Are custom millwork shops a bad idea?

November 10, 2025

by a searcher from Technische Universität München in New York, NY, USA

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been diving deep into the custom millwork space in the NYC area and visited several shops at different stages of modernization. Some are fully digital with CNC-driven workflows, others still very craft-oriented (and occasionally off-book jobs). Now I'm trying to understand a few aspects better before I pull the trigger on an acquisition: (1) 💵 High-End vs. Mid-Range Positioning: How do you think about the trade-off between high-end, low-volume, design-driven projects vs. more mid-market repeat business (e.g. mid-range kitchens, hospitals, mid-range restaurants)? (2) 🔁 Getting to repeatable projects: How realistic is it to build repeat business via GCs or use Designers as channel partners? What’s the right mix between private clients vs. commercial accounts? (3) 👷 Operations & Scale: What’s the “sweet spot” shop size so you're not drowning in day-to-day work, but complexity outweighs the benefits of scale? (most shops seem to struggle growing past the 10 FTE barrier) (4) 🎓 Learning curve - Estimation & Bidding: For those who’ve operated in the space, how long does it take for a new owner to get comfortable enough to own the estimating role? And have you seen ways to automate quoting based on CAD data or historical jobs? Would be thankful for any pointers from someone who has looked into this or operated a millwork business on what to look out for in acquisition targets, and what you learned once you ran the business. Thanks, Adrian

Reply by a searcher
from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, CA, USA

I've been in the space of furniture manufacturing, but looked at a millwork shop before my acquisition. Also have talked with many who own them. There seems to be a big difference based on the target audience. 1. You can only scale the high-end to a certain size at which point either the local market tales off, or talent becomes a problem. I looked at a business that operated in a very small shop, a sible large CNC, and a lot of manual labor. They supplied 100% custom at the top of the market, had a pipeline of 6-12 months at all times, and realized insane margins. Challenges were they could not hire random carpenters and relied on true master craftsmen. I was challenged to see how to scale beyond maybe $10M in the SoCal OC market without introducing lower-end work, which never works well. At the mid-range and lol-end though, you are always competign on price. 2. Tarrifs could drive repeat business as a lot of the larger scale guys do use a lot of import KD product. 3. Depends on the focul point of quality. Lower quality typically is easier to scale but at lower margins. 4. There is a lot of software in the millwork world that helps with this. I probably wouldn't look at business small enough where there wasn't someone else on the team building out quotes. A lot of this can be done via by-the-foot pricing if you truly know the cost variables and finanicials that go into production. From someone who had a manufacturing business with 150+ employees and CNC of all types, machinery is a huge barriier to entry, space and cost related. Also, old machinery can be the death of you. There are very few cheap fixes once the warranty runs out on CNC machines.

Reply by a searcher
from Northwestern University in New York, NY, USA

It's an interesting space that I've also flirted with on occasion. I think these businesses live and die by the quality of the estimators on staff. In the self-funded search size bracket, likely the owner-operator that needs to be replaced. Following for insights.

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