Most of the work in our shop at 6401 Airport Blvd is casework and millwork for commercial interiors: bars, host stands, shelving walls, paneling, built-in seating, cabinets and counters. It usually reaches us as a drawing set from a general contractor or a designer. This is what happens to it after that.
What we need to price it
A PDF of the architectural and interior drawings is enough to start. Along with it, send:
- The finish schedule and any hardware spec.
- The project address, and the general contractor if there is one.
- Your bid date and when the millwork needs to be on site.
If stone, metal or upholstery are part of the package, tell us. We price those through partner shops, described below.
Shop drawings come before cutting
Our engineering team models the millwork in 3D and draws shop drawings for approval. Nothing is cut until they're approved. On Honest Mary's in Cedar Park, we also sent the general contractor the shop drawings as an AR model they could open on a phone.
Cutting, assembly and finishing
Approved parts are cut on our two CNC routers. Both have 5 x 10 ft beds, and one is an Anderson Spectrum 510. The same routers cut parts from customer files, carved sign board and installation pieces.
We band edges on a Homag edgebander and lay up veneer in a vacuum press. Assembly and finishing, paint and stain included, happen in the same building. We finish to the spec. The painted millwork at Jupiter Supper Club is Fine Paints of Europe over an FPE oil primer; we painted the casework and shelving and pre-primed the ceiling, columns and wainscot for the site painter. The white oak at Honest Mary's got Rubio Monocoat with 5% smoke.
Our default cabinet hardware is Blum hinges and Grass slides, bought through Häfele. We also buy from Richelieu.
Stone, metal and upholstery
These go to partner shops, and when the package includes them we manage that work inside our scope. At Jupiter, we did the millwork in partnership with Howdy Built, who did the metal, and Baroque Countertops made the stone tops under our contract. At Honest Mary's, McClain Metalworks made the stainless drip pans for the planters as our subcontractor. We don't cut steel on our routers.
Installation and after opening
We coordinate installation with the general contractor. On some jobs we install ourselves, as we did at Serranos Lakeline in January 2024 and for The North Face at SFMOMA in October 2022. After opening, we come back for warranty items.
Where the shop is
We've been building since 2019. The shop is part of the Highland Collective, a group of makers on the same site on Airport Blvd who do metalwork, large-scale sculpture, murals and electronic controllers. There are about ten of us. Most of our jobs are in Austin and Central Texas, and we have also built and shipped work out of state. More about the shop and its equipment is on the info page.