Advancement in technology and materials and the shortage of time will
eliminate all the Artisans. On the History Channel they had a show about
WWII British Aircraft. They made wooden bombers not so much because of metal
shortages, but because they lacked experienced metal workers but had tons of
Cabinet and Furniture makers. Time takes it's toll! I do two things now, the
stock market and making furniture. I can increase my craftsmanship in both
areas and not worry about the appreciation factor. I also volunteer doing
Habitats for Humanity, I've worked on 6 homes so far and paid with some of
the greatest appreciation one can ever receive.



"Swingman" wrote in message
...
"HMFIC-1369" wrote in message

Originally, I had 4 contractors bid on doing the jobs with about 14 L.
Ft.
they all came back with 25K to 35K+ figures, (refacing was 18K w/2custom
cabinets). Honestly, I wasn't impressed with many of the Manufactured
cabinets, in all cases you could see where they cut costs to maximize
profits. So I examined building them, not cheap either. For quality
wood,
your still going to pay for it and then even hardware like handles and
drawer slides are getting costly. Creating a overly costly Kitchen is
easy
too, the challenge being in doing a mid-quality level ass cheap as
possible.
Ikea gave me the all Al/Glass cabinets I wanted, for the price of just
outsourcing 1 set of A/G doors (550.00).....

Even though I'm retired my time is more money then I first estimated and
over 50 I don't move as quick or lift as much. What I realized was that
very
few people when I sell the home will appreciate the cabinetry if I did
it
myself, and honestly most now would redo it they're way (and break my
heart). As they say location location, location......

I hear you loud and clear. I am 62 and starting to feel myself slow down
also, Besides being a lot of physical work, it's almost impossible to find
help that will stick around long enough to make hiring worthwhile. On this
particular job I had one hired hand for less than 3 days during the entire
fabrication and installation. (Leon, bless his heart, cut the end panels
to
spec for me and saved me both time and back.)

Cabinet work in this area, even in the most expensive homes these days, is
often done by folks from a desert climate who never saw wood until they
swam
over here. While some do fair work, as a general rule the workmanship is
appalling. The contrast between my cabinets and the rest of the cabinetry
in
the house speaks for itself _loudly_, and usually makes a good selling
point.

That said, I can still put a good amount of $$ in my pocket by doing some
kitchens myself, and at the same time add to the selling points of the
home.
I am also fortunate to be married to a veritable blood hound when it comes
to finding quality fixtures at closeout prices, and she does all the
interior decorating to boot.

Your remarks about "appreciation" are right on ... many folks don't know
quality from K-mart these days because they've never experienced it, and
the
current idea is that a kitchen cabinet's life is less than 15 years.

Makes it increasingly tougher to justify doing good work, commercially,
with
that prevailing wind ...

(I am betting that is one of the reasons an obviously skilled, world
class,
artisan/cabinetmaker like Tom Watson is now "retired" ... and a damn shame
that is).


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Last update: 7/12/05