Thread: Inspiration

The following is reproduced (with permission) here to provide some inspiration.

The creator (maker doesn't seem the right word) is Tom Plamann, a gifted individual living in Texas.

Tom posted two text messages with the images, both are included. Note that this is just a mockup.
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For those interested, I finally finished the stair mock-up I've been working
on of which I posted progress pictures awhile back.
We set it in place at the house, they liked it, got the job, and now can
start on the real deal.
Plus I have a nice sample to keep.
.
Tom Plamann
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Thanks for the nice compliments guys. I'll try to answer most questions with
this reply.
First off, I think there are a lot of guys here who could also do something
like this. I am sure if you watched me work you would say, "I could do
that!"
You might be intimidated to start, but there is really no magic in what I
do. I just know if I went through the processes with some here, they could
do the same.
And I say that with hopes of inspiring some to push the limit a bit more. I
think the one thing that I may have an edge on some would be that I refuse
to put a wall up on what can be done. When I came up with this stairway
idea, I did not know how I would make such a thing. I had to think about it
for a long time. The mock-up is as much for me as it is for the customer. I
actually learn how to make it during this phase. I also made changes as I
stood back and looked at what was coming together.
The mock-up also helps with justifying the price I would like for the final
product. I have found that you can draw a pretty picture that they like, but
when you give them a price they will say "I'm not sure I want to spend that
much". When you make a full size sample of what they will get, now they say
"Wow! I want that in my house!" and the price falls out of the picture.
Without getting into numbers, the price of the stairway does enable me to do
the mock-up. Which in itself cost more than most stairways.
It also looks like I will be doing another stairway later this year based on
someone seeing this. So the mock-up is paying dividends, so to speak.
The carvings were all done in house. I do not have the CNC going yet.
The home this is going into matches the stairway. (I think they are looking
at about 8 million on the house.)
I do have some other items I will be doing in the home.
Again thanks for the nice words. I am a bit embarrassed.

Tom Plamann
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