To Build or To Buy??
This is a question I ponder all the time. How do you know when you should take a project on yourself, or when you should raise the white flag and just purchase the item from a store? Judging from the many emails I receive asking this exact question, I know I’m not alone. I decided this would be a great topic to explore for my Popular Woodworking Wood Whisperer column. Taking some influence from Nicole’s Glamour magazine, I constructed a quiz for us woodworkers. Answer the questions honestly, and you should end up with a reasonablly objective result. Popular Woodworking was cool enough to distribute the quiz as a PDF worksheet which you can download now. For the entire article, you’ll have to either subscribe or pick up the latest issue on the newsstand.
Comments
37 Responses to “To Build or To Buy??”Speak Your Mind and Maybe Win a Prize!
Leave a comment and you could be a winner in our Wood Whisperer Giveaway!And if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Check it Out!
Premium Membership
Keep Up With TWW!
Shop our Affiliates
Latest Video
Proud to be Sponsored By:
Support our Advertisers
Just a random comment that I love the picture included with this post
Re: Photo; Nice cutting board :) … I’ll buy one of those… or maybe I should build one.. now where would I learn how to do that….
Did you plan that the clock be just after 12?
Good article btw.
Awesome! But there was no question regarding “pride” factor and rebellion against “all-in-one” stores who remain nameless but rhyme with “fall cart”…
I looked at that article with my wife last night. I think it’s refined my way of thinking for “buy or build”: thank you for that.
Like you mention in the article you can use this to guide your decision but most times there will be one thing or another with veto power, e.g. too expensive to buy, or you need something immediately. Then it doesn’t really matter what the score is.
The fly in this particular ointment: the “recipients patience level” tends to trump all.
Is that the kitchen in your new place?
(my photo would be similar, except surrounded by a few dozen books checked out from each of the 3 library systems we live near :)
The pdf fails to include 1 of the most important aspects of woodworking…
The Satisfication Index. Some projects provide a higher degree of satisfaction or sense of achievement. Some projects do not.
Well for me, if its not satisfying, it won’t even make it on my to-do list, :)
Come on Marc…
Is that a dinosaur on your pencil?
Nice….:)
Paul
Yes Paul…….yes it is… :)
Dude,
I’ve been married awhile and I’ve seen that look! You had better get started, either way, or supper is going to be really late, like next year! I like the plug for the zine’s. Keep up the great work.
Bill
Uhh oh! My Audio Cabinet project scored an 18.. hmmm.. Spend lots of time and energy into making the perfect design, or spend 2-3x more on a retail cabinet that matches all of my needs?
DIY it is! I get shiny new toys, do something useful in life, and make something awesome with my hands. Sold!
Love that picture, well done. Nice placement of the Schwarz shirt too. :)
I seriously thought that mostly newbies faced this question, for many reasons. It makes me feel better that you guys who really know what you’re doing wrestle with this, not that I’d wish that angst on anyone on purpose. :)
If it requires the puchase of a new tool, definitely do it myself. Of course, at this point in my woodworking hobby, I couldn’t make wooden paperweight without buying a needed tool.
Woody -
If the cost of materials … and the new tool I will need is less than the cost of new, I almost always go DIY and reap the benefits of owning a new tool. I am a lucky one, however, kuz my main squeeze is totally supportive of that line of thinking.
I purchased the magazine (great articles!), and read the To Build or To Buy?? article. It definitely reflects the practical side of the matter. A reality check. However, it sure takes the fun out of it. Well, maybe not.
I think there are things that are so mundane that we’d just as soon buy it rather than take time away from the really fun projects. I don’t think any of us will run out of things we want to make any time soon.
Dude, you crack me up. Love the kitchen and the pencil, by the way.
I’m faced with the build or buy dilemma now… The vanity my wife wants is only $1099 at a big box place, but it’s made of plastic veneered mdf and stained poplar. I can make something similar out of mahogany, and real mahogany veneer plywood with cushion close doors and drawers for less than half the price of the store bought one. Then maybe I can angle for some more tools too while I’m at it…
Dean is onto something. If I can scrape together an hour of “me” time, it darn well better be spent making sawdust on a piece that I want to make.
For me, the thrill of completing any DIY and knowing that we’re still way ahead even after splurging on a garage full of toys is starting to wear off. Most of those toys now sit idle, waiting until days when some knucklehead tenant puts a shot glass down a garbage disposal. (True story)
I guess the point is that there’s apples DIY and there’s oranges DIY. For the shot glass example and once the novelty has worn off, DIY is just plain work. Even if I can do it faster, better and cheaper than a pro, it’s still work that’s keeping me from fantasizing about projects that do indeed require “research, mock-ups, etc…” and may well “…actually cost more to build it yourself.”
Hey Mark,
Good article, but I have a question: There are nine questions on your test, but your results criterion states that if your score falls between 8 and 17 you should buy. There are nine questions. How does one end up with a score of 8? Do you give yourself a “0″ if you don’t understand a question? Do you subtract 1 point if it takes more than five minutes to read and answer a question? Or, are you not allowed to give yourself more than 8 points (regardless of the score you actually attained) and must give away all of your tools to a worthy charity if you’ve actually read Glamor magazine from cover to cover? I’m not sure which is worse, that you suggest someone can score an 8 on a nine question quiz, or that 17 commenters before me didn’t ask this question…
Shut up and enjoy the quiz Steve. ;)
O.K., I’ll be quiet, but you didn’t answer my question… BTW, I scored 18.1428. And I’m posting my results on Oprah’s web site.
Man…what a beautiful kitchen.
Under “Recipient patience Level” you need to add:
18 – Your wife told you to build her a nice desk, quickly.
nice article and really great kitchen!
DIY include satisfaction
because I have a lot of free time this is my way
Ok, for me, what I usually end-up building is something to fill a specific, custom need … something that I can not buy at a store. It is usually my own design to fill a specific fit or function. If I do use someone’s plans to build something, it is most often something that is not available commercially anyway. I would suspect that most of us do our woodworking selections in this way. I love it when people say, “I have never seen anything like that … is it your design. A good example is http://community.thewoodwhispe.....ntext=user … this is my “hatch-cover” table. The table size, mount and function solved a problem we had with a small deck. The grid pattern was something that I had seen on sailing vessels as “hatch-covers” and I thought it would make a great table top. I have never seen one like it.
One more thing … this comes from about 50-years of working with wood in the basement and about 37-years of marriage.
There are really 3-choices if you love wood.
1 – Buy it
2 – Build it
3 – Look for a good piece of used furniture … this is most often going to be an antique. But we do have some examples of early 20th century furniture that is not really antique (yet) was made in a factory … and way better furniture than you could buy (or afford) today. Because of your talents in the shop, you have the abilities to deal with the possible need for repair, reinforcement or refinishing.
When we were first married, we could not afford squat. But often, we could scrape together some rubles to purchase something old and special. Our china cabinet, that we still use and treasure, was our first purchase … for $100. It is one of our best pieces.
Chairs and sofas … buy ‘em!
If you can’t see the wood, buyin is good.
Now I remember the quote I was looking for … it was Norm Abrams in TOH magazine. He said that, “as for chairs, at this point in his career … they are too tough, I buy ‘em!”
As you can see, this topic has really gotten me going!
I look at this buy or build question as part of a larger theme … heritage. My Mom collected antiques. She was not into periods or styles. She just knew what she liked and she had very good taste. When she passed away, the five of us kids (siblings) all received some very special pieces and it is very heart-warming to see those pieces upon our visits. Our kids will also receive those pieces someday and they will know well from where they came … along with any story that might be attached to any piece.
Because of our Mom’s love of well made wooden furniture, I and my sibs also have this love. When I pass away, my kids will get a treasured collection of:
- antiques from their grandmother
- antiques and special early 20th century pieces from us
- furniture and pieces built by their Dad (ofter finished by their Mom)
- and (don’t forget)tools
This, for us, is about heritage and the handing-down of a special love of wood and special things that we have loved … and often with a story to go along.
Chester
Great article. For every piece of empty house, this question pops into my mind.
Marc and Nicole, Jane and I love the pic of the kitchen in your new house. Beautiful and looks very practical.
Nicole’s look is choice!
We are pondering an update to our kitchen cabinets, keeping the carcases and changing out doors and drawer fronts. I am still vacillating on building or buying them, including adding some drawers in place of some of the lower cabinets… Problem is, there are a **LOT** of cabinet doors. For me, good timing on the quiz.
Jim,
If your planning on making solid wood doors using a stile and rail bit on your router table I would suggest you purchase them, especially since you have a lot of doors. It’s a lot of work with a 3 Hp router table set up and would be much easier if you have a shaper. Even with a shaper it’s a lot of set up that you have to be very precise and careful about. Do you really want to do all that glue up ,planning and sanding on the door panels? The only thing you have to fuse over, if you order them made, is getting the sizes right.
OK,
Mark is sitting at the table jotting down data…
The lovely Nicole is Patiently waiting for the results….
So my question is….
Which dog took the picture?
How does the quiz apply to building your own tools, like a downdraft table, a disk sander, or a router table? Maybe there should be a modified quiz for tools!
Glad to see I’m not the only guy that’s been down this road!
Yeah: I know this whole feeling.
Going through it at this exact second, with a complete kitchen re-build in progress…
Looked at the kitchen cabinet “off the shelf” choices at Home Depot and Rona (Canadian “Lowes” equivalent) and just went “yuck” at both styles and pricing…
Plus building it myself, I’m still ahead on costs (just as one doesn’t factor in any value for my own time…. sigh) and it “justified” a Festool TS55 from Dan at Ultimate Tools in Vancouver for cutting all the sheet goods for the kitchen cases… “whee” (and a domino… because.. well… ok, I wanted a domino… )
Furniture for the kids has been another battle of the “build vs buy” My wife and I ended up going on the “build” rationale for the reasoning of “passing it on” The kids have ended up with very “adult” furniture, but they’ll be able to take it with them when they grow up.
That being said: wife and I went through the “build vs buy” decision for an entertainment unit for the family room, and we ended up thinking “Ikea” rather than build our own.
HUGE mistake. The finish scratched the first time I dropped a remote on the shelf, the junk shelves have warped something spectacular (over one inch in a 3 ft span), and because of the way the ikea stuff goes together, you can’t even flip the shelves over to counter the warp. Completely wasted money…
Its going to be a long time before I “buy” anything else. It takes longer to ‘build’ but at least it will last more than a year. (this is where my wife speaks up and says “but will it take more than a year for you to make it…”)