Why Woodshop Master Exists The craft hasn’t changed. Builders still measure carefully, plan deliberately, and take responsibility for the work they deliver. What has changed is everything surrounding the craft. Paper estimates. Scattered notes. Rewritten cut lists. Jobs tracked across memory, notebooks, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools. The work didn’t get easier — it got louder. […]
“Allison Woolbert —” Carpenter, Woodcrafter, Builder of Systems Some people learn a trade.Others are raised in it. I began working with wood between the ages of five and seven, learning the craft the way it has always been taught — by watching, doing, and being trusted with real tools. I learned materials, machines, measurement, and […]
“Our Story.” — A Family of Builders Before software.Before systems.Before “workflow.” There were carpenters. Carpentry runs through every generation of my family’s history in America. Not as a trade we adopted later, but as the work that shaped how we contributed, built, and stood behind what we made. The First Builders — 1772 In 1772, […]
“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 […]
