Building a house for my family in upstate NY. Started last summer with the foundation, almost to drywall.
Long story short, I have access to woodland and am trying to use as much wood from my property as possible. I have clear, kiln dried maple available that I want to use for kichen cabinets. Found one guy willing to use the wood and build cabinets in his shop. Looking at about 30′ of base units, two lazy suzans, two banks of drawers maybe 8 drawers total. Shaker style maple doors. Nothing fancy. No uppers, using open shelves.
Got a price of $4900 to build cabinets and deliver. I finish and install. Cabinets will require about 200 BDFT maple that I will provide. I figure I have about .50 per BDFT my cost in the wood.
No reason to question quality of proposed work, I think I will get a nice product from a good craftsman. My problem is I can’t spend a dollar without comparing prices.
Does the money sound reasonable? Bear in mind I’m in a depressed area of NY.
Thanks. Andy
Replies
I won't be able to tell you if the price is reasonable or not, since regional differences can be huge. But there are a couple of things for you to consider when comparing his quote to any others you may get.
Is this guy a woodworker with a shop in his backyard, or is he a cabinet shop. If he's a woodworker, then he has probably figured how much of his time he'll need, and quoted you accordingly.
If he's a cabinet shop -- much more like a factory -- then your request is a bit odd. You want him to use your wood, which might be easy, or it might be a significant change from his normal practices.
And the last possiblilty is that whoever he is, his price doesn't just reflect the cost, but also his level of desire to get the job. Some guys are hungry, some not so much.
Support our Troops. Bring them home. Now. And pray that at least some of the buildings in the green zone have flat roofs, with a stairway.
Andy,
where's this depressed part of upstate NY located
Outside of Binghamton.
you could get it cheaper from a cabinet maker without providing the wood
I dunno man,
30' of base cabs, no indication of wall cabs, but probably similar, for $4900
Seems like a good deal to me - maybe I'm not giving enough weight to the cost of his "owner supplied maple"
http://jhausch.blogspot.comAdventures in Home BuildingAn online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
Get references. See his prior work. Plus, using your materials, there may be no warranty regarding later warping or shrinkage.
in the 4900.00 bid is he suppling all the cab carcass material? hinges,drawer slides,lazy susan hardware? if he is the price sounds pretty good to me. but i'm like the others unless you want the wood that came from the woods,i'd let him furnish the wood. i'm not sure what his cost would be but i'm guessing about 4-5 dollars a bdf. it will be clear and dried and he knows what he's working with.
who's problem is it if he uses your wood and next winter all the door faces shrink and crack. if i was him i would shrug my shoulders and tell you the wood wasn't dried properly.
i just did some cabs and this is what i know i spent all in 1/4 sawn red oak. 26 shaker stlye doors,9 drawer fronts,3 glass doors. 2300.00 drawer hardware including the slide out shelves,175.00. about 8 sheets of 3/4" 1/4 sawn oak ply wood,880.00 no clue how much stile mat. but lets guess 100 bdf at 400.00. thats is roughly for 16'of lowers 16'of uppers and a 8' x5 island. theres 3750.00 with no carcass labor and i'm sure i'm forgetting stuff. if you like his work i'd get him building. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Not knowing your exact layout makes it a little harder to tell, but I'd say thats a good deal.
I did a kitchen last year with owner-supplied red elm, they finished, I installed, for around 6500 if I remember right. That was dovetail drawers, flat-panel doors w/ solid wood panels, slide-outs in the bases, all that good stuff. Probably had twenty feet of bases, ten feet of uppers, plus a big pantry & corner cab.
Mike
I like the idea of using local craftsmen and lumber from the site. To me the issue is "My problem is I can't spend a dollar without comparing prices." so I'd say go to http://www.merrillat.com and throw together your cabinet package in their terminology in comparable robot made cabinets of admittedly marginal quality and get a quote delivered and installed to compare with the craftsmen and local wood.
There is no shame in "bothering" the local Merrillat dealer to throw the quote together. They are the biggest baddest cabinet guys in America, we use them anyway because they use Low VOC particle board and their delivery is 14 days tops. They will probably be cheaper than the craftsmen but you'll have your quote and if the family decides to go cheap you'll have a reliable economical cabinet that's easy to work with. We chop them up and re-purpose them all the time.
Michael
Well the way I figure it, the maple I provide for the project is worth about $1,000 towards the project. I have a kiln lined up to dry it to 7%, the cabinet maker has the ability to further fine tune the moisture content at his shop. 100% clear nice stuff. It's also worth something to me knowing it started out as a tree I cut. I'll have something to tell my grandchildren in 20 years.
Its a good point about warranty issues on the wood performance, have to give that some thought.
The cabinet maker will provide all hardware, lazy susans, etc. he will deliver completed, unfinished boxes to the site for the price. No upper units, just bases.
Thanks for all the good thoughts.
Andy
Edited 2/27/2007 7:19 am ET by andyb
you say you're getting the wood from your property then you say it is kiln dried? did you in fact harvest the wood and send it to a kiln or do you have a kiln?
if its not KD then you may be if for some heartbreak unless you go for the traditional rustic look
what about the cabinet boxes themselves, are you using clear maple or veneer plywood or (god forbid) particle board? and who is supplying it?
then, do you know what a PITA maple is to stain? pro finishers use a blow stain. to stain maple by hand is frightening. think about clearcoat, no stain.
Wood was harvested in April, currently stickered in my pole barn, taking it to the kiln this week. 15 cents bdft to have it bandsawn, 35 cents for KD.
Boxes will be constructed out of 3/4 inch maple plywood.
Planning on clearcoat with some type of UV protection to guard against yellowing.
Planning on clearcoat with some type of UV protection to guard against yellowing.
Use a waterbase finish and you'll avoid some/most of the yellowing that you dont want.
The yellowing comes from the finish - if you use an oil base the oil is what yellows the wood.
Doug
Edited 2/27/2007 10:47 pm ET by DougU
it is a reasonable price and a good project for both of you, i think it is a good ideal to use the lumber from the site as long as it is the proper moisture content at the time of construction, i am a cabinet maker/carpenter and i would enjoy a job like this as long as the material you provided was of good quality , good quality hand crafted cabinets take a lot of time to design and build and they have a lot of charm that high end mass produced cabinets lack, if he is known to do good work-go for it
So here's my follow up to all this:
Spent about an hour at Lowes last night (open late,easy access to prices) looking at similar base units. Used their Shuler line, plywood boxes, solid doors for comparison. Their rough price for the same units was about $5300 delivered.
Thinking I'll get a better built and looking product from the local guy for about the same cash outlay.
Thanks for all the thoughtful responses.
Andy
Now, how're going to finish them?
Maybe that will be my next post. Suggestions?
I have to watch dollars pretty close on this whole project, but I'm willing to spend on the items that are significant. If I feel I won't be able to live with the results that I am capable of producing, I start looking for qualified people. Maybe it's worth letting the cabinet spray in his shop?
Well, I'm happier than a pig in poop that I bought myself a good HVLP. That Ultima Lacquer mentioned lays nicely with it.