That talk with the old timer at the lumber yard got me thinking

Was picking up some cherry plywood yesterday for a kitchen job I'm doing in Lakewood. Guy behind the counter must be like 70, been doing this since the 80s. He saw me stressing about some edge banding and just said "slow down, you're fighting the wood instead of working with it." Hit me hard because I've been rushing through everything lately. Trying to cram in three jobs this month to make up for a slow spring. But he's right. I'm making more mistakes, wasting material, and the quality's slipping. Charged a client $1200 for a pantry cabinet last week and the drawer fronts don't even sit flush. Had to eat the cost and redo it. Anyone else ever have some old timer call you out and make you realize you've been cutting corners?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade321mo ago

Oh man, I gotta disagree a bit here. That old timer gave you solid advice but rushing isn't always the problem, sometimes you just need to pick up the pace to stay profitable. If your drawer fronts aren't sitting flush, that's more about checking your measurements twice before cutting, not about taking forever on the install.

ryanburns1mo ago

Check your reveals before mounting, not just the drawer front measurements.