love seat) about upholstering my Morris Chair, and they all thought what a great chair, and how perfect for a cottage. I commented that they had no Arts and Craft furniture at all, and they were interested in consignment. I'm really not, as that eliminates a lot of the margin I would need for myself, however it may be a good short term way to get the word out and buy credibility.

I think vacation homes are a great market for high end custom furniture. They will not be redecorated often like primary residences, and typically are smaller so less furniture, so custom and long term have appeal. And Art and Crafts, which I love to build, fit the bill.

A resulting market from above is "special" one-offs to clients. A client's son graduates law school...a custom desk and barrister bookcase. Daughter turns 16...a custom pencil post bed. Appeal to the "I had this built just for you"...much more powerful than "a bought this for you". I think this can also lead to custom office furniture...desks, conference tables...because these people have money and want to impress.

Just my dream.

[Dennis Kelly]

Dan,
Great discussion! I am alot like you, I currently teach middle school which gives me a fair amount of time to build custom furniture on the side. I started by doing one craft fair, and ever since I have had enough business to keep me busy and help pay for tools in the shop. I plan to do more craft fairs this spring.

I love my time building furniture and when I'm teaching...I'm thinking about building furniture. I will continue doing what I'm doing because it's hard to give up a pension and great benefits. But when the time is right, I hope to make the switch full time. So, when you think the time is right...go for it!!!

Good luck Dan!!! I'm pulling for you.

Dennis

[Frank Orzehoski]

Dan - pay attention the posts by guys who have actually done this for a living as they are very accurate. I am in the process of building a furniture business right now and there are challenges just like they describe. It is hard work and you may not succeed but if you don't try, it may be something you regret later. But in saying that, I have the luxury of having a wife bringing down a good salary so the personal finances aren't jeopardized. If I didn't have that I don't know how fast I would have tried what I am doing. If you go forward, shop efficiency and good production techniques will be critical as well as understanding how to correctly price your work. Best of luck should you go forward.

[julie Graf]

expect not to make money while you are building your portfolio of work

develop a style but be flexible with clients wants/needs/tastes

forget about healthcare. (yikes!)

it helps to consolidate your living and work space. (we just bought an old church and have our shop on the first floor and live in the old sanctuary/2nd floor)

apprentice with someone for a few years to learn what the heck you are doing and tricks of the trade

I think that people *DO* want nice furniture and will pay for it - they just have to know it's out there. our clients don't want to shop at pottery barn/ethan allen because everyone else does. they want quality stuff, not a fortune, and different. they are stepping up from IKEA and they want functional nice stuff. they like the fact that someone they can meet actually made it!

get out and meet people somehow - most of our clients come from social contacts/aquaintances and word of mouth.

DO GOOD WORK!

it's also a lifestyle choice. we don't expect to be making a ton of money. but we still expect to make a living.

explain your pricing. people don't realize wood costs a lot of money. if they understand this they are more willing to pay for it.

have people come to your shop. again, explain the process so they understand why it costs money to make custom furniture. show them woods, examples of joinery, finishes... be excited. if you are excited, they will get excited.

[Dan Barr]

I really appreciate all of the advice. Good point julie, be excited. im in the middle of my first piece for a client and me tailoring my "pitch" to him and his personality was a big part of the deal to say the least. knowing your client personally helped in this case. im sure i will not know plenty of future clients and that will shape my pitches in the future.

how to step forward. scary...

many of the points made seem to be spot on and logical. im not expecting tons of money, just to do what i like. knowing that a person appreciates my work and it is part of their life is very nice.

i look forward to more advice and stories.

thanks,

dan

[Bob Feeser]

[quote=Jay Brewer;732901]

If you enjoy woodworking as a hobby, I can assure you that your personal relationship with the craft will be much different when your mortgage depends on it.

Regards,

Scott

Scott,
You brought up a good point. I remember how my love for woodworking was tarnished when I was forced to meet deadlines. It was great as long as I could spend whatever time I needed. But when I had to rush the job, because it was supposed to be done on Friday, and the finishing process demanded more time, then after letting the stain dry overnight, and it still wasn't completely dry, but in order to meet the deadline, you take a chance, and sure enough, you lay the finish on, and you see some blotchiness, and suddenly your heart is not in it any more. Spend all of this time to get this beautiful oak just right, all the seams are fitting like a glove, it looks like a work of art, then the blotchiness happens, and what do you see? If you can't do it right, why do it at all? At moments like this, I think of a T Shirt I made up, and it said
I have a lot of respect, for the fine art, of hiding sloppy craftsmanship. :D
Get out the minwax urethane with the stain already mixed in a blast a few coats of that on it to even it out. Then bake it with a blast heater. Then I walk around the shop, in a German accent, talking to myself, calling my self "Dr Goodenough" :p:p:p What can I say, I'm picky, the customer loved the end result. Besides she wanted them dark anyhow. Boy I sure hated covering up all that beautiful red oak, with such a dark stain.

[Bill Bryant]

When I drive up and down the commercial streets of my city, I'm often struck by the fact that every law office, architectural firm, dentist clinic, fast food provider, aquarium store, florist shop, gun store, band instrument store, auto body repair shop, and on and on--every one of them represents somebody not listening to the "you can't do it" advice, and just doing it.

I've often thought of launching out into self-imployment myself. Of course I've been a teacher for many years: an employee working under others in a fairly stable, job-security situation, so self-employment of any kind is a great unknown for me and might be a total disaster.

But I'm also a guy who had the tenacity (I know how to do 16-hour work days for days on end) to complete a master's degree in music history with a 3.99 GPA (don't ask about why it wasn't a 4.0!), I've got a wife with scads of bookkeeping/business management skills who'd love to use them for our own business instead of someone else's, I've designed several websites and edited several newsletters, I'm handy not just with wood but also with metal.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that everybody who starts his own business has to do it with a "never say die" attitude and just put in the 16 hour days and go for the brass ring. So you fail. So what. Set your sight high enough and failing will get you farther than the next guy who "succeeded" at a low goal.

I'm tired and it's late. I hope some of that made sense. I won't go back and edit it.

[Frank Orzehoski]

When I drive up and down the commercial streets of my city, I'm often struck by the fact that every law office, architectural firm, dentist clinic, fast food provider, aquarium store, florist shop, gun store, band instrument store, auto body repair shop, and on and on--every one of them represents somebody not listening to the "you can't do it" advice, and just doing it.

I've often thought of launching out into self-imployment myself. Of course I've been a teacher for many years: an employee working under others in a fairly stable, job-security situation, so self-employment of any kind is a great unknown for me and might be a total disaster.

But I'm also a guy who had the tenacity (I know how to do 16-hour work days for days on end) to complete a master's degree in music history with a 3.99 GPA (don't ask about why it wasn't a 4.0!), I've got a wife with scads of bookkeeping/business management skills who'd love to use them for our own business instead of someone else's, I've designed several websites and edited several newsletters, I'm handy not just with wood but also with metal.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that everybody who starts his own business has to do it with a "never say die" attitude and just put in the 16 hour days and go for the brass ring. So you fail. So what. Set your sight high enough and failing will get you farther than the next guy who "succeeded" at a low goal.

I'm tired and it's late. I hope some of that made sense. I won't go back and edit it.


Bill - well said. I just love advice or even posts, posts in this thread who take the fatalist view even before you try. AND some of these advisers or posters aren't even small business owners! Small business is the real backbone of this country and as you said, if everyone listened to the doom and gloom crowd there wouldn't be any. Starting and owning your business is risky and time consuming, but those who have succeded, at least my former commercial loan clients and friends who have their own shops wouldn't have it any other way despited the head aches.

[John Thompson]

I personally don't read a "fatlist" view from the posters that took the time to give their insight. I did not see one post mentioning you "must not" open your own business. Just opinions from those that have traveled the same route and gone one way or the other based on what they had already experienced or seen.

I had my own business for 9 years and sold it for a modest but handsome profit... allowing me to retire 8 weeks ago at 60 when the company I was with hit a slow year. And it was a slow year by about all as evidenced by retail sales figures at Xmas which is a vital part of retail business. A signal that money is tight and will remain so till indicators show otherwise.

Basically I think the majority have just issued a warning to not jump into full production with expensive purchases for initial up-start with full intentions of going full time from day one with sole reliance of the outcome being your only means of support.

Dan is retiring from the military. I assume that will mean some type of pension and would put him in an excellent position to test the water starting with the little toe and exposing more of the foot as he finds it suitable and logical. Good luck and wishes for sucess.

But.. a good point has also been brought up. When you go commercial you are not on your time. Your tiime basically belongs to the customer with dead-lines to meet along with his expectations of what you produce. You are not creating with your intentions.. but theirs.

I have done a few one-off pieces in the past for a customer. I did not care the the dead-line.. I did not care for his preception of what it would look like finalized.. and I did not care for the fact they irratated me immensely by changing there course in the middle of the stream several times.

Frankly... I personally feel doing it at request of client for sole income s**ks. What was love of craft just got turned into working production with a deadline to meet. I just want to work with the wood as I love it and I let it's characteristics and grain tell me what it needs to look like and be in it's second life. Not a client.

Deadlines.... not my cup of tea!

Sarge..

[Dennis Montgomery]

I am a full time woodworker and I shudder at the thought of trying to make a living building furniture. The reason this is such a difficult business is the average consumer's knowledge in furniture prices. There are furniture stores on every corner and everyday we get flooded with furniture sale flyers. All this information gives consumers an idea of what something should cost. And quite honestly, there is a lot of nice furniture at Rooms to Go at a reasonable price.

Trying to build high-end, heirloom, or museum quality furniture narrows your product to a much smaller audience, which makes it even more difficult to achieve the volume of sales you need to earn a living.

My core business is custom closets, built-ins (bookcases and entertainment centers), and an occasional kitchen. But most importantly what I do centers around providing storage and clutter solutions, then build it. Custom built-in casework is something a consumer cannot walk into a store and price out. It has to be designed with a lot of customer interaction. Since they don't have a financial reference point they rarely argue about the price.

There have been a number of comments in this thread about sticking with casework and I fully agree. There is a lot of money in it and a big audience needing it.

If I were retired and didn't have to do what I do to feed my family I would probably build some furniture and try to find a market for it. I hate installing casework in people's homes, but it's part of the job. I would much rather build furniture and have someone come pick it up. However, until I find a market to sell Morris chairs for $5000 each, I'll stick with custom built-ins.

[Frank Orzehoski]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Some people would prefer to keep it a hobby, others want to take it to the next level despite the head aches. That is a good thing considering the stuff being sold today by the mass retailers.

[Ed Brady]

I have recently retired and am putting together what I hope will be a nice shop for a hobby. I have made some furniture in the past and a lot of built ins, but still have much to learn/practice. But I did wonder to myself if I could sell my work (after I build the half dozen pieces my wife wants) and who might buy it. Money aside, we can use just so many pieces in our family.

So, my wife had a good suggestion that I intend to follow up on. Hook up with a high end interior designer with clients who have taste (maybe) and money. We know a couple in the business and I'm going to discuss the idea with them.

Good luck!

Ed

[Danny Thompson]

Up front I'll say I don't know what I'm talking about . . .

Having said that, I was on vacation this summer with a more affluent branch of the family. We stayed at the condo of a friend of theirs on the Gulf Coast of Florida in one of those scrubbed white, family photo on the beach communities (Seaside, Rosemary, one of those spots). I couldn't get over the amount of money that was flowing there.

The condo was decorated with a mix of furniture, some of which was clearly hand made. And there was a crafts fair that I think was held once a month. Of the 30 or so booths, two were woodworkers with beautiful pieces--one was a turner, another small furniture pieces and decorative items.

Seems like a promising market if you could a) work some booths, b) hook up with an interior decorator, and c) get some lower cost production help back at the shop.

[Frank Orzehoski]

I have recently retired and am putting together what I hope will be a nice shop for a hobby. I have made some furniture in the past and a lot of built ins, but still have much to learn/practice. But I did wonder to myself if I could sell my work (after I build the half dozen pieces my wife wants) and who might buy it. Money aside, we can use just so many pieces in our family.

So, my wife had a good suggestion that I intend to follow up on. Hook up with a high end interior designer with clients who have taste (maybe) and money. We know a couple in the business and I'm going to discuss the idea with them.

Good luck!

Ed


Ed - that sounds like a good idea. Do you know any contractors? Some guys don't want to be bothered with the furniture end but if they are building additions they could offer a complete package, addition plus your work such as book shelves, wall shelves, sconces, etc. You could make a line just for them. Just a thought. A few contractor sources and interior designers and you may not be retired too long!

[Dennis Montgomery]

You're starting to get the right idea. Most all of my large sales ($6000+) come though interior designers. If you go out and try to talk to contractors, you will come away extremely frustrated. Most don't have the time and won't take the time to talk to you because they are only interested in getting homes built and sold. However, most use interior designers to furnish their model homes.

There have been many times when I have been told to "get lost" by a contractor while looking for jobs only to be back in the development a couple of months later because an interior designer recommended me. After seeing my work in the model, the same contractor that previously blew me off is now giving me all the business in the development.

The problem right now is that new construction has just about halted in my area and existing homewowners are spending less. The interior designers are crying "woe is me" and all the builders I had a long time relation with are going bankrupt. It's making small businesses like mine work twice as hard to find leads and close them. All my sales for the past two months have been through the few Lowes stores where I have displays. This is not the best of times to be starting a woodworking business.

[gerford carter]

Theres a great way to make a living at building furniture. I've been doing it for 20 years and I haven't sold a thing. I just spent 6 hours in the shop and my payments will be coming every month for the next 20 years. I just built a beautiful kitchen for one of my rental properties and when people walk in and see it, they say 'I'll take it". It's the IBM model where you don't sell your work, you rent it. When you sell something you get one payment, when you rent it, you get cash flow. I get to cash flow out my woodwork for years. Find a run down place and put some well done woodworking in and tenants will want to stay for years. It works.

[Dennis Hatchett]

I would like to solicit all of the advice anyone is willing to give. Im currently in the military. But when i retire, if this is still a suitable option, i would like to explore building furniture for a living.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. both on the craft and the business side of things.


Dan, great question and others have said much of what needs to be said. I'll just chime in since I've faced the same crossroads and I would give you more of a strong word of caution before you proceed by jumping in all at once rather than taking time to develop your market and pursue the dream over an extended period.

I don't want to kill your dream, nor would I want you to make a decision on a romantic notion of the wood crafting business rather than the harsh reality of a tough business with long hours, tedious clients, and a sporadic paycheck with a high overhead, especially in the early years.

If you spend some time and perhaps some money on a detailed business plan before you launch your venture, you may find that it isn't worth much once you get started. There are so many variables and so many unforeseen obstacles that your skill and passion alone will not dictate your success.

For instance, how good are you at schmoozing? How do you handle rejection? How do you handle picky people who seem to not want to be pleased? Do you have enough savings to be able to float several years of struggle while your business takes off (if it ever does)? Is your business plan dependent upon a volatile economy?

I think the best thing I read above is the advice from Brodie about making a good living based on your past experience in the military and enjoy woodworking as a hobby until you can transition into the custom furniture business. I know a lot of cabinet makers who are just churning out the work and have no passion for anything but clocking out. One friend

There are a lot of people out there looking for hand crafted heirlooms, but it's difficult if not impossible to launch a business counting on them for your bread and butter. There are craftsman with experience you'll never be able to match because they've devoted their entire education and career to the craft, but there is also a niche for solid work done by devoted craftsman. It just takes a while to build that market for your wares. Take your time.

[Frank Caponi]

In the beginning I wanted to build furniture - I had been doing all of my own built in's on the homes I was building - I really enjoyed my time in the shop - I started out building tables and cabinets for clients - It just wasn't enough to really make a living at it - I knew construction and had contacts that could give me some work - Just never enough - My determination kicked in and I made a decision that one way or another I was going to make a living working in my shop - Well - To make a really uninteresting story short I finally ended up building custom doors and sash - I have contacts that supply me with Dade County Approved glass for the doors and sidelights (a necessity here in South Florida) - I also have a few contacts for really nice beveled glass panels - I turn out 30 to 50 sets of doors and side lights a year - It isn't what I started out to do - I can raise a panel and cut mortises and tenons in my sleep - lol - It may not be what I started out to do - I may never be the next David Marks - But I am a wood worker and I really enjoy my time doing it - I guess after all that what I am trying to tell you is to pursue your desire - Just don't put on blinders and be flexible - Good luck