/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>624906
not in canada

>>624910
What about US? Most stores want $300 for beat up piece of shit.

In materials? Yes. But it depends on what your time is worth.

If you're a doctor? No. In the time it takes you to build a dresser you could have seen enough patience to buy 10 dressers.

If you're a frycook? You bet your ass it's more cost effective, because your time is worth dick.

>>624916
Alright cool.

Depends. What size do you want, what quality you want and what is your budget?

If you have the skills and tools you can build a quality real wood dresser for less than the cost of buying it new. You'll never beat a good used price though. I got a 5 drawer tallboy dresser from an estate sale for $40.

Those cheap particle board travesties aren't worth the time needed to drive them home in my opinion. You'd never beat them on cost point though unless you had a bunch of free materials. Video related.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U69gnbVhVx4

>>624916

Yeah?

Well what if you're a furniture builder?!

I BET YOU DIDN'T THINK OF THAT ONE, GENIUS!!!

>>624906

Assuming you already have the tools necessary to build one, and all you need to buy are the hardware for the sliding drawers (if you want them to be on metal rails) and lumber. You could make something like your pic with just some plywood and iron on veneer and then stain it when you're done.

>>624916
I never understood this logic. People don't (and legally can't) workd 24 hours a day. No matter what there is going to be down time. So for a doctor, it'll still be cheaper to build a dresser, as that was likely time he was going to spend jerking off and browsing 4chan (which unfortunately no one pays us for).

If you are worried about cost, consider that the function of a dresser is pretty much just to hide things while having them easily retrievable, while also having a little horizonal surface to put things on. You can achieve this with a cabinet layout or even shelves with a curtain in front. Dressers are cool though, I'd have one if they weren't such a pain to move between houses (I move a bit more than the average person)

>>624906
I'd say no, not usually.

It's possible if you get the wood/wood product for cheap of course but not everyone has access to reclaimed or freecycled sources for the necessary materials.

>>625588
>I never understood this logic. People don't (and legally can't) workd 24 hours a day. No matter what there is going to be down time. So for a doctor, it'll still be cheaper to build a dresser
While I get what you're saying in reality it may be outright impossible to build any sizeable pieces of furniture yourself for less than you'd pay for the built item. You can factor you own time as zero and it can *still* cost more than shop-bought.

Where I am the timber for a dresser might cost double what I would want to pay for one, it's the same across the UK and Ireland where wood prices are generally high. And if you want to use a decent hardwood it's offputtingly costly (assuming you buy new and don't use salvaged stuff).

If you want to build from something 'exotic' like maple then it just gets ridiculous, for a small bedside unit it might cost 200 quid for the wood alone.

A woodworking program from over here from a couple of years back, they built a dresser (smaller than in OP's pic I think) and the wood cost £900..... that's about $1,500!!

What this means in practice is that it can literally be a better idea to buy a vintage or antique piece rather than make your own, if cost is the deciding factor.

>>625725
Well of course you'll factor in your time at $0. You're not going to charge yourself labour. If you can't give yourself mate's rates, who can you?

What you describes sucks for those living in the UK, but really doesn't apply to the whole world. Plus, as you said, there's always cheap reclaimed one can use or even the dreaded free pallet route, if wood is really that expensive wherever you are.

>>625725
or if youd like a project buy some wood in bulk or search for a bulk of scrap for even cheaper, perhaps, and build a few of them with the idea to sell the rest. assuming you can do it good. templates+plans+maybe some mdf or w/e to make a practice one first. just another idea if you arent busy earning money then a project like this might have several good outcomes, ie. earn some money, try out a new skill, have some fun ... seems youre looking for a cheap way to get a cabinet i guess those are all things you could do with lol

>>625737
>Well of course you'll factor in your time at $0. You're not going to charge yourself labour.
I don't know about you dude but I don't value my time at 0 dollars.

>>625761
So true, especially if it is a personal interest and project u r workn on.

>>624906

Not usually. Unless you already have a shop set up and can buy lumber cheap.

One reason to d-i-y: secret compartments. You can build stuff into furniture that you'd have trouble buying from most places.

>>624978
rekt

>>625725

I'm from the US so I'm not sure what you guys have out there but quick research says you have (domestic) sycamore maple and european ash, which are both hardwoods and very similar to the hard/rock maple from the US.

The price of materials and tools is steep. If you have access to the tools that's at least mitigated. But then you might not know how to build one, and it might end up all fucked. Some self examination is in order.