“We Stopped Bleeding Time.” — North Ridge Cabinetry I’m Mia, owner of North Ridge Cabinetry. We build custom kitchens and built-ins for homeowners and small builders. Until last year, most days felt like controlled chaos. Quotes lived in a graveyard of spreadsheets, cutlists were printed and scribbled on, and if a client asked, “Can we shift the island three inches?” I’d mentally calculate what that meant for door sizes, drawer boxes, and—inevitably—waste.The worst part? Install days. My crew would show up ready to go, and I’d get that call: “We’re missing two finished panels and the toe-kick is short.” Not because we didn’t plan—because our plans were scattered. I could feel money evaporating every time a truck rolled twice. The breaking point A builder sent a change order on a Thursday night. By Friday morning, I’d re-quoted in Excel, updated the cutlist in another file, texted the shop about material pulls, and forgot to tell accounting to bump the progress invoice. We did the work perfectly—and didn’t bill the extra for three weeks. That’s when I knew we needed a system, not more sticky notes. Finding Woodshop Master We onboarded with Woodshop Master over one rough weekend. I loaded our standard cabinet library, set up quoting templates, and connected inventory. The “aha” moment came fast: I adjusted a pantry height for a client and watched every dependent part, hinge count, and edging requirement update automatically. The quote, the BOM, the cutlist—everything moved in sync. What changed (and how it felt) Quoting went from hours to minutes. Templates + saved options mean I’m not reinventing pricing every project. My estimator now spends time asking better questions, not doing math. Live cutlists killed duplicate […]
“Story in Every Board.” — Urban Reclaim I’m Leo, co‑owner at Urban Reclaim. We turn salvaged beams and barn boards into modern tables and casework. Every piece carries a past life—nails, checks, carpenter’s pencil marks from 1956. Our challenge was predictability: yield swings wrecked our margins, and the story we loved to tell wasn’t finding its way onto quotes where it could justify price. The old way We’d buy a gorgeous stack of joists and guess yield. Metal‑detect notes, moisture readings, and defects lived on scrap paper. By the time we hit the jointer, our cut plan was a wish and our price was a hope. The Woodshop Master way Provenance & prep logs. Each board gets a card with source, metal‑detect results, moisture, and photos. The notes follow the parts, so defects aren’t surprises. Rough‑mill yield calculator. We model final parts before a single pass. The system tells […]
“From Redlines to Ready.” — Atlas Model Works I’m Dana, principal at Atlas Model Works. We build physical architectural models for firms who still believe a client should be able to walk around a design, not just orbit it on a screen. Our work mixes laser‑cut acrylic, CNC‑milled basswood, resin prints, and hand finishing. It’s beautiful—and, until recently, operationally brittle. One client revision could turn a serene studio into a scramble Where we broke (quietly) Redlines everywhere. Architects sent markups across PDFs, emails, and cloud comments. I’d miss one note and an entire façade grid would be wrong on a $20k model. Material substitutions by memory. If 1.5mm frosted acrylic was back‑ordered, I’d guess […]
“Finish That Isn’t Sticky.” — Ridgeline Tunery I’m Mariah from Ridgeline Tunery, a small turning studio making bowls, pens, and keepsake boxes. Everything we sell is touched by hand. When a bowl comes back because the surface stayed tacky or the price at a show feels made up on the spot, it hurts twice—once in pride, once in profit. Where we were spinning our wheels Finish timing by feel. I love intuition, but show prep meant guessing what would cure in time. I’ve rushed more than one oil and regretted it. Booth blind spots. I couldn’t remember what sold fastest at last year’s fall […]
“Design Without Rework.” — Arc & Spindle Studio I’m Theo, founder of Arc & Spindle Studio. We design and build bespoke dining and lounge chairs. Chairs are unforgiving: a 2° tweak in rake changes everything from leg length to tenon shoulders. Before Woodshop Master, a “small change” could ripple into three remakes because my patterns, finishes, and parts lists were living in different places. Where we kept stumbling I love iterating with clients—subtle backrest sweeps, arm profiles that echo their table, finish tones that play with the room’s light. But version control was a mess. I’d be halfway through a run and realize the seat rail spec I was using was V2 while the tenon jig was based on V1. Material orders were padded because I didn’t trust my counts. Finishes? We had “recipes,” but they lived in my head and three dog-eared notebooks. The two-day turnaround that changed the studio A hospitality client needed a first-article approval fast. I built the design in Woodshop Master with variants for seat height, back rake, and arm width. Each variant carried its own BOM, joinery notes, and jig settings. I attached our finish recipe (dye, seal, topcoat, cure times) and shared a clean client view. They picked their preferred variant, left one comment, and approved within 48 hours. We cut on Monday. What Woodshop Master actually does for us Variants, not guesswork. When I […]
“Tone Woods, Tracked and True.” — Riverbend Luthiery I’m Kai, the builder behind Riverbend Luthiery. I make small‑batch electric and acoustic guitars. A guitar is a machine for turning touch into sound; tiny changes matter. Before Woodshop Master, I tracked top sets, moisture, and brace variations in a stack of notebooks and a spreadsheet that only made sense to me. Where sound met friction Wood set fog. I could describe a set’s tap tone from memory, but not always find its sibling when a client ordered a matched pair. Finish drift. Nitro schedules varied by season, and I’d occasionally polish too early chasing a deadline. Serial […]
