pine kitchen units

tom owens · 18 Jul 2010

I had a phone call about 3 weeks ago to measure up some kitchen units made from pine. After a measure up and an agreed price i gave a manufacture and fitting time of 6-8 weeks.
Anyway last monday(12/7/10) the customer rang to see if there was any chance i could fit the sink unit for saturday(17/7/10) as the plumber who had been renewing all the lead pipe to copper was going on holiday on monday (19/7/10)!!! :shock: :shock:

At this point i hadn't even ordered the timber in and i was doing some work for a local company from 7am till 3pm. Noramlly i would say no but as id already priced up i didn't want to lose the job so i worked from 5pm ish till 10-11pm to get finished.

Heres the finished sink and applience units with solid iroko tops. Theres still two more units to build but not ready for fitting for 2-3 weeks..

Any advice for future refrence is welcomed as this is one of my first projects for a customer since setting up my workshop.

Thanks Tom

Max Power · 18 Jul 2010

ALWAYS get a large deposit (25% min) and you've no worry of losing the job and in cases like this you could have charged extra for the inconvenience.
When building in freestanding appliances (which are not designed to be built in) get the customer to sign a disclaimer.
Also a good idea to bill the fitting separately, that way you get the majority of your money when you turn up.
I know lots of companies who do very cheap ie subsidized or free fitting for this reason
Remember most people are genuine, but lots are not. These are the thieving scumbags who will set out to rip you off from the onset so do everything you can to protect yourself from being put in this position.
As for the job, would of preferred to see a false plinth rather than full height doors, but nice job like it

rileytoolworks · 18 Jul 2010

Overall, a really nice job.
The design looks unified, the proportions are nice and the work looks to be of high quality.
If I had one criticism, I would prefer to see the left hand, and the end panel, scribed to the wall. It's easy to do, (just allow a little extra material on your face frame, and it just looks 'right'.
Good job though. Not sure I could have done it in the time you had.

Adam.

EDIT. Just had another look, and on the end panel, have you got a strip of timber packing out the worktop??

tom owens · 18 Jul 2010

Alan, i did think about putting a false plinth but to match the other side of the kitchen that is not being changed there is no false plinth in those units that house there fridge either so i copied those to match.

Riley, The end panel where it should have been scribed is having a flat sided moulding scribed to the wall to cover the gap and to be tiled up to but did not have time to to do the moulding so its going on along with the other units.

Right then that packer on the end panel. This was discussed with the customer yesterday. If you look at the photo with the doors open you can just see a layer of concrete in the bottom right hand corner of the end panel that starts about 4 inches in from the front of the unit.
The original flooring had to be taken up because of damp getting in through the back wall and the floor was all flaking and crumbling away.
When i measured it the floor was straight but after the new floor was laid in a rush it was nearly 20mm out in places which threw everything out to get my 925mm height. Hence the packer!!!!!!!
I put the packer on the top as most of it is covered by the worktop.
Thank god the house is ancient and the customer didn't want it to look contempory and out of place so they were happy but that did wee wee me off a bit having to pack it.