Workshop Cabinet Costs - I Saved How Much?!

Great work Paul. End result looks excellent. A note on Kaboodle stuff - I recently did a whole new laundry with them - large cuplboard, large box of drawers, couple of wall cabinets and some other bits etc. I think it was about $3300 with a few custom sizes but mostly stock.

Firstly Kaboodle is NOT IKEA. You’re not getting away with just an allen key on these babies. You need a good set of clamps to hold things together while you assemble, a drill / driver, and other bits. Yeah I had most of it - had to chase down a couple of Irwin 600 / 1270 mm clamps to hold things together. Luckily I already had 4-6 smaller ones for others things. Probably needed $400-600 ish in tools. Yes I have them now but still, would be a shock for a more simpler DIY’er.

BUT still - the same thing from a couple of local tradies for them to do it? $8k-$10k. So for me it was a good comprimise of getting the cabinets we needed, in the colours wifey wanted,, a weekend of my time, and we saved $4-5k ish and I look like a legend lol.

Interesting comparison- I'm with you in not imputing your time as a cost.
I have a question which is totally unrelated to the video so apologies for that. We are planning on visiting Australia towards the back end of next year and want to make a gift for our newly-born granddaughter. I have a small rocking chair in mind which I would do all the joinery on in the UK then look to do the assembly when we get there. Are there such things as workshops which hire facilities and equipment on a daily rate?

And I dare say the quality of the workmanship things like the edging was superior too. Plus you hopefully had fun and learnt some new things so win win win

Good for you for taking the time to lay out the costs in such a detailed manner. The final job looks great, and you have saved a bunch of money. Obviously the savings will continue on the next cupboard you build.

Great video Paul, thats an excellent detailed description. I feel that no matter what you do in Australia its still all crazy expensive. You have shown much more affordable ways for people with a desire and prupose to have a better result. TY, I will be making my own cabinets soon.

Nice work, don't forget to include your satisfaction in doing it and the confidence you get in your cabinet making for future projects.

I think another important point is that when you do the inside cabinets, the cost of the tools that you invested in for this build won't be included in the next build cost. It's already been covered by the savings here. The next cabinets will be HUGELY cheaper to produce.

Fantastic break down and comparison Paul!

Great video Paul. Like you I wouldn’t include my time in any comparison because making is what we love to do so the savings were HUGE. They look fantastic too mate, I love the green 👍🏼

"I can make it at home for nothing" - great job.

Thanks for that. Sometimes I get requests for cheap tables or whatever and I usually say I can't compete with online prices for certain items. Bunnings make a big margin on the kaboodle range. It's more for diyers trying to save paying for a professional kitchen co. But someone like yourself can design and build using raw materials which is where woodworking skills and equipment can pay off.

Brilliant timing because I am just planning something very similar and need to know how much to save up.

Check the description if you want links to all the products I used - they're all non-affiliate, and I paid for everything. Ouch.