New arrival..

[zeddedhed]

Hello there fellow woodworkers.
I just found this place (saw it mentioned over at UKW) and thought if one forum is good two must be even better, so here I am.

Looking forward to showing you all what not to do and learning how to do it right.

Pete

 

[TrimTheKing]

Hi Pete and welcome

Thanks for joining us.

Cheers
Mark

 

[DaveL]

Hi Pete,
Welcome to the forum, what sort of woodwork are you in to?

 

[zeddedhed]

Hi there Mark & Dave, thanks for the welcome.
I'm officially a Carpenter & Joiner (thats what my C&G certificate says - or at least I think it does - it was over 25 years ago or so) and having recently built my own home workshop (approx 78sqm) I am trying to steer the business more into furniture and the like rather than site work.
As it stands i spend about 40% of my time in the workshop and the rest on site doing the usual stuff - staircases, first fix, built in furniture, fitting doors, windows etc. I do the occasional timber frame build and on a few occasions have built green oak buildings for clients.

Pete

 

[chataigner]

Sounds like an interesting mix of work, look forward to seeing some photos.

 

[AndyP]

Welcome Pete. I can image that furniture is far more satisfying to build but probably harder to make pay.

 

[zeddedhed]

Welcome Pete. I can image that furniture is far more satisfying to build but probably harder to make pay.

You're absolutely right Andy.
To make a dining table for example, is going to take me three to four full days in the workshop (others would probably be much quicker) and I would need to charge a minimum of £1000 for just my labour and the workshop time. Add in materials and it's out of most peoples price bracket. Most will just go to Ikea or Oak Furniture Land.

Ho Hum.

 

[Rod]

That's the sad thing with quality work, most folks don't appreciate the cost of real wood and the time taken to hand craft stuff (as compared to Ikea)

Rod

 

[Wizard9999]

Hi there Mark & Dave, thanks for the welcome.
I'm officially a Carpenter & Joiner (thats what my C&G certificate says - or at least I think it does - it was over 25 years ago or so) and having recently built my own home workshop (approx 78sqm) I am trying to steer the business more into furniture and the like rather than site work.
As it stands i spend about 40% of my time in the workshop and the rest on site doing the usual stuff - staircases, first fix, built in furniture, fitting doors, windows etc. I do the occasional timber frame build and on a few occasions have built green oak buildings for clients.

Pete

Hi Pete

A 78sqm workshop sounds a fantastic space to have. Like others I hope you are successful in tweaking your mix of work to furniture if that is the area theat really interests you.

Terry.

 

[zeddedhed]

Hi there Mark & Dave, thanks for the welcome.
I'm officially a Carpenter & Joiner (thats what my C&G certificate says - or at least I think it does - it was over 25 years ago or so) and having recently built my own home workshop (approx 78sqm) I am trying to steer the business more into furniture and the like rather than site work.
As it stands i spend about 40% of my time in the workshop and the rest on site doing the usual stuff - staircases, first fix, built in furniture, fitting doors, windows etc. I do the occasional timber frame build and on a few occasions have built green oak buildings for clients.

Pete

Hi Pete

A 78sqm workshop sounds a fantastic space to have. Like others I hope you are successful in tweaking your mix of work to furniture if that is the area theat really interests you.

Terry.

Thanks Terry.
I know I'm extremely fortunate to have such a great workshop space, although the circumstances by which I acquired it somewhat temper the pleasure it brings.
Until December 2012 I was running a large and successful construction company and although business was good we were the victims of clients who were over mortgaged losing their high paid city jobs mid way through projects. Two clients was all it took - both got in the sticky stuff at the same time (Nov 2011) and cash flow literally stopped overnight. A further job for a developer (£3.8m) that was due to start early December got axed 5 days prior to kick off. Coupled with the wet spring of 2011 which cost us dearly and we had that sinking feeling.
The workshop had originally been built as a purpose made office for the company but never got used. Once I was sure I wasn't going to lose the house I decided that I wanted no more high risk high value building contracts and would stick to Carpentry/joinery, hence the workshop. I practically had to sell internal organs to get it equipped and it's now just starting to pay for itself BUT......it's all mine. Nothing in it belongs to my (Ltd) company. I'd rather pay the VAT and get to keep it all if it goes tits up again.

Anyway, thats my moan and rant over. Things are looking up and I get to see more of the wife and kids which is genuinely great.

 

[Mike G]

Wow........that's an interesting journey you've been on, Pete.

A 78 sq m workshop sounds wonderful (it's 2-1/2 times the size of the one I am building now). You will of course need to post some photos PDQ!!

Welcome to the Wood Haven........a small and friendly corner of the interwebthingy.

Mike

 

[Wizard9999]

Pete

Not the best way to arrive at a big workshop that's for sure and I'm sorry to here you had a difficult few years, but equally I'm glad you have come out of the other side of it. When I was (a lot) younger, climbing the greasy pole and making more money were the prime (sometimes only) motivations for me and all around me, it's funny how a few years on family, friends and quality of life seem to be the things that we are all focussed on now.

Terry.

 

[berncarpenter]

Hi and Welcome Pete
Good luck with the workshop , hope you can find a way to make it pay.

Cheers Bern