Does Festool make you money???

[richard.selwyn]

I was just looking at a friends hives this evening. He reckons the whole hive on a stand with a metal roof costshim 100 euros. The wooden frames with wires in to fix the wax sheets too ( sorry I don't know the technical term are 1 euro each.
I couldn't compete with any of that.
How long did it take you and how much for materials? I'd like to start bee keeping but feel guilty about buying stuff ready made when I'm supposed to be able to bukd it myself, but here ifrance the ready made stuff seems very inexpensive.

Richard

 

[rxe]

Oh no, I'm getting derailed into bee-hives....

There are parts of hives that are absolutely not worth making:

- the frames (too fiddly and they're cheap)
- the floors (they're cheap)
- the roofs (they're cheap). 

And there are bits that are really, really worth making - all of the boxes, which to be fair is nearly all of the hive.  In the UK, a "flat pack" big brood is £50, made of cedar, which is the best wood for hives.  However, you can get an 8x4 sheet of marine ply for £50...and turn that into 5 brood boxes pretty quickly.  The longest part is the gluing up.   

If you're making them yourself, you can also do funky things like making a "triplestock" - 3 nucleus hives in one:

[attachimg=#]

The nice thing about "bee-joinery" is that you can use up all of the scraps of wood kicking about the workshop....

 

[jhmccorp]

I use a lot of hardwood sheet goods in tight envirenments and holly crap does it save tmie and money. No need for 2 guys , no need for 20 feet to use a saw table, or flip sheets to get a clean cut, no crazy jigs to shave an edge. No endless hours of de dusting after sanding or in the middle of varnishing. Askimg if festool makes one more money is like asking if haveimg power steering makes it easier to text and drive lol

 

[Steve R]

Askimg if festool makes one more money is like asking if haveimg power steering makes it easier to text and drive lol

So just got to ask... does or does it not "haveimg" power steering makes it easier to text and drive?  [poke]

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Electric Trim]

Had to revisit this thread after an experience I had this past week. 

I just picked up some new business with a local builder I've been wanting to work for as long as I've been in business (5 years).  A friend of mine that's an electrician got me a meeting with a jobsite superintendent and he gave us a shot on the house he's building right now.  Doing the job on a bid btw.  On the first day a helper and I started setting doors so I just had a compressor and nail guns with me.  By the 3rd day I had 4 of my guys on the job and we were setting doors, trimming windows and casing doors.

At that point I had most of my wonderful Festool offerings in use and we had quite the production system going.  This supervisor was so impressed with all our tools and work ethic that he sent an e-mail to everyone in their company telling them that they all need to come to this project and check out our set up  [big grin]

Over the next few days, several big shots strolled through and on Monday a guy walks up and says he's the vice president of operations and wants to know if I can get to trimming out 4-5 houses that they have coming up.  I tried to keep from exploding on the spot  [wink]

To answer the question above, I think I owe Festool a big thank you for impression we've made on all our customers (custom home builders).  Thanks to Festool, I've been able to set myself apart from all other trim crews in our area and am optimistically hoping that we will have the majority of the trim business in our town within the next year if we can keep up the value that we're providing.

Couldn't have made that impression on this builder without Festool!  Thanks a million!

Oh yeah... here's the kind of homes they build...  Hickory Construction Inc.

 

[rnt80]

Man, that stuff looks like junk 
Congrats on the prospective work.

 

[RonMiller]

Congrats, ET - hope things go well for you!

 

[waho6o9]

Way to go Electric Trim, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  [smile]

 

[Electric Trim]

Man, that stuff looks like junk 
Congrats on the prospective work.

Lol, however it looks, they have plenty of work for trim carpenters and cabinet makers which is what gets me excited! [smile]

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Man, that stuff looks like junk 
Congrats on the prospective work.

Lol, however it looks, they have plenty of work for trim carpenters and cabinet makers which is what gets me excited! [smile]

Good job!  Unfortunately you posted the info above and half the members on here are headed your way.  Make room for more Festools!  [big grin]

 

[tiralie]

To answer the question above, I think I owe Festool a big thank you for impression we've made on all our customers (custom home builders).  Thanks to Festool, I've been able to set myself apart from all other trim crews in our area and am optimistically hoping that we will have the majority of the trim business in our town within the next year if we can keep up the value that we're providing.

Congratulations!
Great story.
Thanks
Tim

 

[Eli]

Congratulations! Best of luck with your new client! [big grin]

Was it Jefferson that said, "I'm a great believer in luck and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it"

 

[Electric Trim]

Good job!  Unfortunately you posted the info above and half the members on here are headed your way.  Make room for more Festools!  [big grin]
[/quote]

Lol, I'm such an idiot.  I've deleted the link to conceal my location.  Thanks for the heads up!  [wink]

 

[Wooden Lungs]

I think most of a carpenters or joiners kit will eventually pay for themselves. A recent one springs to mind, I had to do a small kitchen fit and part of the works involved taking off the wallpaper  ( I was asked to do this to help out the painter who was busy on another job ) The wallpaper was wood chip and anyone who has known what wood chip paper is like to take off wil sympathise with me!.
I was scraping away after wetting it with a sponge and then I realised I must have some gadget to do it quicker and decided on my fein multimaster with the scraper blade attached.
The wood chip practically leapt off the wall and made my day a whole lot easier.

This is just one instance of many where I use a tool and think to myself this has made the particular job so much easier. Not just festools but every make of power and hand tool I use.

I think a clever combination of hand and power tools makes you more efficient in your day to day routine and of course puts money in your pocket to buy more tools to make you even more efficient ;D