Thread: (Aus) Hobby general restoration for profit, worth it ?

I would suggest that if you're doing it for the enjoyment as you like restoring old things as a hobby, and then make a little money on the side it could be nice, but as a 'im quitting my job, buying everything I need and watch the customers roll in' sort of business you may have issues covering your costs unless you have a niche or speciality which others don't offer and there is a demand for

Originally Posted by Gabriel

I would suggest that if you're doing it for the enjoyment as you like restoring old things as a hobby, and then make a little money on the side it could be nice, but as a 'im quitting my job, buying everything I need and watch the customers roll in' sort of business you may have issues covering your costs unless you have a niche or speciality which others don't offer and there is a demand for

It would be only for enjoyment with money on the side, though I'm just curious if it's actually possible to make money on the side from restoring cheaper furniture, rather than things considered 'antique' or 'high-end', that would cost more to purchase, and likely require a greater level of experience in restoration.

I can't speak for your local conditions of course but here I've noticed that there is a market for repairing and refinishing higher end furniture.

For example 17th century Italian cabinet restoration. The owner of this stuff is an antiquarian generally with specific interests in 18th century and older furniture and rare books. I've done a number of projects that have made some decent money on the side. My next project for this individual is making, engraving and fitting a brass clasp to a 16th or 17th century reprint/copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Chronicle), should be interesting but it has me a little nervous as the book is worth something in the low four figures.

I've also found work for people in fixing things like grandma's heirloom furniture including repairs, refinishing and specialties like replacing string inlays.

To address these customers you need to be able to use a lot of different kinds finishes and repair compounds plus have the ability to repair damage and make new period authentic replacement parts in metal and wood.

Another area I've made some cash in is the repair of wooden front doors and bamboo flooring. Seems that the big box appliance delivery guys routinely bash the nicely finished wooden front doors of the middle/upper income set. Engineered wood flooring, especially bamboo, also gets a lot of damage but can be a very difficult job to fix depending on the specifics. Light scratches are easily touched up but splits and breaks can give you fits getting the finish to look right.

I tried messing around fixing up scratched dining tables and so forth but found that the $/hour was pretty poor in comparison to the antique repair market.

Old, so called ‘brown furniture’ is not very fashionable atm. That can mean it is cheap to pick up but difficult to sell, at least privately. I’ve recently had to clear out my parents’ house. Trying to sell things on Gumtree was very disappointing as buyers want to pay nothing.

However, we sold a lot (very cheaply) to local secondhand/antiques dealers. They freshened the finishes (properly with shellac no nasty polyurethane) and made minor repair where needed. They made a motza. For example, a drop front desk circa 1920 they paid us $100. Minor repair, some shellac and a good wax and sold for over $500. BUT they have good sales technique and a great high visibility location (as well as the high overheads that go with that).

So, if you could sell snow to an Eskimo, then there is money to be made. Otherwise, you could spend a lot and end up disappointed.

So true about the relative fashionability of older furniture. My Victorian mahogany dining table would be worth more broken as timber than to sell complete!

I’m in the fortunate, but hard-worked-for-position, of now being retired and being able to work in my shed, make new furniture, restore old furniture, recycle and repurpose furniture and to not need to earn an income from it. However, I still don’t want to lose money on a hobby so I have coined the concept of a ‘cost neutral hobby’ ?

Unfortunately, this causes problems for others as I am effectively damaging the available market for people who ARE trying to do any of the above as a living.
However, we shouldn’t generalise too much as there are members of our own forum who make a living from high-end furniture-making and restoration. There is even an internationally renowned furniture restorer living and working near me who restores even Louis XIV furniture using period timber, fittings and methods. I am sure that I am not damaging HIS market!
This long winded prologue is so that I can list a few examples, my learnings and opinions and you know where I am coming from.

Example 1
I found a beautiful but damaged bow-fronted cabinet on the roadside. I repaired the leadlighting, refinished and polished all of the timber work, fitted a new lock and key and put it up for sale online. I eventually sold it for $250 and charged $25 for delivery. My margin above direct cost (ie material, $10 per hour for labour and consumables only, no depreciation on equipment, power nor ‘rent’) was about $50!

Example 2
I designed a range of billiard cue cabinets, and made 2 for a client introduced to me via the forum. I can’t list real prices (for reasons that will soon be obvious). I made a reasonable commercial margin of probably $100 each. The client took the design to others and is getting them made much cheaper by a highly mechanised factory. I am not angry because I have created a product that is now being made in Australia.

Example 3
I was asked to quote a simple bedroom suite for a friend of a friend. I made it an open book transaction BUT before we could even talk a labour rate it was obvious that I could not even buy the undressed timber for the price that the client could buy the same setting of (allegedly?) solid timber from Freedom,

Example 4
There was a famous wicker chair repairer in inner Sydney who had a loyal following of regular customers. He is no longer in business and so I have been asked to repair chairs for 2 of his previously loyal customers. Unfortunately (?) all of these repairs of chairs have been requested during ‘robust’ social occasions and have ultimately been ‘paid’ for by even more ‘robust’ social occasions..... my bad?

So, IMHO, if you are going to make a living out repairing/restoring/repurposing, unless you have an existing market NAME, it seems you can only do it sustainably as a part-time venture or, even better, as an adjunct to a kindred business, for example both selling furniture AND offering a repair service.

I started writing this looong epistle while in the shed this afternoon looking at another bow fronted display cabinet waiting for even more repair than the last. Thinking about this post brought me the crushing realisation that this one, which was bought for me by SWMBO for $90, can never achieve my ‘cost-neutral’ goal and I shouldn’t even think of doing it!

So, what has all of this thinking done for me?

I already don’t encourage nor quote a job if I know they already have a quote from another furniture maker or restorer who I believe is (trying to...) make a living out it.

I usually only do restoration work for someone who otherwise would not have the job done.

I only do work where I will enjoy the process and/or challenge because for me, it is a cost neutral hobby.

I put most of my restoration projects on this forum so that it may help (or challenge?) others to do their own.

Thus endeth my ‘tuppence worth’!

fletty

There are a couple of design/interior shops in a suburb near us. Both sell somewhat beachy, shabby chic decorator items. Most of it ends up in the fairly wealthy people’s holiday homes which abound around here. There’s usually a few furniture items. They seem to turn over quite quickly, and the prices are not cheap. They look like council cleanup or garage sale finds, given a coat of paint in a distressed style. Although they are very ordinary furniture items, most things are enhanced in some way - given polished brass fittings or appliquéd scrollwork or padded fabric - or something else that lifts it above the ordinary - above what the buyer could do herself.

I can’t help thinking whoever supplies it must have a very high profit margin. It’s obvious they only do stuff that’s quick to do, no getting into the time-consuming detail work which is so typical of antique or high-end restoration.

Of course it might be one of those things which is easy till you try it. I’m not sure I would have a good enough eye to consistently find the pieces and enhance them in just the right way. There might be more taste and style involved then there looks to be.

If I was looking to restore for sale, that’s what I’d be investigating. Make money on the broad brush stuff and keep away from the morale-sapping, profit-destroying detail.