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Heres my 2p worth , 8 years ago I fell ill and transferring my skills to a small home workshop . I started making chopping boards and other small ideas . It took off primarily to selling on Ebay , within a month I was struggling to keep up with orders . I was literaly eating sleeping and living chopping boards . I would make them in batches , somewhere around 30 a week . I was also selling at local events , not brick a brack church events but the more "arty" scene . It became obsesive to make and sell .

After a few months I actually sat down and thought it through . Luckily my partner had a reasonable salary to support this . I was bringing in around £400 a week after tax and costs . Sounds great but .....I was working 50 plus hours a week and it began to get monotonous aswell as bordering daft .In early 2010 came the flood of chopping boards being made from off cut worktops . with this my sales literaly diminished , I quickly jumped on the bandwagon , I was buying three lengths of 4m oak stave worktop and was cutting them into boards , clean them up , radius corners bla bla , and sold them for £30 . making 15 quid profit each . Before long , the soul of what I was trying to achieve was defeated .I became a slave to the workshop and I literaly became a robot production line .

I slowly returned to good health and with that returned to my normal work . I now work on "bespoke" works and made to order . Every day is different and has constant challenges , but that is the fun .

All I would say is be thorough with your costings . I still work from home in a workshop and have a meter fitted to it so I can be precise with my electric consumption and bill appropriately . Things like a pot of glue , sanding paper , the odd screw or nail , lick of paint , filters for your mask , the list is endless , and that is why good book keeping is important . Yes the inland revenue will want their blood , but more importantly , you want to know what items are cost and what you are making . Go and check ebay or etsy for similar items for costings , but dont use them to set your prices . If you see and item that is a bit rough round the edges or poorly designed , make yours better and price accordingly . Emphasise the quality of the timber used and how it is hand made , but be careful not to go to far as marketing is fine line of promoting and force feeding an ideology . People want to know it is hand made with care .

Dont let this put you off , go for it , but be realistic , it can be a great additional income . but remember if an email or call comes in , you have to deal with it , even on a sunday ( within reason ) . As a side note , it may be worth visiting local joineries and offering them beer tokens for their offcuts as many are not too concerned about using every last piece as the time taken to search for it often outweighs the value of new timber . And this may be of use to you if you are making smaller pieces .

good luck Sam
 
When I started, I did no plan, had no work and had never been anything apart from PAYE.
Naivety is wonderful, give it a go, best of luck.
 
Yep go for it head down brain off you don't know what's around the corner.
My personal best idea was to make multiples - these were craft toys and similar, wood, paint and fabric. By the time you've made 10 you are getting the hang of it, by 100 you are really getting going - they take a fraction of the time and all quality probs are sorted and they come out perfect and identical. You build up the confidence to keep banging them out for stock even if you don't have the orders - then when they do come you can deliver pronto and get paid ditto, rather than working to order with a big time lag. Bespoke is a bad idea IMHO.
No need to fear the tax man you won't pay anything until you are doing OK

PS you don't work to 'margins' you work to the best market price you can get. Not competing with IKEA you are competing with some poncey craft shops charging a lot more - this is where you get your prices from. Basically your material costs are going to be low so don't stint on quality. Your working time is very variable and economies of scale can reduce it right down (via large batch making).

Before I packed it in (another story :roll: ) we were doing quite well from a shed similar size to yours, massive christmas orders, big summer season orders and exports.

Another tip - always keep cranking your prices up. Orders may well fall off but not necessarily profit - but the big bonus is that you can spend more time, spend on better materials, equipment, and crank up the quality too, increasing the value of the product.
 
I was at a customers place today taking in a brew when i spotted a new house sign. It was around 12inches by 4inches in Oak, the lettering was
deep and crisp, it had a moulded edge and was oiled. I asked how much, £10 delivered off the internet !
£20 would of been reasonable.
Can't see why they bothered at those prices.
 
James,
I forgot to mention Curborough Craft Centre (Lichfield) which I'm going to tomorrow. Contact at the Mitchell Centre is Nigel (manager) but at Heart of the Country you have Paul Martin who makes furniture and probably would want to block any inroads from any other wood supplier.
Not sure where in Sutton you are but remember that the Council (or whoever) are trying to make Birmingham Road from the Parade up to Maney Corner the "Restaurant Quarter " and so platters, cheese boards etc are an option. Also Boldmere is the Indian Food quarter so I'm sure you could make things for that market.
Middleton Hall also has Craft shops and sales and don't forget the occasional Sutton Parade farmers market which have probably never seen a farmer!
 
Great ideas all
And thanks for the contact names glynne.
Some market research may be in order.
Mixing up some batch stuff with one off's would sit well with me and keep the ideas flowing
 
I am not saying that I would actually kill for a 6x10m workshop in my garden but I would most likely consider it..

My partner has worked from home for 6yrs (2 businesses; 1 job is advertised online, 1 job not) & last month she got a letter from Brum council asking her a few questions related Change of Use/planning etc. They wanted to know if customers came to the house, if there was signage up, if the house had been altered to accommodate the business etc etc. All that to say that they do check up on these things.. eventually.

I'd say that £500pm profit is do-able, on average.. but running any business is fraught wi danger as other threads have discussed in detail. After all the advice & planning you'll still never know until you try it. Good luck.

Togs
 
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