Relocating (Knoxville, Maryville: sales, homes, schools)

[cabinetmaker]

We now live in northern Ca., and are looking to relocate to Tn. The Knoxville area is of interest to us. I'm 45yrs old, a cabinetmaker/finish carpenter by trade, I have worked in cabinet sales and installation for the last 2.5yrs using 20/20 and also have AutoCad experience. We enjoy the outdoors, hiking, biking, camping, etc. I like to play hockey and am a goalie playing
both ice and roller hockey. We home school our kids (ages 12 and 10) so schools are not a problem but would like a good home school support group. If any one out there could share their insight it would help alot. My wife and I are going to Tn in June to look around.

[sliverbox]

One thing you might want to consider is that the demand for expensive hand-made handiwork in Knoxville will more than likely be considerably less than it is in Northern CA, where there exists a never ending list of wealthy clients that want hand rubbed bronze cabinet knobs and so forth.

How do I know this? I am originally from Knoxville and moved to Northern CA and sold high end cabinet hardware and entry locksets for a number of years. Some entry sets were thousands of dollars. each. The fact that people actually paid this much for this stuff was amazing to me versus back home where you typically go to Home Depot and get some generic cabinets made out of laminated fiberboard. Unless things have changed in the last 10 years, my experience observing what people spend money on in these 2 places is very different. Someone in San Francisco might insist that all those little screws on the inside of the cabinets match, but in Knoxville... who cares?

I would see about getting into contact with area guilds in the Knoxville area and see if there is a healthy market for your skills. If so, Knoxville will be a great place for your family.

[MomsTn]

I was thinking about what Sliverfox said, and its true.
It's really all about supply and demand.
If there really isn't a demand for a certain skill, then, it wouldn't be worth your while.
Now, I was also thinking about all of those gated and retirement areas that they are putting in over in East Tennessee, a lot of those folks are moving in from different areas in the country, like California, and Florida and New York, they would surely appreciate your skills.
It would be worth a shot to contact one of the building contractors on a building project and asking them about it. They may not need your skills but, could possibly lead you in the right direction.

[cabinetmaker]

Thank you sliverbox for the response, any insight we can get helps. So do you still live in Ca.? or did you move back to Tn.? In retrospect I've had the pleasure to work in some very high end homes and not only do all the screws inside of a cabinet have to match they all need to have the heads turned the same way if not they will call you on Sunday and ask when you will be coming by to fix them. Also if that front door knob is not polished enough so that the neighbors can see it from a block away, call number two. Any way, sometimes it's nice to work for people who just appreciate a good quality job now matter what you build or install. Ok, enough complaining, could you recommend any area's to look at for the family or at least stay away from? And thank you TNBound, I will try the internet yellow pages for contractors

[R.K.]

To the relocating cabinetmaker, looking to move to Tennessee with his family -

Are you strictly interested in Tennessee right away?

There is a job in El Paso, Texas for a finish carpenter, to work on a big residence. The job is posted on Craig's List, for El Paso, Texas.

You did not mention how many years you've done your cabinetmaking/finish carpentry work, or if you would consider a detour to another state. Since you homeschool your children, I wonder if this might be an option. The contractor for this Texas job is based in San Diego, and is known for gorgeous residential work.

Good luck to you and your family!

[Beretta]

I agree to carefully check job opportunities here before moving. This area, imo, is saturated with finish carpenters. One of my employees husbands does this and it's her job that is keeping them afloat. I have seen his work and I think it is great quality and fairly priced. This area just can't financially support fine finish carpenters, unfortunately, like other areas. You may want to check with Wildwood cabinet makers out of Maryville/Blount County. They made our cabinets and are very well respected around here. I wish you well and don't mean to sound so negative. Kind regards.