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I was doing some inventory checking today and noticed the huge amount of cutoff pieces we have lying around everywhere. I was wondering how much cutoff do other shops keep (sink cutouts, stove and cooktop cutouts, excess off of sheets) before they start ridding themselves of it. Do shops turn them into samples, cutting boards, etc. or just throw them away. Its hard to use them on future jobs because of color match.
DL:
This problem is coming from the office. Somebody isn’t doing accurate enough take-offs of the drawings and your profits are leaning against the wall. Having a little extra Sierra Aurora laying around wasn’t a big deal when there were 30 color choices, it’s death now.
Trebruchet
Thanks for the response Trebuchet, I didnt word my post very well. We don’t have alot of waste of off sheets that could be reused but isn’t. Basically, was just wandering what do most shops do with sink and cooktop cutouts as well the small odd shaped excess that is inevitable in every project. Pieces like these seem to clutter our shop.
Guys BTP will love to take small scraps off of your hands! We use small peices 4″x 25″ often on our jobs, let me know I’m sure we can work something out if we have a location in your state.
Every small scrap gets used in our shop, cutting boards mostly, but also we stock up seam plates, high strength cook top blocks, samples, or coasters. Sink cut outs are cut for warranty and a cutting board. We save some other pcs for doing inlay work or even receptacle covers. why not they are premade programs in the CNC amd only take a minute to cut all the scraps.
John
Trebruchet wrote
DL:
This problem is coming from the office. Somebody isn’t doing accurate enough take-offs of the drawings and your profits are leaning against the wall. Having a little extra Sierra Aurora laying around wasn’t a big deal when there were 30 color choices, it’s death now.
Trebruchet
Maybe I am not understanding. How does your office avoid buying 2 1/2 sheets if they need 2 1/8 (for example) for a job. No matter what you do you will be left with 3/8 of a sheet that can either be used on another job or cut up into pieces and used for the variety of reasons mentioned above. We regularly use left over pieces for small vanities and other such things in addition to trivets, etc….
Mom:
I recently had a vanity 26″x75″ with a cove backsplash and (2) loose side splashes and (2) bowls. I could have bought a half sheet of Corian and two 5″ strips and had enough material. I bought a whole sheet because the negligible price difference didn’t justify all the additional labor.
I’ve got a 25″x48″ piece of Corian leaning against the wall but it’s not only paid for, the job made money. Any money I make from the drop is pennies from heaven, not recovered profit. It is a rare drop. There is a handful of material left when I finish most jobs.
Cut ’em close,
Trebruchet
I kind of think that is what everyone is saying. We put the money for the entire amount of material into the job. The extra pieces are not profit waiting to be realized. The profit from the job has been made. If those pieces can be used to make more profit, wonderful, but if not no loss. Our guys are careful with our material and we don’t end up with tons left over, but you have to have enough to do the job and sometimes that means having leftovers. (Also like you said sometimes the labor cost is simply not worth the cost of the material.)
Lesley
That is so true, if you do the work you will have scrap to deal with. As was mentioned already we also use our scrap for inlays, cutting boards, and sometimes it saves our ass for a small stand alone top or a back splash for a job that we run a little tight on. I just hate throwing that stuff away.
Shane
We designate a certain area for scrap. We always keep the falloff until paid in full. Then we put in the dumpster. We are not in the business to make “stuff” with it. We used to save everything and then discovered the square footage to save it was costing more that it was saving.
We always cut the sink cutouts into trivets, and explain to the homeowner, this can be used for repairs. Any other large pieces I will also give it to the homeowner and asked them if it ok to screw it to the side of the sink cabinet. They always think that is a great idea. Scrap laying around does cost you $$$
When in doubt, throw it out!!
Ok the fairly new guy to solid surface(me) point of view. Kind of funny that we fabricate tons of laminate and I never save any scrap. If I over order and we end of with a 1/2 sheet of laminate I will throw it away as my meterial was figured into bid and therefor material is paid for. I would rather toss it than try to figure out where to store it. Now fabricating ss I look to the wall and see all kinds of peices 2″x6′ and so on. I just cant bring myself to throw it away. I must be losing my mind. [EMO]indifferent.gif[/EMO]
The cutoffs help us out a lot. We made this vanity out of two pieces of scrap, so we only had to buy the bowl. It does take up space but I feel it is worth it. We do however go through it about twice a year and thin it out if we need too.[THB]Vanity.jpg[/THB]
Shane
Shane, I’m curious, were though scraps color matched? Have you tried taking different scraps to see how close they match. I have a few large pieces of the same color but never tried to see what they look like next to each other, how close are they usually?
Norm,
That depends on a lot of factors. Some manufacturers are better than others. Certain colors by each, which plant it came from etc. I have taken some pcs that were made a year apart and matched great while some were just about 100 sheets apart in a sequence and were not even close. Placing them together to test is still your best bet.
John
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