Cabinetry & Woodwork

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Gather some photos from magazines, reference books etc on some small things you'd like to incorporate into your project. It can be a door style, head piece or style you like. With this guidance I can assemble all these ideas into a complete drawing of your project for you input.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. That custom cabinetry is not as expensive as you think. Large home stores have teaser adds that quote a so called cheep price. Then you walk into the store & get a installed price with all the features you pick and end price ends up much higher than the add. I think they call this bait & switch.
Inside Secrete
Home stores build for lowest shipping weight not for quality. Home store 5' vanity might weigh 45 lbs where my will weigh 240. What does that tell you?

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. How long in business?
References ?
Any call backs?
And the big one, If I have a problem a few years down the road or want to add more cabinetry to the room will I be getting the same brand cabinet as I am buying today?
Home stores buy in bulk, several billion dollars worth at the same time awarded to the cheapest bidder each year.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Pictures as I said before.
Also desired appliances, special desires like nick knack shelfs, hide away mixer, trash sorting bins, pullout towel racks.
For office, computer size, pullout printer/ keyboard, Lineal feet of books or items to display.
But the main is style, Arts & Crafts, contemporary, Georgian, Federal, etc. If you don't know I will have suggestions when I see you space.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Custom is a buss word that fly's around allot when the job is not truly custom. Stock doors & drawers in set sizes are pulled from the bin from different batches of wood never to match each other. When I build the same piece of wood lines up over its exact match whether door, drawer, head piece, etc. This gives the cabinet a feel & look of unity, completeness.
Each wall cabinet is built to that walls dimension, no 3" or 4" fillers are ever used to make the stock cabinet fit the wall dimension.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Several things
Design & build heirloom quality woodwork that will stand the test of time, long past my lifetime.
Also the ability to accurately create from scratch a clients wishes into reality & have it turn out better than they expected.
Most of all, the excitement & positive feedback I get from a client when the project is completed & in their home or office.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. It's not as easy as it seams.
Woodwork of this caliper takes decades of experience to achieve.
Great design is the most important and it takes much study to achieve perfect proportions.
Lastly get the woodwork design professional in early, during the home drawing stage. That way window & door clearances can be properly accounted for & set.
Nothings worse than a person designing a period home & not having the correct window, door or room height needed to properly proportion the room. Also electrical outlets, blocking, heating & cooling runs, just to mention a few, need to be accounted for so they can be properly set as to not to detract from the room design.