Woodworking Jobs

[SteveF]

it is time for me to quit IT and look for alternative employment
my main passion is woodwork, so I have decided to try and follow that path
I understand as a untrained woodworker that may be quite difficult
I don't have intentions of going alone, so can anyone tell me what options are out there please
yes a bit of a broad question, but just looking for ideas tbh

Steve

 

[sunnybob]

Dont do it. Without at least a college course in cabinetry your best chance will be as a floor sweeper for minimum wage.
It might well be a passion, but its not a bill payer.

 

[topchippyles]

I would have thought an IT job would pay quite well so to give up that for a woodworking job with no experience wood be a big risk.Then life is short so may be worth looking around to see what options there are,I employ 5 chippies and only use experienced guys as it takes so much time to trained a new guy up,We do take on the odd apprentice.

 

[SteveF]

I would have thought an IT job would pay quite well so to give up that for a woodworking job with no experience wood be a big risk.Then life is short so may be worth looking around to see what options there are,I employ 5 chippies and only use experienced guys as it takes so much time to trained a new guy up,We do take on the odd apprentice.

yes running an IT company pays ok
their is not much risk if I can earn a living wage, although I realise at decreased earnings
sometime in your life I think doing a job you are passionate about is a goal and not a setback
I am a competent woodworker but yes i expect to start at the bottom

Steve

 

[Bm101]

Have you ever done any sort of job on a professional basis 'on the tools' Steve?
I'm not being disparaging or unenthusiastic in any way. Just trying to get a sense of where your core experiences lie. If you've always worked in an office environment it might be a hell of a shock to the mind and body going from hobby to wage led. There's so many variables of course. Age , fitness, natural aptitude, personal circumstance and maybe most important, state of mind. Carry on writing them down. It's endless.
I admire your determination to break the cycle, get out of a job that lets be polite, no longer fulfils you. =D> I really do. Good for you. I'm in the same boat , different river.
Hard to tell when so little detail is given (understandably) but be positive. Do you have any friends/contacts who can give you a bit of time with them? Other option is looking at setting up as an ikea man. Depends where you live but there is a section of society who will pay for minor repairs/ikea building / oh while you're there can you fix the sink? You can! Marvellous. Two weeks later you get a call from their friend. Three years later you've moved to what pays the money/ the work you want to do etc etc. Question is can you afford the mortgage if you have one while you get set. (hammer)
You have my best wishes. Good luck. Stay positive. Life is short.

 

[SteveF]

Have you ever done any sort of job on a professional basis 'on the tools' Steve?
I'm not being disparaging or unenthusiastic in any way. Just trying to get a sense of where your core experiences lie. If you've always worked in an office environment it might be a hell of a shock to the mind and body going from hobby to wage led. There's so many variables of course. Age , fitness, natural aptitude, personal circumstance and maybe most important, state of mind. Carry on writing them down. It's endless.
I admire your determination to break the cycle, get out of a job that lets be polite, no longer fulfils you. =D> I really do. Good for you. I'm in the same boat , different river.
Hard to tell when so little detail is given (understandably) but be positive. Do you have any friends/contacts who can give you a bit of time with them? Other option is looking at setting up as an ikea man. Depends where you live but there is a section of society who will pay for minor repairs/ikea building / oh while you're there can you fix the sink? You can! Marvellous. Two weeks later you get a call from their friend. Three years later you've moved to what pays the money/ the work you want to do etc etc. Question is can you afford the mortgage if you have one while you get set. (hammer)
You have my best wishes. Good luck. Stay positive. Life is short.

never done professional tools
I am just getting to end of kitchen build, including making the cabinets
fitted 40m2 hardwood "screw down" flooring through whole bottom floor
fitted solid worktops, fitted sink and re-plumbed
oak drawers but cheated and used through dominos (I did make contrasting walnut dominos to match work tops)
just the face frames and doors to make
mortgage is covered
i spend as much time on diy as I do in office, so hopefully will cope with the hard graft

Steve

 

[thetyreman]

I would specialise in something like guitar making, oud making, box making, instead of playing it safe have higher aspirations and standards, do something different. I don't make a living from woodworking so might not be the best person for advice.

 

[MikeG.]

Brutally?

Stick to your day job. You'll end up frustrated and poverty stricken. Your only chance I reckon is to find yourself a niche which no-one else is in, and get your advertising and marketing absolutely spot on. (As an aside, I think I may have found such a niche, but I'm damned if I'm telling anyone about it!!! ). I'll say the same thing I say every time this crops up: making stuff is easy. Making stuff well and quickly enough is relatively easy. Making stuff well and quickly and for the right price is pretty easy. What almost everyone forgets is that selling stuff is hard. Really, really hard. You can make the best wooden widgets in the world for a wonderful price, but unless you can sell them all you've just wasted your time. The easiest thing of all?.........to be a busy and broke fool.

 

[marcros]

I know that you said that you don't want to work alone, but if I was looking at trying to make some money, I would research setting up a show house with a regional builder on a site, doing fitted bedroom furniture. The big national builders will have preferred deals, but some of the ones churning 100-200 quality homes a year may be interested. You would need a small workshop, but could assemble the units on site.

I have no idea of it is viable, but that is one area that I would investigate. It is easy for me to suggest this, I have nothing invested in the venture, so I caveat the suggestion with everything possible.

The post that I always think back to is one from Peter Millard who talked about standing on your front doorstep and looking for a mile in any direction. In that mile, you have a huge amount of people wanting a shell putting up, a lock fitting etc etc. Admittedly, that was London, so you may have more people, paying a bit more than elsewhere but even so. I imagine that you would meet a lot of people, get to do some hands on work and it would pay the bills.

Good luck with it.

 

[Selwyn]

My advice is cut your day job hours down by a day a week and spend time in the workshop for yourself and you'd still be better off

 

[SteveF]

this is far from a privileged decision
this is doing what i want to do as a career option
i know this may be rude and extremely arrogant to some people, but i want a job that i enjoy rather than pays well

Steve

 

[Hand Plane]

Some years ago I took early retirement from an senior engineering management position because of health (stress) issues. I then spent over 2 years at a local college doing furniture manufacture and restoration - cabinet making; upholstery and finishing, as furniture had been long term interest.

Standard of the course and lecturers was very good. Got my Level 3 City and Gilds with distinctions. (The college stopped offering the course a year after I finished - as is the case in various colleges round the country.) I was working 6 days a week as they encouraged us to do our own projects as well as the course work.

Now I had a lot of workshop experience and training from my teens etc so well adept at hand and machine skills, plus a wide range of design experience.

I worked away and did many jobs in my garage; shed; spare bedroom etc and had many a satisfied customer.

I did realise that I was not commercially viable due to lack of machine shop facility in particular, despite lathe/bandsaw/Tormek/piller drill/loads of good hand tools, and doubted if it was worth the expenditure at my stage of life, plus the hassle of business related stresses, to set up properly. The time to manage a business is a significant part of the week as well as 'doing the job'.

I was on the slow side, but very particular - received a commendation in a national competition. In addition, it was quickly obvious that not many were prepared to pay a decent rate. You really have to be well established to get into the top dollar market. I am lucky I did not need the work or income, and could pick and choose what I did.

Of the younger guys that went through college at the same time, of the decent ones - and I would stress the term decent - I think there is only one still in business on his own account and possibly two others employed in woodwork/furniture business elsewhere.

If you don't intend running your own show, then you want to be employed. If you interviewed someone for an IT job, would you consider someone who has been trained and qualified, or someone who has come out of his bedroom and says he's 'keen'?

The previous comments about selling a job etc is so true, even when you establish a reputation. Also whether working for yourself or as an employee, speed and quality and range of skill are vital. If you are not matching the guys on the next bench, you're out.

I would strongly suggest some formal training and that's were course fees; living expenses etc is the deciding factor. There are places like Chippendale School; West Dean College, Edward Barnsley School and others - look up Furniture and Cabinet Making magazine. Look at the job adverts in there and the criteria. I should state I have no connection with any of those listed, but have either been in their premises of encountered their work.

In my opinion, that's the sort of standard you need to achieve, otherwise what skill/quality/product/service are you going to offer? I do not entertain 'tradesmen' near my house who are not up to my standards, and they're quickly weeded out.

There's a big gap between interest/enthusiasm and making a living, and capability of quality work.

Get a portfolio of what you have made. I keep my books up to date, even if I'm now doing less, and the presentation of that also counts. I've turned down more work than I have taken on. I am not interested in low quality stuff, or items which may come back and bite me. I am up front and clear when talking about a possible job.

Look at the work that some of the guys have posted on this Forum. Can you match that? Not just looks, but quality and time taken.

I have had some jobs in my career I hated, but had to keep at it until another option came up. It is better for one's soul doing something you enjoy, but unless you are capable in the wider sense of the term, idealism will quickly turn sour.

Take your time, get trained etc learn from others experiences and build up from part time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Besides all else your timing may not be ideal. My wife works for an upmarket bank and says you wouldn't believe the number of bankruptcies coming through the system and the number of established firms closing. Their property valuations are coming in consistently £30,000 or much more under expectations (Cornwall).

 

[dzj]

I've been doing woodworking for a living for the past 30 years.
From time to time, a job comes along that I enjoy doing.
Mostly the work's not that 'hot', but it pays the bills and I'm OK with that.
I suspect that there's an equal amount of 'drudgery' in all professions.

 

[thetyreman]

luck plays a part in business as well, not something that most people want to hear but it's true.

 

[Trevanion]

It’s not impossible, I know someone that worked in Tescos for over 2 decades and decided enough was enough and jacked in his job to do something else. He had an interest in the building trades and whilst it was difficult to find someone to take on a 45+ labourer with absolutely 0 experience, he did find someone to take him on part time and then eventually full time. Pays not great but he is happier for the decision.

Your best bet would probably be to call around the local joiners and cabinetmakers in your area and ask them for work. It wouldn’t be the best work to begin with if you manage to find somewhere, you will more than likely doing a lot of sanding, rubbing down paint, pulling stuff out of machines as somebody feeds the other end and going off fitting the work. It all takes time so be patient and eventually you will progress up to doing more “real” work.

Good luck! Too many people work jobs that they don’t enjoy and as others have said, lifes too short for that.

 

[Beau]

Got a friend with no woodworking qualifications and he is earning a part time living doing it. He does kitchen fitting, fitted woodwork ie shelves and cupboards and some basic tables. He has other avenues of work but this it is his main trade so yes it can be done. I help him out when he needs an extra hand or machining so it would help if have some contacts for elements for things you might struggle with. Doing site work is less lonely than stuck in a workshop on your own all day.

Part time IT and part time woodworked sounds like a good combo to me.

 

[OscarG]

it is time for me to quit IT and look for alternative employment
my main passion is woodwork, so I have decided to try and follow that path
I understand as a untrained woodworker that may be quite difficult
I don't have intentions of going alone, so can anyone tell me what options are out there please
yes a bit of a broad question, but just looking for ideas tbh

Steve

That's exactly my situation and what I want to do Steve.

I'm not quite ready yet (need to move house and get workshop of my own) but I also yearn to follow that path and get away from computer screens and do what I love, get covered in "man-glitter" each day.

I've had similar negative but good intentional messages saying it's a bad idea. I'm a very determined and stubborn b***ard though so might still do it when the time is right.

Have you thought about doing your own YouTube channel? This chap I follow, Rag'n'Bone Brown has got commissions through exposure on his channel, it could be a way to get yourself known.

Can you keep us updated please, I'd like to see how this progresses.

Wish you all the best if you go through with it.

 

[Lazurus]

Not sure if logistically it is possible in your area, but what about joining a boat building company, here in Norfolk they offer some of the best on job training which can be applied to all manner of wood working jobs. Some specialist skills available to learn and usually high quality work to learn from.

 

[tomatwark]

Steve

I f you can afford to live on minimum wage for a while, and want to do this, it could be possible.

There is a skills shortage and companies will consider someone older, who has the right atitude to work and then train them instead of a school leave who just wants a job.

I am one of these and have just taken one someone from an IT background, and altough he has started on minimum wage, this will increase as he gets quicker and learns.

Having had good, bad and also excellent apprentices, I have also found that this works for me.

As a way of getting good keen and reliable staff, the last guy we did this with ended up with his qualifications as I found some funding in the form of a grant to fund it and intend to try to do this with the guy who has recently started with us.


It really depends on the firm you work for, but it might be worth asking around locally to see what is out there.


I do also take on apprentices as well, but finding the right one can be difficult.