Birch Ranch Project

Beautiful. I have done this color and style before, but never this large. What a dream.

What parts did you outsource, and what did you do in house?

How long did the project take?

Did you make money on the project?

Hey Adam,

Thanks, this was a dream job. Are you actually admitting that you have built face framed cabinetry at some time in your distant past?

This house was about 6000 sq.ft., and had tons of cabinetry in it. What you see here is just the great room and entry. I also did some cherry cabinetry in the master suite,(bath cabinetry, mini-bar with refer and micro and another fireplace mantel), along with some fancy bookcases with paneled ends and Enkeboll carved crowns.

I outsourced several rooms of thermo foil cabinetry,(secondary baths,laundry,master closet and the home office) to another shop owned by a friend of mine. I let him do all of the thermo foil while I did all the stain grade.

Of the cabinetry you see here, I outsourced doors and panels, carvings and mouldings and the finish work. The turnings were custom turned to my specifications and the arched doors you see on the corner storage cabinet were custom built to my design. I wanted the upper curve of the doors to match the curved top rails of the entertainment center and fireplace mantel on the same wall, while the inside arch of the top rails matched the doors in the rest of the job. Along with the keystones and carvings this sets these three pieces apart from the kitchen cabinetry and gives them more of a furniture feel.

The project took a little more than four months including design, layout, construction, time spent at the finishers and installation.

When it was all said and done, I did make money. But it was not the "cha-ching" that I thought it would be. Too much time spent on the detail work, too much time spent teaching the employee, too much time at the finishers etc, etc.

This is still the largest job I've ever done, and the photography has led to many more high-style projects. I paid $1700 for the professional photography of this project and I'm still making money off of these photo's.

Larry Haws

Looks like all the subs did a great job. I'd say you did but I can't see your work under all of theres

Gee Kol,

Thanks for the wonderful comment. Everyone here knows that this is not studio furniture where you build every stick of the job.

I'm a kitchen cabinetmaker trying to do nicely designed projects using the latest in hardware, carvings, mouldings, turnings and custom finishes.

In my shop I have shapers and router tables with which I make many custom mouldings and raised panel doors if I choose to do so. I have a lathe with which I have made custom turnings and I also do multi-step finishes. However I do not produce carvings of any sort.

My focus here is on design, whether I fabricate the components or have them made for me. This job came to me as a set of floor plans, no elevations, no certified kitchen designer telling me how to build. During the course of my design work here, I made multiple changes to the plans as drawn by the architect, much to the delight of the clients.

If I would have chosen to fabricate all of this work myself, I would still be working on it!

I like to think that my work on this project is highly visible.

Thank you,

Larry Haws/Woodskills

Larry,

I didn't mean face frame when I said style, but yes we have done face frame in the past, the waaaaayyyy past, lol.

I was curious on the money part because I have had the same type of things happen. You get a big job and think cha-ching, but yet it eats up a lot more time than is alotted. I have since learned to do better, but it is always a struggle.

I don't know what kol is trying to say, you did one helluva a job on that project. Part of that was finding subs that were up to your standards.

Proud to sign my full name,

Adam Rose

Thanks Adam, see you soon.

Larry

Kol,
Let,s see a picture of your work and what your bottom line was at the end of year.This job looks fantastic and the customer was probably extremely happy to boot.
Have you ever tried to put all the peices together on a project this size? If you had,you would know that pulling it off is as big of task as nailing the boxes together
and you would appreciate what it takes.

I think that I was just a little cranky when I wrote what I wrote. I think the job is great as well and I do know what it takes to design and build everything. I own my own woodworking shop too. I outsource my doors only and build everything else. Appliques, turnings, carvings, etc are purchased and then applied by us during install. I agree 100% that it would take entirely to long to build everything and also understand that it would eat all the profit and then some. I think I misunderstood or read it to fast and then commented to quickly. Designing and making the customer visualize what they are going to get is a real pain. I hope that you made a good dime on the job, and your customers are completely happy. Looks great, Sorry for the poor feedback.
And as far as appreciation goes, this job is my life, my appreciation for quality work and understanding of what is involved is beyond words. That's why I limit what I sub out. Because I couldn't fathom letting someone take on a project like this without being right there the whole time. And if that were the case I'd just assume do it myself. No worries.
Anyway Larry I look forward to seeing more of your work. It's great

Ed,

Your comments are appreciated.
Thanks.

kol,

No sweat, I'm glad you posted back. I've read some of your other posts and was suprised by the negative tone of your response.

I understand what you are saying about not wanting to sub out your work. That's why I subbed all the thermo foil and did all of the fancy stuff myself. It sounds as if your approach to the stain grade work would be pretty much the same way, build all of the cabinets, buy the doors, panels, turnings, carvings,etc. I concentrate on nice design, pleasing the customer and trying to make a living.

Thanks for your positive comments. I'll post photos of another job later, on which I built everything but the hardware.

Larry Haws