Nice to find a site where we're all professionals. Read through some recent threads in the past couple days & it looks like I can possibly learn a thing or 2 around here. Hopefully, I can also share some of the things I've learned in the 25 years of building things.
I'm from NE Missouri. My primary bread & butter is earned as a hardwood floor contractor. Specialize in sand on site floors, but will install prefinish or laminate if that's what the client wants.
Got my start in the trades as a laborer when I was 20 years old & strong as a bull. Worked for several generals who built custom homes from the ground up & rarely subbed out work, so I was fortunate to learn to do most things. Everything from flat work, to framing, to roofing, to finish work. Learned early on that the guys that were good at finish work, didn't get layed off in the winter & weren't sent home on rain days, so I decided I was going to excell in finish work.
About 15 years ago, I was working in a rental yard. We rented floor sanders. As an employee, I could use any of the rental equipment at no cost & buy supplies at the yards cost. So, in the evening & on weekends, I started sanding floors to pay for some expensive hobbies my wife & I had. (tournament archery) Long story short, the floor sanding business overtook my regular job in the rental yard & eventually even overtook my expensive hobby.
Every since high school, I've had a love for woodworking. Another expensive hobby. I've spent the last 20 years accumulating wood working tools & have used them to suppliment the floor business in slow times. Every year, it seems like the woodworking business is becoming more of an equal partner to the floor business. Hopefully, in the next 4-5 years, it will be the lionshare of our bussiness, as I'm getting older & fatter & it's a lot harder to get up & down off the floor. :laughing:
I'm willing to bet, not many of you could do what I do for help/business partner. I work full time with my wife.
We hire some part time help from time to time, but for the most part, it's just her & I. Keeps the overhead down.
If ya don't mind my showing off, I'll post a few pics of some of the projects we've completed in the past year. If ya do mind.......well, I guess ya don't have to look.
This first project is a custom kitchen we built around this time last year. Had 250 billable hours putting it together & installing. Built 100% from scratch using solid cherry. Was a fun project, as we had full design freedom. Client brought me lots & lots of pictures to brainstorm with her on.
Here's one of the many custom stairways we built this year. Also installed, sanded & finished the hardwood floors.
Yet another floor job.
Here's my wife. No doubt about it, she's a worker.
Heck, I even work on occasion.
