HOW THE BUSINESS STARTED
On this episode, I chat with Mathew Wlotkowski of Rough Sawn Detroit. For Mathew, his business started out as a hobby, using the salvaged materials that he found to create pieces, he didn’t initially foresee this becoming a profitable gig.
He’d been going through the Detroit area, sourcing his material from trees that had fallen, or that people had cut down while building their homes. Once he started posting pictures of his work on social media, the clients came out of the woodwork.
RUNNING THE BUSINESS AND CHALLENGES FACED
Currently, his biggest challenge is finding the time to meet his project deadlines while continuing to build his business. He’s been practicing landscaping for 15 years now, but his new business is growing at a faster rate than he thought. Since he’s currently lacking the time to engage in as many projects as he would like, he mills wood to provide other woodworkers in the area with materials.
LEARNING HIS SKILLS
While watching a video on woodworking, Matthew saw a person cut down a tree and take their chainsaw,( which had a funky attachment at the end of it) and then begin to mill the material to build their house. This process was so interesting to him and he loved the thought of learning more about it. He then did some research on Granberg and bought the chainsaw that he currently uses.
The most popular thing he sells is vinyl record stands. However, the requests for this item started coming in so fast, he’s had to put a hold on taking new orders.
FUTURE PLANS
He plans on going a notch higher and moving into building salvage tables, single slab tables, and maybe 10 foot long tables.
Instagram: @roughsawnDetroit
