AI for joinery and cabinetmakers · Sydney

AI for joinery and cabinetmakers: quotes out faster, the workshop never waiting

In most joinery businesses the quoting and the paperwork sit with the same few people who know the work best. Drawings read line by line to price a job, board and hardware ordered from memory, installs juggled by phone, builder claims assembled at month end. I help joinery businesses turning over one to ten million take that load off, one small step at a time, using the systems you already run.

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Where a joinery business’s week actually goes

Ask any owner of a busy joinery shop where the bottleneck is and it is rarely the machines. It is the quote that takes two days because someone has to read an architect’s set and count every carcass, the hardware order that was missed until the job was on the bench, the install that moved because the builder’s site was not ready, and the progress claim that never quite matches what the builder thinks was delivered.

None of it is hard. All of it is constant, and it lands on the estimator, the production manager or the owner, usually after the workshop has gone home. That is the kind of work AI is now good at: reading drawings and documents, comparing them against your past jobs, drafting the quote, the order or the email, and putting a short list in front of a person to check.

This is not about a new platform. You keep Cabinet Vision, Microvellum or whatever your design and production software is, your job system, Xero and your shared drive. The job is to connect AI to what you already run, so the paperwork around the workshop is drafted for you and your people check it instead of writing it.

What I’d take off your plate first

Usually Cabinet Vision, Microvellum or similar for design and production, a job system or spreadsheet for jobs, Xero or MYOB for money, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for email and files, and a lot of drawings arriving as PDFs. I connect AI to those, rather than asking you to replace them.

Quotes from drawings

An architect’s or builder’s drawings read, the joinery items listed with sizes, materials and finishes, and a first quote drafted from your rates and similar past jobs. The estimator checks the count and sets the price.

Board, hardware and benchtop orders

Once a job is signed off, material and hardware lists drawn from the production software and turned into orders for each supplier, with confirmations matched back and gaps flagged before the job reaches the bench.

Install scheduling

Builder emails, site readiness and delivery dates read together, with a weekly install schedule drafted and changes flagged early, so the install team is not turned away at the gate.

Variations from site changes

A changed drawing or a builder’s request compared against what was quoted, the difference priced in your template, and a variation drafted for approval before the extra work is made.

Progress claims and invoicing

Claims to builders drafted from what was made, delivered and installed, with delivery dockets and photos attached, and residential deposit and stage invoices raised in Xero on time.

Supplier invoices matched to orders

Every board, hardware and stone bill read, matched to its order and job, and coded before it reaches Xero, with price changes and short deliveries flagged and the query email drafted.

And the admin every office has

The same work turns up in every joinery business: email, spreadsheets, documents, and a Microsoft or Google setup that grew without a plan.

Invoicing and accounts payable

Supplier bills read, coded and matched to the order or the job before they reach Xero or MYOB. Mismatches drafted into an email for someone to approve. Overdue invoices chased politely, on a schedule.

Email that answers itself, nearly

The inbox triaged each morning, routine replies drafted in your tone, attachments filed to the right folder, and a short list of what actually needs you today.

Spreadsheets you stop rebuilding

The weekly report that someone copies and pastes together every Monday, produced before you arrive, with a sentence on why the number moved.

Documents and slides

Proposals, letters, reports and board slides drafted from your own templates and your own past work, so the first draft is eighty per cent there rather than a blank page.

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, set up properly

Shared drives that make sense, permissions that match who you are now, and AI connected to mail, calendar and files the same way for everyone instead of five people doing it five ways.

Project and job tracking

Status updates written from what actually happened in email and the job system, tasks pulled out of meeting notes, and a morning brief per person of what is due.

How it works: audit, roadmap, implementation, training, support

Sold one step at a time. Each step is quoted before it starts, stands on its own, and you decide after each one whether to take the next. Most businesses your size go from the audit to a working, trained setup in three to six months.

Audit

Two weeks, fixed price. A map of every system you run, a ten-minute staff survey, a few five-minute screen recordings of the work that eats the week, and short conversations with the people who run the business. It costs your team minutes, not hours.
Roadmap

A ninety-day plan written from what the audit found: which processes first, ranked by admin removed against cost and risk, which AI plan and accounts your team should be on, and a two-page policy on what may go in. Every item has its own price.
Implementation

I build the first one or two automations inside your own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, connected to the systems you already run. AI drafts, a person approves anything that leaves the building, and it runs beside the manual way until you trust it.
Training

Your team learns on their own work, not on demos. One standard setup for everyone, a short session per group, and one-to-one time with the two or three people who will carry it once I step back.
Support

A light monthly retainer: one call, a one-page summary, fixes, and the next routine your team worked out promoted into something the business runs. I read the AI news so your people do not have to.

Use AI without handing over your clients’ data

A joinery business’s files hold clients’ home addresses and plans, builders’ drawings shared in confidence, your rates and margins, and supplier pricing you worked hard for. A competitor seeing how you price a kitchen would be worth a lot to them. None of it needs to leave your own accounts for AI to be useful.

The work happens inside your Microsoft or Google tenant on a business AI plan, with a company account for every person who uses it. Nothing goes into a free chatbot, and no quote, order or claim goes to a client, builder or supplier until a person has said yes.

The basics, every time

Company accounts on a business AI plan, never personal logins. Business plans do not train on your data.
AI connected to your own Microsoft or Google tenant, so files stay where they already live and access is revoked in one place.
A two-page policy your team can actually remember: which accounts, what may go in, what never does.
Everything I build lives in your accounts and is logged. I work from a staff login, not the master key.

Where most start

A typical first project: first-draft quotes from drawings

The quick win in joinery is usually the quote. Drawings go in, and a list of items with a first price from your own rates and past jobs comes out for the estimator to check. It runs beside the manual quote for a few jobs until you trust it. From there, material orders and supplier invoice matching are usually next.

Where I work

Based in the Sutherland Shire. In person across these areas, remote everywhere else in Australia.

Sutherland Shire

Cronulla, Miranda, Caringbah, Sutherland, Gymea and around.

Southern Highlands

Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Exeter, Robertson and around.

St George

Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale, Sans Souci, Bexley and around.

Eastern Suburbs

Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Paddington, Woollahra, Randwick and around.

Frequently asked questions

Can AI actually read architectural drawings?

It can read most PDF drawing sets well enough to list items, sizes and finishes, and it says where it is unsure. It is a fast first pass for the estimator, not a replacement. The count and the price are always checked by a person.

Will this touch our production files or CNC?

No. Cabinet Vision, Microvellum and your machines stay exactly as they are. The work is in the office around them: quotes, orders, schedules, claims and invoices.

We do both builder work and private kitchens. Does that matter?

Not at all, and it is common. Builder work leans on progress claims and variations, private work on deposits and client updates. The audit looks at both and starts where the hours are.

Is this worth it for a business our size?

If quotes are waiting days to go out or someone senior is doing orders at night, usually yes. The audit will tell you honestly, and if a better spreadsheet would do, I will say so.

How much of my team’s time does this take?

Minutes, by design. Ten for the survey, ten for an optional screen recording, an hour with the key people. Whoever runs operations spends two or three hours across the first fortnight.

Do we have to commit to the whole thing?

No. Every step is quoted on its own and you decide after each one. Plenty of businesses take the audit and one project, and stop there until they see it working.

Are you tied to a particular AI vendor?

No. I lead with Claude because I think it is the strongest all-rounder for business work today, and I work just as happily with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini if that is what your team already uses. Everything is built so the model is one part you can swap.

Running a joinery business and doing the admin at night?

Tell me what you run, how many people, and what eats the most time. I will tell you honestly whether an audit is worth it.

Tell me about your business

Tell me what you're dealing with

Three lines is plenty. I reply personally, usually within a day, and the first call is free.