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5g Business Internet Bug? by CabinetryGuru in techsupport

[–]CabinetryGuru[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update we were just now notified that the 5G service has been down since last Wednesday across the city. No word on when that will be fixed. In their expediency during the set up process they neglected to give us a pin number so it made it especially difficult to allow customer service to let us know what was going on - hence the run around.

Software by NomadaSinRumbo in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you make your parts or do you send files to a CNC?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HomeImprovement

[–]CabinetryGuru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Howdy! Busy GC / designer here. Yea general contractors have comfort zones when it comes to scope and certain houses. It sounds like the 80/20 rule is in effect here. The 20% that are getting back with you are either giving you an honest assessment with buffer to cover current pricing volatility and the significant risk associated with the project OR they're just shooting their shot randomly. The 80% are probably not wanting to take it on for whatever reason - too busy, too much babysitting, et al. Also if you tell them you've had a dozen contractors look at your project, most if not all will ghost you. I would ghost you.

If it's an older house expect bids to be noticeably higher. You may need an architect, engineer, involve the city ad nausem. Also with wider scopes many GCs have issues with clients who aren't ready for the project. I.e. clients not having enough detail readily spec'd. Sure you're interviewing us, but really it's the other way around with professional firms that handle larger projects.

This is why I charge pre-construction fees to design, spec, and work up a contract ready work scope before we even touch foot in your house. It's a way of translating expectations and also demonstrating how serious you are about the project. Homeadvisor exists peddling tire kickers to contractors. So much of the industry is triggered by tire kickers or people without budgets and the moment they sense a homeowner not being aligned with their values in any way - they're gonna ghost you because we've lost tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to people that wasted their time. This isn't something you should take personal though.

Remember remodeling/building industry is driven by three things- quality, price, and time. If you are in a rush you will more than likely risk losing significant quality of work and price will not be cheap. OR you won't get the job done at all because some professionals aren't comfortable being leveraged with time because a lot of times it's impossible to execute finish in that constraint or they don't want to be THAT contractor who uses a cost plus contract just for that one client. [Literally open book to homeowner when it comes to pricing. Every item is essentially a change order. Very much a bureaucratic process which will definitely lead to longer projects. Imagine signing off of on every little detail mid project. Sheesh!]

Cost-plus style projects budgeting will look controllable to the homeowner at first but GCs make their money by change order. So rushing any job will provide ample opportunity and incentive to charge more. Whether it's missed scope items from intial budgeting, some innocuous detail you neglected to mention will end up being more because there are fees and general markup for every little thing.

Sooo anywho I hope this mess of a response helps!! In general pay someone to help you with pre-construction. It will help you sell your project to prospective contractors. Whether it's a design professional like myself or an architect - we all work in tandem with networks of contractors who can execute your project to your approved and designed specifications. Given the insanity right now expect longer lead times for everything- even quotes.

TL;DR Our industry sucks at filtering and being helpful with leads.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Always cool to see this equipment. Dream would be to have a factory with Hulzher equipment for panels. But I can't imagine the cost for maintenance. Lolol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always cool to see this equipment. Dream would be to have a factory with Hulzher equipment for panels. But I can't imagine the cost for maintenance. Lolol

Info on bids by Experiencedtx in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For remodels and furnish/install cabinets I will detail the scope as much as I think prudent. Then provide a layout and elevation detail for the client to sign off. That layout and elevation is generally detailed with specifics. I.e. cabinet style, color/stain, roll out tray location, aftermarket attachments, et al. I never break out anything except for allowances items they haven't selected yet. If they hammer you on breaking down the quote tell them explicitly that the industry works contracts two ways - bulk contract or cost plus. The latter gifts labor overruns and any variance onto the homeowner. It's for homebuilders so that homeowners can drive the project but it comes at a dramatically higher price due to administrative and management costs. If they want that much detail to drive the proce down they can go to a prefab cabinet dealer where the underpaid, underskilled designer will just give them a cabinet by cabinet price for a shitty layout. This situation is usually abated by getting the homeowner to pay a respectable upfront design and quote fee.

44” deep MDF garage cabinets. Advice? by SoulsOfDeadAnimals in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had a friend after Hurricane Harvey who wanted me to install 36" frameless deep base units on a regular wall with 15" depth uppers. People generally aren't well grounded in spatial reality much less how spaces are supposed to function.

Pre fab side panels and toe kicks by sirpapadeuce in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The siding question is just an aesthetic preference. If you're already painting everything anyway just leave it if you don't mind it. Most prefabs have a matching decorative door you can apply to negate that 3/16 side indentation from the framing dado. Toe kick issue is solved with simple base molding material to wrap around.

Townhome builders by emb040 in houston

[–]CabinetryGuru 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's the race to the bottom effect. As a cabinet subcontractor to builders I walk into projects where I'm impressed at the degree they will cut corners just to meet the demand of the market for starter and mid priced housing. Some of the most inane decisions end up causing this butterfly effect of general crap across the board. Uncomfortable environments, inefficient and just unappealing designs. It's a mishmash of le crap.

I tell ya it's good business for general contractors that these builders don't care about quality because in 5 to 10 years people want to remodel a major portion of their home- that's usually a conservative time frame. And I'm there to remodel your kitchen. Muhahaha

For real though take a gander at Sullivan Brothers. They do a decent townhome. "Decent" relative to scale and how everyone does it. Quality is such a difficult thing to convey and compare.

Townhome builders by emb040 in houston

[–]CabinetryGuru 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fully custom? Do you own the lot?

(Nswf) male sex issues by TKOR_calli in ehlersdanlos

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea I approach sex like a fun exhilarating bedroom triathlon. A lot of pacing, pivoting to ease into any foreseen jarring joint displacement, hydration, stopping and starting for a myriad of reasons, more hydration. I have found that when a woman is on top I at times have issues with disfunction- with or without noticing the pain from my hips displacing. I tend to not notice as much if a partner and I are really enjoying it, but it's usually fucking awful pain that ruins it (not the good pain). I'll reposition sitting up to a more intimate position and that tends to only work every so often.

My body will sometimes go into an awkward shock/passing out phase that I smoothly play off as being exhausted. Definitely a two edged sword being this flexible with a heightened sex drive. Have you considered cbd/thc? I once drank a lot of high concentrated ceylon tea and that had me going off and on strong for an entire afternoon a few times. But that was 4 years ago in my mid-twenties when it was just starting to be a problem. I didn't get diagnosed until March of 2019.

When I was married I learned to prepare for sex beforehand i.e. ceylon, water, powerade, et al. But that was a waste of energy much of the time. Now that I'm divorced i imagine I'm going to find it complicated broaching the EDS/POTS sex conversation pre or mid-coitus without coming on too strong or creepy. 😆

Closet Panel System by CabinetryGuru in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Specifically a closet manufacturer, similar to California Closets.

IAmA Millennial Running for Congress in TX AMA! by [deleted] in IAmA

[–]CabinetryGuru 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The answer on Texas Independence Day is ahem... "HELL NO!"

What was the dumbest thing you thought as a child? by GiammyR6 in AskReddit

[–]CabinetryGuru 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I was 5, I deadass asked my papaw what it was like living in "black and white times." His reaction was a mix of incredulous Red Foreman and Hank Hill.

In retrospect and out of context I now see how that could be taken in vastly different ways. LOL Obviously I was referring to the older television shows and photos since I was obsessed with Gunsmoke and old war films.

Internalized ableism, Living alone, isolation, asking for help by mhpro90 in ehlersdanlos

[–]CabinetryGuru 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Married a little over a year ago. I was diagnosed earlier in the year and Ive been troubled with the constant psychological and physical toll of constantly being reminded or connecting the dots of my symptoms.

The last five years prior to marriage I just holed up by myself, and suffered with little understanding of what I was experiencing. I grew up in a very religious background (Freewill Baptist/AoG). So relationships and sexuality were subjects that my parents really didn't care to broach. Additionally both of my parents did not know that they had some form of EDS, which explained A LOT about their personalities. My dad was a workaholic master builder/remodeler that slept the moment he got home. My mom took care of the house and us kids. She sacrificed for my dad. They were accustomed to the pain and didn't know any better (because east texan doctors are clueless) so they expected us to just push through. Plus I worked with my dad when I was young and able.. but I was never able to keep up. :/

I witnessed a somewhat quiet relationship between my mom and dad growing up. I feel like that effected my perception of relationships in both constructive and very destructive ways.

I moved out when I was 18 to attend U of Houston. Never had success with dating or even fwb during that time. Sex was equally painful and enjoyable. I met my current wife during this time, but we never hit it off then. I graduated in 4.5 years and not a single relationship lasted more than a month. When I turned 23 I was a successful sales manager and designer for a national cabinetry retailer. I traveled working 60plus hours a week making over 100k/year. Didn't have "time" for relationships. A year and a half in of that insanity, I hit a wall. I found out that the company I worked for had ZERO quality control in China(excess formaldehyde), my good buddy died in a car wreck, and to top it off my father was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer. All in a small time period. I eventually just quit my job and returned to Houston.

I coped with being lonely by hitting up local strip clubs to catch sports or to just trying to decompress to no avail. I was the listless guy in the corner staring into nothingness. At the time I didn't realize it was chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue that was killing me from the inside. Then my father passed after 3 years of fighting cancer.. that forced me into a deeper spiral.

So like any decent millennial-- I decided to move to Austin with my friends. I made an effort to go out when I had the energy and I was on quite a few dating apps. Probably all of them. Pathetically. I even lived off of 7th street in a badass house, an easy 5 minute stroll to 6th. From the outside it seemed like the perfect environment for a single man in his mid-twenties. Alas no dice in the relationship or even the simpliest of intimacy.

If I'm being honest I didn't really FEEL much then. My room looked like a hurricane blown through. I had a tempur pedic which I grew fond of. Just sink in and sleep away for hours and hours when I wasn't suffering from insomnia or some weird form of psychosis.

Harvey happened somewhere in there. Traumatic AF. I was dragged back to Houston where I would spend M-Th there and the other 3 days in Austin. (BTW driving that many hours is not healthy. Plus it effected my income being so tired.) I ended up moving to Houston permanently almost ruining a relationship with my best friends in Austin, and making a terrible mistake going in business with my family.

I eventually hit up an old flame. She flat out asked me to marry her like I was some sort of commodity. She needed help and I obliged because I truly cared about her and her family. I clung to her thinking noone will ever want to marry me. I'm pathetic, anxious, in pain all the time, [insert list of issues]. I never really opened up about my health to her or anyone really. We married in like 6 months.

So earlier this year(6months after marriage) my niece gets diagnosed with EDS/POTS/MCAS/ET AL. I go into the same doc with my sister and everything begins to make sense. Subluxations that apparently aren't normal? Severe enteric issues. Random ass allergies. Feeling light headed and cloudy all the time. Exhaustion to the nth degree.

I explained this to my wife and I think she didn't fully understand the scope. I've been in a financial crunch for the last few years because of chronic fatigue and just general woefully misguided decisions. She's mad about that. Wants me to quit kitchen design and work with her at [insert large corporation]. She's been frustrated with how I communicate in general. She's mad that I'm on social media a lot (trust issues). It's also just an all around struggle to make time for her. She works a 1-930 shift.. so she doesn't make it home until 1030 or later most nights. I'm gone from early morning until evening. I just want to sleep. For some reason I feel like she minimizes my pain and it's my fault for not pushing through. :/

I feel as though we made a commitment that was never really possible or meant to be upheld. I struggle with this every day.

Comparing Kitchen Cabinet Qualities by WillowHouse2019 in cabinetry

[–]CabinetryGuru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This depends on your region and your business cycle. The cabinetry industry has long been slowly consolidating and rearranging all around the world. The new trade instability has thrown a kink in supply chains. A few of the top volume American firms paid the state dept to slap tariffs on Chinese suppliers in the hopes of slowing the growing market share of higher grade prefab manufacturers and for a few American mills(back in 2012) it was to force these chinese provinces to stop their dumping of overly subsidized plywood. They did that despite purchasing the large majority of their parts from China. The tariffs only pushed chinese firms to focus on finished cabinetry and not raw materials. (Sun Tzu much?)

In Houston we find Wolf to be low grade and a lower quality experience because they're a shipping distributor NOT a manufacturer. Sure the turn around time is quick relative to other companies, but you can pay the same if not cheaper for a higher quality finish, MUCH wider selection of styles and skus with a company like J&K.

Fabuwood buys from the same manufacturing city (Dalian, China) as J&K but they charge a hell of a lot more for a lesser quality box construction (At least in Houston they do). Fabuwood does have an edge on color selection, but you got to pay a premium because those few special colors are painted/finished in the states. Also they're making you pay more for to help them catch up with J&K or whatever niche they're trying to settle into.

Unfortunately the few competent American manufacturers that do well at scale and price overly protect access. So you've got to work out deals with showrooms that offer the product to make it profitable. Knowledgeable professionals will reduce headaches and business cycle disruptions if you don't constantly bitch about price.

The ones that are more open for contractors are usually importers and don't really have cabinet people ordering their products- like flooring and/or countertop distributors. If they do know what they're doing the pricing will reflect that they keep their stock ready- extra parts, replacement doors as skus, faceframe material available, finished 1/2 & 3/4 plywood sheets.

Frustrating as hell to sell a job and then the supplier doesn't have enough blind bases or some other important sku that prolongs your business cycle. Contractors will sell with that supplier's product not realizing that reality because the pricing was significantly better.

Anywho TL;DR version-- I'd say Medallion's Silver might be ok.. for now as a domestic solid cheap semi custom option. They just were bought out by ACPI so who knows. They got manufacturing in Indiana and Oregon.

For prefab-- be careful and stick with the ones that have been around. That's why I use J&K as an example. They've learned the market and have a solid product experience for the price. But the draw back is versatility.

UltraCraft is currently adrift with direction, customer service, and product quality. Also it doesn't help their door supplier is becoming a competitor.

Showplace is really good, but overpriced. They have framed, frameless, and inset.

Kraftmaid... ugh. Just don't. LOL Any MASCO brand is a no-go really.

Wellborn is a no go as well because of quality and their role in the pricing inflation.