Do's Don'ts Running a Small Cabinet/Furniture shop #1: Staying Within your Commissioned Budget

Wise words indeed from your instructor.

-- Grumpy old guy, and lookin' good Doin' it.

Easy enough to fix that problem. Design first, then price it, then build without changing the design. Design changes then require price changes.

-- Sam Hamory - The project is never finished until its "finished"!

I would say do less detailed designs until the customer approves the overall design.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Incredibly tough for me to behave myself. I always want to build it way nicer than necessary. It kills me when they only want the minimum.

-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it. - It's not ability that we often lack, but the patience to use our ability

In the building trade there is a standard costings book that details how long particular jobs should take e.g. hanging a door, fitting a skirting board, plastering a wall etc. It is a pity that a similar book is not available to furniture makers.
Obviously, people have different equipment, skill levels etc. but at least it would give a datum to start from and apply some logic to costing jobs and to deciding whether they were economical or not. It might be useful to have a debate on how long it should take to make a drawer or build a coffee table, dining table, blanket box etc. in a typically well equipped one man shop. I would certainly be interested in listening to other people’s experiences.

-- chris, north wales http://salemchapelfurniture.co.uk/