Page 23 - CMA PROfiles Fall 2018

came in after we installed. Now more and
“Back in the beginning, from 2007 to 2014, our motto was more builders are seeing the advantage of
installing prefinished cabinets; no one on
‘fake it ‘till you make it’ and that’s what we did because we a job site wants to work around finishers
weren’t cabinet makers yet; that wasn’t our background.” spraying lacquer because of the VOCs
— Matt Wehner (volatile organic compounds) involved.
We’ve invested a lot of money in
establishing a finishing department, and
being able to sell pre-finished cabinets
CabinetVision, our CAD software, we closets – and in fact, within a year’s time, has definitely helped us carve out a new
were able to sit down with the client, we realized we needed an even more ad- niche in our area. Plus, providing finished
draw out the closet on the spot and take vanced model. We currently use a Biesse cabinets has helped builders speed up
it from there. (For a large, more complex that cost $110,000 – technology invest- their timelines. I think we’re good at it,
closet, we would take notes and draw it ment decisions require nerves but we’re still making improvements.
out within a day or two and send them of steel!
some really good drawings.) It was a Finally, we also moved forward with
much quicker process, and pricing was TWEAKING THE CABINET BUSINESS expanding our cabinet offerings. The
easy with CabinetVision. The finishing department has been Midwest is usually the last to embrace a
more of a struggle, but it was a step new design trend or construction method,
In short, our research told us that it was we needed to take. In our area, most and more and more people are coming to
a no-brainer to put that much money cabinets were installed unfinished, and us wanting a clean, contemporary look.
into a new edgebander and begin making the builder usually had a finisher who The Euro construction method has really

CABINET MAKERS ASSOCIATION 21