Can you make one like that?
A potential client has seen a photo of a cabinet you made for someone else. They want something similar, a little wider. You remember the piece. The photos are somewhere on your old phone, or perhaps in a shared album. The drawings are on the laptop that died. The finish recipe was in the finisher's notebook, and the finisher has since left.
You end up redesigning it from the photo. It is not a disaster, but it is time you did not need to spend, and the second cabinet is not quite the same as the first.
A body of work with no index
Makers build up a portfolio over years, and it is one of their most valuable assets. Usually it is scattered.
- Photos are on phones, cameras, social media and a folder somewhere.
- Drawings and CAD files are on whichever computer was in use at the time.
- Timber, finish and hardware details are in notebooks or memory.
- Nothing is searchable by piece type, timber or client.
- Photos for the website and social media are chosen from whatever can be found.
What a scattered portfolio costs
Repeat and similar commissions take longer than they should. You cannot quickly show a new client pieces like the one they want. Details that made a piece special, a particular finish or joint, are lost. And your website shows what happened to be easy to find rather than your best work.
A searchable record of your work
- Each completed commission gets a record: photos, drawings, timber, finish recipe, hardware, dimensions, hours and delivery date.
- Most of this is gathered automatically if you use our other workshop tools, such as quoting, cutting lists and sample approvals. Otherwise, a short form at completion collects it.
- Photos from phones are uploaded directly into the record, tagged with the piece.
- Records are searchable by piece type, timber, finish, size and client, and you can mark your favourites.
- Selected pieces can be published to your website portfolio from the record, with client names removed if they prefer.
- When a client asks for something similar, a new commission can start from the old record.
| Question | Today | With the record |
|---|---|---|
| Where are the photos? | Several phones | On the record |
| What finish did we use? | Ask the finisher | Recipe stored |
| What else have we made in walnut? | Scroll and remember | Search by timber |
| What goes on the website? | Whatever we can find | Chosen from favourites |
Your work, at your fingertips
When a client asks what you have made before, you can show them in a minute, filtered to what they are interested in. Similar commissions start from real data. Your website shows your best work. And the record keeps the knowledge of how each piece was made, even when people move on.
The record is also useful for pricing. When a client asks for something like a piece you made three years ago, you can see what timber it used, how many hours it took and what you charged, and decide how much to adjust. That is a better starting point than a memory of roughly what it cost, especially when timber prices have moved since.
Is your portfolio scattered?
- Photos of past pieces are spread over phones and folders.
- Drawings are on old computers.
- You have redesigned a piece you had already made.
- Finish recipes left with a former member of staff.
- Your website does not show your best work.