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I didn't assume that he had to go out and by any equipment. If he had all the equipment he needed, so that he didn't have to buy any, he'd still have to spend money on material. The point I'm trying to make is that for the cost of material alone, one is not going to build comparable or better cabinets at a small fraction of the cost that they can be bought for.

The point I was trying to make earlier about tools, is that the cabinet making firms have large automated machines, that can do large quantities at very fast rates, driving production costs down. Meaning that cabinets can get cheaper and cheaper to produce, and cheaper to sell.

Their material costs are already below 50% of what a small time operator can get.

All this means that a producer can market their product for about the same or a little more than an individual can actually buy the material itself for.

The only time an individual can build cabinets for 1/10 the cost of bought cabinets, which you claimed earlier can be done, is when building your own cabinets versus higher end custom made cabinets. At this point the cost isn't in the material as much as its in the workmanship. When your at this level of cabinetry, Billyjo Bob working out of his garage better be alot more skilled than nailing studs together and measuring in 1/16's of an inch and calling it good, and then claiming that his cabinets are just as good or better than crap that can be bought.