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Corporate Home » Onsite Monthly Magazine By Lee Lumber » Cstm Millwork No Small Shop Job
Custom Millwork Not Just a Small Shop Job
Finding 100 matching doors is easy. Finding one door to match another you already have can be utterly impossible. "Impossible" is almost always the specialty of the small custom millwork shop. Almost, but not always.
"We can make or match anything using stock parts or subassemblies, all-new custom parts or a combination of both," said Randy Baumgarten of Chicago-based Lee Lumber & Building Materials Corp. Lee Lumber operates its own custom millwork shop with more than 20 employees at 633 W. Pershing in the city.
"Anything" includes crafting custom doors from scratch, assembling window sashes, pre-hanging doors, putting glass in doors, even creating complete door units from multiple sources and running custom molding patterns.
" Because of our size, we can handle any job - large or small." Right now, for example, Lee is fabricating 1,250 custom window sashes to be used in the renovation of a historic high-rise. Other past projects of magnitude include making mahogany doors and frames to match the originals in Chicago's Orchestra Hall.
At the same time, Lee can also do short runs, too - even "runs" of one. "If it's more cost effective for us to, say, make a door to match from scratch, we'll do that, too, often for less than it would cost at a door manufacturer, whose production runs make it uneconomical to produce one special unless they get major setup and custom charges."
Baumgarten credits the savings to larger shops having more resources than a one- or two-person custom woodshop normally has. "Just for starters, bigger shops get most of their materials via direct sourcing. They buy lumber directly from the sawmills, windows directly from the manufacturer." That's not to say smaller shops can't do the job. Often they can. "But the price is often way high by comparison due to sourcing through multiple channels of distribution"
Whether customers are involved in new construction, remodeling or renovation projects, Baumgarten said the best way to get what they need is to bring in a sample of what they want. "Any good custom shop can grind the knives and run the pattern on their molding machine. We use the same kind of high speed molder molding manufacturers use, we're just used to setting up frequently and running orders from one piece to thousands of feet."
Lacking a sample, customers can peruse a wide variety of books and catalogs for a picture of what they want. "Or you can work directly with in-house design staff. Like us, most of the larger custom shops have experienced designers, even people with the latest CAD training on staff and available to help." Whatever your needs, Baumgarten suggests you explore your options before letting out the job. "The small custom shop isn't your only choice, even for small custom jobs."
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News***
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Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
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For more information, or to reserve your spot
at an upcoming event, contact Steve at
(773) 927-8282 or shuff@leelumber.com
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