https://youtube.com/watch?v=qW301b_cJq0
00:00
– Wanna start your own carpentry business 00:02
and scale it past $500,000 a year? 00:04
Daniel Westbrook from Westbrook Carpentry and Millwork
00:07 achieved those numbers by leveraging his legacy
00:10 of being a third generation craftsmen. 00:13
(upbeat music) 00:17
Today we'll be speaking to Daniel 00:18
who turned to the carpentry business 00:20
after starting four other businesses 00:22
in the real estate and construction industries. 00:24
He's become a household name in Seattle 00:26
as he's frequently featured in magazines 00:28
like the Master Builders Magazine, 00:30
various TV shows and commercials. 00:33
What equipment is must have? 00:35
– [Daniel] This is the number one tool 00:37
that most shops end up getting. 00:39
– How do you estimate restoration projects? 00:43
– Your profit margins are more too. 00:45
– What did it cost you to get going? 00:46
– Well, the advantage is that 00:48
you can do more volume of business.
00:50
– In this episode, he'll share with you 00:52
how you too can start a carpentry business, 00:54
how he sees growth differently, 00:56
how he suggests that everyone should communicate 00:58
with their audience and clients, 01:00
and everything else that made his business successful. 01:03
– Create a website that expresses that very simply. 01:08
That's number one. 01:09
– For somebody who's just starting out, 01:11
what do you think they should be thinking 01:13
in terms of cost to operate monthly? 01:15
All right, we're gonna give you guys an inside look
01:17 into Daniel's truck and how you set it up. 01:20
If you're overworking, follow these steps 01:22
to live a better life. 01:24
– It is incredible software. 01:27
I really highly recommend using it. 01:30
– All right you guys, without further ado, 01:31
let's go talk to the man, Daniel. 01:34
And before we do that, 01:35
like the video, subscribe to our channel, 01:37
we appreciate your support.
01:38
Let's dive into it. 01:40
What a cool looking shop. 01:41
Daniel, good morning. – Hey, Paul. 01:42
How you doing? 01:43
– Doing well. Good to meet you. 01:45
– It's good to meet you. 01:46
– Likewise. 01:47
– What's happening? 01:48
(upbeat music) 01:51
– Tell us about when you started, 01:54
why you started Westbrook Millwork? 01:57
– Well, this particular business started in 2006. 02:00
– Okay. 02:01
– And obviously this isn't my first business 02:04
and I've had businesses before, 02:06
but this is sort of a culmination of career 02:08
and various businesses up until that point. 02:12
– Did you have any prior experience 02:13
in the carpentry industry when you started this up? 02:16
– Yeah. Well, I'm a third generation carpenter. 02:18
Third generation business owner.
02:19
It's just was what I was meant to be doing. 02:22
– That's incredible. 02:23
You've got plenty of experience 02:24
passed onto you then, right? 02:25
– Yeah, I did. 02:26
I worked with my dad. 02:27
I worked with my granddad. 02:29
I worked with plenty of the old school master craftsmen
02:34 that came out of the old days. 02:36
And I still carry that with me today in the modern era,
02:41 which is one of the reasons why I'm really
focused on 02:44
this kind of work today because it's a kind of a talent
02:47 that takes a long time to learn. 02:48
And it's not the usual thing. 02:51
So I'm a little bit of a throwback as far as that goes. 02:53
(upbeat music) 02:57
– Let's talk about your revenue, 02:58
where it is today as it compares to last year. 03:00
And are you growing month by month? 03:03
– So my revenue now is probably pretty minimal 03:07
because I made a concerted effort 03:09
to sort of slow my business down. 03:10
So I try to keep it around anywhere between 03:13
20 and 40K a month.
03:14
– Okay. 03:16
– That's about as minimal as I can go. 03:17
Did I answer your second question, am I growing? 03:20
– Yeah. – I'm growing inside. 03:21
– Okay. 03:22
– Okay. My business is obviously on idle,
03:24 but there's also personal growth that needs
to happen. 03:27
And you need to take the time to do that. 03:29
I think it's really, really important. 03:30
Remodeling is one of those things where 03:33
it's a good profitable business, 03:36
but it really depends on how you approach 03:38
and you engineer your jobs. 03:39
How fast you execute, how well do you execute? 03:43
And I know you're looking for a specific number, 03:46
but your percentage markets 03:48
should be anywhere between 35% and 65%. 03:52
(upbeat music) 03:55
– When you got started in 2006, Daniel, 03:57
what did it cost you to get going? 03:59
And what would it be today for someone 04:01
who wants to get into this business specifically, you think? 04:04
What should they budget? 04:05
– Well, I already had tools at the time. 04:07
– Okay. 04:07
– So if you're talking in terms of costs, 04:09
there was education, there's tooling, 04:12
but if you're starting fresh in the business, 04:15
chances are you've already got tools.
04:17
Chances are, if you're interested in this. 04:20
As far as cost goes, you really need to pay attention to,
04:25 your costs in your office stuff, your computer,
04:30 whatever programming you're using, website
costs. 04:35
You're gonna end up spending two to five grand 04:37
for a simple website anyway. 04:39
So if you really wanting to start right, 04:43
you're probably gonna need to invest 04:45
not only a whole lot of time, 04:47
but also probably around 10 grand. 04:49
– 10 grand, okay. 04:50
– Just to barely get your business started. 04:52
(upbeat music) 04:55
– What does it cost you to run your business 04:58
at this level on a monthly basis? 05:00
And what's the most expensive thing a month? 05:02
– The most expensive thing every month is labor.
05:04
– Just labor, okay. 05:05
– Just what I pay myself. 05:06
I work for my company 05:07
and so that's the most expensive thing. 05:10
At this point with my business sort of more on an idle mode,
05:13 my expenses are pretty low. 05:15
If my truck is paid off, my tools are paid off. 05:18
And I'm assuming what you mean by expense 05:20
it's not saw blades or material or anything like that. 05:25
'Cause those are charged to the job. 05:27
Those go into each job. 05:29
– They are? 05:30
Okay, I didn't know that. 05:31
So whenever you take a job you factor in, 05:33
some tool expenses in there? 05:34
– Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh sure, oh yeah.
05:35
Not tools per se, but blades, cutter knife. 05:39
– Whatever gets used up and abused. 05:41
– Sure, sure, yeah. 05:42
– Okay, that makes sense. 05:43
For somebody who's just starting out, 05:45
what do you think they should be thinking 05:47
in terms of cost to operate monthly 05:49
and how does that structure? 05:51
– Well, labor obviously, employee labors, 05:55
is gonna be your most expensive. 05:57
Aside from that it's tooling up. 06:00
But once you have your tools, 06:02
once you have what you need to do your projects 06:06
the rest of it is pretty much what it cost to do the job,
06:10 which is part of the estimate of the job. 06:13
(upbeat music) 06:16
– Daniel, you've owed other businesses before. 06:19
I'm curious, what did you do different this time around? 06:21
And did that experience help you in growing this venture? 06:25
– Yeah, it's a culmination of experience that allowed me
06:28 to really focus and refine and simplify my
branding.
06:32
– That's it? 06:33
– Yeah. That's it. 06:34
I mean, a talent is something that 06:36
you practice and continue on, right? 06:38
– Right. 06:39
– But businesses before are kind of a training 06:41
and it just almost seems like that it helps you
06:45 to understand and simplify your marketing,
06:48 your branding, who you are and what you do. 06:51
– Okay. 06:52
– It's really that simple. 06:52
– That's it. 06:53
Guys, stay tuned. 06:54
Keep watching the video. 06:55
Hack from Daniel in terms of his success 06:57
and how he continues to grow and be successful 07:00
in this particular business as well. 07:02
(upbeat music) 07:04
All right, we're gonna give you guys an inside look
07:06 into Daniel's truck and how you set it up,
07:09 why and so forth.
07:10
So give us a tour. 07:11
– Well, this is my latest rig and it took me a long time
07:14 to design this thing. 07:15
Basically it was purchased as a cabin chassis 07:18
and then this is basically a utility body. 07:24
And I designed it to be able to carry 07:26
everything I need out in the field. 07:28
– This looks solid. 07:29
What did it cost you to get this whole setup? 07:31
– Well this whole setup was about 75? 07:36
– 75 hundred? 07:36
– 75 grand.
07:37
– Oh, I was gonna say. 07:38
(Daniel laughs) 07:39
That would've been a steal. 07:40
Okay, good. That's more like it. 07:42
– So I have access. 07:44
Now, I don't have all my tools in here. 07:45
I'm not packed tight right now because I have a lot of tools
07:48 unloaded in my shop. 07:49
But I've got access to the side. 07:51
I've got tools, all my field tools that I'm gonna need
07:56 for doing restorative work. 07:58
I have things tucked away. 08:04
My knee pads, my carpenter bags, all of that. 08:08
And obviously, I don't wanna forget the rack on top,
08:13 which is really important as well. 08:17
What's really cool about this truck is that everything's…
08:20
In Seattle it rains a lot. 08:22
So you really need to have everything protected. 08:24
So this is what this truck does 08:26
and I've got my glass rack 08:28
and everything is completely organized in here. 08:31
And I can get this thing packed pretty tight. 08:34
I can carry my material..