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Like The Carpenter Shop in Oklahoma City, most fabricators do not employ a hundred workers and aren’t making tens of millions a year in revenue, but nonetheless manage to compete. In these shops, no CNC machinery hums in the background; rather the sound of power tools can be heard and the sight of dust flying is the norm. Al Gerhart, owner of The Carpenter Shop, shared his strategy for successfully competing and how the typical, more manual shop fits into the scheme of things.
Before opening The Carpenter Shop, which has a dual focus on high-end custom cabinetry and premium countertops, Gerhart worked in a high production setting, manufacturing furniture. In 1988 his furniture plant shut its doors, unable to compete against an influx of cheap foreign competition. He relocated in 1992 to Oklahoma City, opening a small facility making specialty items.
“We did cabinets from time to time, but really didn’t go out looking for them,” Gerhart explained. “We ended up moving out of our building because the city had plans for it, and moved into an industrial park. Because of that, we no longer had a retail address; we had to get into high-end custom cabinetry and went from there.”
Gerhart credits his wife, Christina, as the driving force in getting him out of the general carpentry business and focusing strictly on the cabinetry. While he admits the transition was a difficult one to make, he eventually found his legs and started to grow. The business did well for several years, just focusing on custom cabinetry, but then it started losing jobs.
“We had competitors that would do the top and the entire set of cabinets,” Gerhartsaid. “We realized we needed to be a one-stop shop if we wanted to compete.”
