Custom woodworking business?

[Eric C Stoltzfus]

Do any of the members on here have a custom woodworking business? As in people come to you with an idea, you draw up a design and give them a quote for it, and you build it for them? Is this a viable business idea?

[Robert Engel]

How will you get them to come to you? Who are they?

I have a business (not ww'ing) but these are fundamental things to consider.

Custom ww'ing can be many things. I know a couple guys who love to make furniture & run successful shops, they readily admit the bulk of their living comes from cabinetmaking and the occasional conference table.

I have a friend who built a pretty successful business on nothing but a Facebook page, so keep in mind the very first thing you need to do is get a website and Facebook page.

It also helps to have a portfolio of projects to show off your talents.

[johnny means]

Viable, certainly. Difficult, certainly. I managed to make a living selling children's theme beds for a decade or so. Financially, physically and mentally I would have been better of building custom millwork for someone else. It was very rewarding, though.

[Jim Becker]

Lots and lots of SMC community members do custom furniture, cabinetry and other work. My new retirement business includes that. But I don't "draw up" any designs gratis to produce a quote...that's paid work, too. The exception is for speculative work/marketing prototypes, etc., for folks I'm friends with.

[Peter Kelly]

Figure out some sort of desirable niche woodworking product or service and specialize in that. Random custom work can be very difficult to price out and ensure consistent profitability. Ostensibly less risk of entering an already saturated market as well.

There's currently a thread on this very subject on the Woodweb Business and Management Forum.

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/business.pl?read=825262

[Matt Day]

I started a small custom furniture business last year. Emphasis on small. It’s really a glorified hobby that I have insurance for and a website, which makes people more comfortable to pay me for work.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far has been that you might go into it work thinking you’ll make coffee tables and dining tables and desks, but most of my inquiries have been about semi-random things made out of wood. Such as a statue stand, display case, planters, etc. Also, once you really start tracking time and materials, you’ll see how long it really does take to complete a project. That makes it hard to handle more than a project at a time. My marketing is word of mouth, because if I get 3 projects at once I’m toast.
Lastly, I by no means pay the bills and would never plan to. My wife is a physician and that’s where the bread comes from, not my teeny tiny business (smaller than a small business).

[Larry Edgerton]

For most people, no. You are not going to get rich, and at times it can be frustrating.

Read "Making Things Work" by Nancy Hiller. She captures every bit of BS you are going to have to go through very well.

[Darcy Warner]

It's just great, people suck, people don't value your time, best thing you can learn is to just say no.

[Brandon Speaks]

What do you mean by business. I think most hobby woodworker businesses are more of a cover my cost to do wood working model not a pay your bills model.

I have tried to map out a viable business model around a hobby several times and always quickly come to the conclusion that even if market was not a problem (which is a false assumption anyway) that it would not be possible to replace my day job and maintain a standard of living that I want. It would come close if I would also sell my house and go live in my small hunting cabin which could eliminate many personal expenses and live very frugally, but even then was iffy.

Only way I could ever pull it off is if my wife suddenly starts making a bunch of money, or when I retire. After this conclusion I switched tactics and instead focus on working and saving in such a way to make early retirement a possibility.

I dont mean to discourage you, people do pull this off, but you do have to go into it with your eyes open.

[Charlie Jones]

I once had a small woodworking business. For three years I managed to do my day job and the business. It required many night in the shop until 11:00 Pm. I made enough money to buy my tools. I am considering restarting it to supplement my retirement. I plan to work smarter this time. I agree that FB or a website is valuable.

[Mark Bolton]

Also, once you really start tracking time and materials,

This is what you need to quantify out of the gate. We have a full time shop here doing a wide variety of work nearly 100% wholesale to contractors, interior designers, architects, and retail shops. Its a bear.

You can search the archives here and on most any other forum to find all the answers your going to get anywhere. Its extremely hard, its extremely demanding, and you'd better love riding roller coasters.

With day to day products what you will most often find is that many who have a small woodworking business have a spouse that carries a lot of the burden of the household (some extra income, health insurance, and so on) and Im not taking anything away from that model but its absolutely not an honest accounting of what it is to be "in business". Sadly now with so many people retired, have a bit of money, buy a CNC machine or setup a dream shop for their retirement or side hobby while earning money elsewhere, you may likely have a very very difficult time competing on anything someone can be making in their garage during their off time that will make them a few bucks towards their fun-in-the-shop-time and they dont in any way shape or form have a desire to do the honest math of how much they are making. They would just about do it for free just for the fun.

You will likely need to find product(s) that require things those people cant provide. One end of the spectrum is niche commodity items and the other end of the spectrum is extreme high end work (and Im talking extreme like establishing a demand for 15-20K dinning/conference tables, $2500 rocking chairs, and so on). With any type of commodity item all you have to do is look to etsy or other online craft sales sites to see that many people are willing to work for pennies on the dollar. If your in a market, and have the aptitude for the uber high end market that can be lucrative but everybody and their brother are knocking off Maloof chairs when being creative use to mean you may find inspiration from someones work but you dont copy it.

Do your homework. Ask your local community, go talk to local shops to find out if there is a demand. Dont rely on friends and word of mouth, they can be phenomenal but are not a guarantee.

[andy bessette]

I customize yachts. Most of it is custom woodwork, though I design and build in many different materials and have a lot of metalworking as well as woodworking equipment. Also get involved in some repairs and am skilled in many different boat building specialty areas, but do no painting or varnishing professionally. All my business is from word of mouth as I do no advertising. It has been viable for over 40 years.

Prior to this I had a career in engineering design. Much of that experience carried over to boat building and helps me take on rather challenging projects.

[William Hodge]

It would be smart to first come up with a viable business plan.

You need to identify a product that you are able to make and sell to people, for a profit. The process should match your skills and equipment. You should be able to offer better service and product than the competition can.

Community colleges and community development corporations offer classes in writing a business plan. You might discover that you are best suited to do something you had not thought of. For example, I wanted to build furniture. I found out that people pay for furniture out of discretionary money, but they get mortgages to buy millwork. Millwork is an investment in a property that will increase the sales value of a building. I haven't ever been paid to build a piece of furniture.

Temperamentally, I am better at selling millwork than I am at selling something people don't need, like an end table. I know someone who can make people happily open their wallets to pay for a wooden music stand. Find what you feel good about selling.

[John Sincerbeaux]

I have had a small WW business for 17 years now. It has worked really well for me because I use my “real job”, flying for a living to support the WW business. Flying to Hawaii weekly has allowed me to buy Koa while on my layovers then bring it back with me as cargo. I then produce high-end Koa boxes with Marquetry tops and bring them back to the islands where I have sold them in galleries and stores. I also get several commission pieces from the endless stream of pilots and flight attendants that I work with every trip. Definitely a very unique product in a very unique environment, but it has worked well and has been a lot of fun.

[Darcy Warner]

I need a sugar mama like Matt Day has. Lol.