wrote in message
...
MY GAWD..... I laughed myself silly watching that. With almost 30
years of self employment in construction, I cannot tell you how many
times I have had that conversation with a "lead carpenter", crew
chief, or just one of the numb nuts.

I can't imagine any example on that subject being more spot on.
Those guys hit a home run with every damn sentence.

NOT ONE of my amigos, NOT ONE, has made it doing only custom cabinetry
(or any other kind of specialized woodwork) on their terms. Those
that stuck to their guns and "didn't want to build crap" all went
broke to a man.

Being trained as a carpenter and being damned proud of my skill set 35
years ago, it was horrifying to me (and yes, I spent all of my savings
gearing up with equipment) to find out I made more money rehanging a
poorly fitting door than I did installing a brand new one. I made
more money building a deck than I did cabinets. It was a sour pill
for me, to swallow, no doubt.

Today, although I would love to be the guy in the hat with the dreams
of connecting to the ancient cabinet makers of yore by doing only
projects I like, that just isn't practical. I make 10X the money
fixing a tile roof leak than I do installing crown molding in a few
rooms (probably the whole house!). And people are significantly less
critical, too.

Since folks these days are shocked at the price of cabinets, I let
them go find the ones they want, then quote them an installation price
after I see the drawings. Lowes/HD does the design work, collects and
dispense the money, arranges transportation and delivery, and are
responsible for all design errors. I am the good guy. I go out with
a helper, install the cabinets, and if they have to order additional
pieces (fillers, replace a damage door, shorted trims, etc.) I get to
charge for additional labor charge above my quoted price. I am at no
risk at all unless I drop a cabinet, and if they don't like their
design in execution, it isn't my fault.

I make my money getting people out of jams these days, not necessarily
because of my carpenterial skills. I would rather be that guy in my
shop, surrounded by all kinds of cut wood waiting for assembly while I
cut that last 32nd off a piece of trim for a perfect fit. The smell
of freshly sanded wood, the drying glue, and the romance of the whole
picture of being a dedicated craftsman that only does what he wants is
quite alluring. But money for me these days is all in specialized
repairs or installations.

That scene was genius, Jay. You bet that will see a lot of linkage
from me to my buddies. I will be more than sure that my buddies that
have ****ed away retirements, personal savings, racked up huge loans,
crushed their family resources, and all the other things they did
while in business get a chance to see that. It might just ring a
bell.

But at 21, I was that guy in the cap.... wow....


No kidding! Can't tell you how many fence building jobs and interior paint
jobs I have done in between what I like to do.