Usefulness of cabinet schedules and material lists

[sherpa_jones]

I have a question about the usefulness of cabinet schedules and material lists, and we might as well include cabinet manufacturer libraries in this as well. My question is how can I make them useful to me and my clients?

I ask this because most of this work is handled much easier by the local building supply stores (i.e. Rona, Home Hardware). They have extensive take off programms that are indexed to their entire inventory and pricing database. I have used one such program during a brief stint as an estimator at Rona, a program called Seljax. It requires that the estimater is skilled at reading plans, which requires in house training for Rona employees, but the availability of pricing and inventory gives them a far greater advantage over the material lists generated by CA.

Rona also uses 20/20 for kitchen and bath design, and it is similarly indexed to their product inventory and pricing lists, so kitchen and bath design is smooth and estimating is all part of the process. For this reason, I design a kitchen layout with basic cabinets simply to provide space and location for fixtures, cabinets, appliances, ect. and leave the actual designing of cabinet modules and selection of style to the people at Rona or HH.

So with all of these services built into Rona's or HH's commitment to their clients, it would be redundant for me to try to incorporate these services into my business, and I have a feeling that the people at Rona or HH would be capable of generating a more accurate quote than I could.

Can anyone describe to me how they are able to make these CA tools useful and profitable to them, their clients, and the building supply outlets? I would love to be able to use these, especially with the anticipation of a vast cabinet manufacturer library in the next release, but I am not sure what benifit it is for me to have them if the building supply stores are already doing a much better job of it.

Thanks

[RMorrison]

Can anyone describe to me how they are able to make these CA tools useful and profitable to them, their clients, and the building supply outlets? I would love to be able to use these, especially with the anticipation of a vast cabinet manufacturer library in the next release, but I am not sure what benifit it is for me to have them if the building supply stores are already doing a much better job of it.

Thanks

The major advantage of having independently produced cabinet plans is that the client can then go ANYWHERE, including a custom shop, and isn't locked into a particular outlet, and can shop competitively, if they wish.

If your client informs you upfront that they are going to a particular home outlet, then your detailed cabinet drawings will help expedite the process, but may not be as big of an advantage.

[sherpa_jones]

The major advantage of having independently produced cabinet plans is that the client can then go ANYWHERE, including a custom shop, and isn't locked into a particular outlet, and can shop competitively, if they wish.

If your client informs you upfront that they are going to a particular home outlet, then your detailed cabinet drawings will help expedite the process, but may not be as big of an advantage.

Yes, I do see your point here. However, it might be difficult to pitch this idea to a client, especially a contractor client like many of mine are, when they know that each cabinet shop they go to for quotes will do their own 20/20 takeoff for free. Some of them have a preferred cabinet maker already who does there takeoffs for them.

Thanks for your response.

[Max]

From a cabinet shop perspective I employed Chief on a laptop and created cabinet layouts right in front of the client. My sales rate was 100% once I was able to get in the door and perfom this service.

From a design perspective, you are quite right in that it makes more sense to simply use generic cabinets, mainly to locate plumbing. Most if not all clients will then take the plans to various shops and/or showrooms and have them work up a specific design based on their stock as well as a cost estimate. The only way I see it benneficial to get into a heavy design of the cabinets is 1. If you are charging additional fees for full cabinetry designs or
2. You are in the cabinet business.

Past that there isn't any point which is why I have solicited more cabinet tools rather than libraries. I don't sell cabinets and usually let the client select their own while working with a supplier or shop. Most shops and/or suppliers are going to want to do their own design anyway. I do use the cabinet schedule and try to add a bit of detail but purely because I enjoy doing it and it adds to the overall plans giving my clients more value for their design dollar.

Max