Honest Mary's in Cedar Park opened in July 2023, five months after we signed the millwork subcontract. Jupiter Supper Club on Congress Avenue opened eleven months after its award. Both were restaurant millwork packages built in our shop on Airport Blvd. Most of the difference is scope. The rest comes from steps every job goes through, some of which happen outside the shop.
Four jobs, from start to opening
- Serranos Lakeline: contract in October 2023, installed in January 2024. About three months, for the bar millwork, a feature wall of wooden rolling pins and a low wall that holds a tapestry.
- Honest Mary's: subcontract in February 2023, opened in July 2023. About five months, for two white oak built-ins with planters, table tops and bases, shelving and arches.
- Mañana Dos: walkthrough in February 2022, opened on August 14, 2022. About six months. We designed this millwork as well as building it, so the span includes design.
- Jupiter Supper Club: award in November 2023, opened in October 2024. About eleven months, for the bar, host stand, kitchen pass-through, Library Lounge casework, second-floor shelving, a coffered ceiling, columns, wainscot, the stage in the live music room and casework in the 201 lounge.
These spans run from the day we came on to the day the doors opened, so they take in the general contractor's whole schedule as well as our time in the shop.
Shop drawings come first
Nothing is cut until the shop drawings are approved. Our engineering team models the job in 3D and draws it, then the design team and the general contractor review it. Every week the drawings spend in review is a week the routers aren't cutting that job, so a quick approval is one of the easier places for an owner to save time.
Design changes mean new drawings
At Honest Mary's, Chioco Design revised the arch detail during construction to add a shadow reveal at the overhead shelving and millwork. A change like that sends the affected pieces back through drawings and approval before they're cut.
On a West Austin kitchen, we built test cabinets and mockup elevations before production. That adds time at the start and settles questions while they're still cheap to change.
The space has to be ready
Millwork goes in once the space is ready for it, so we ask for that date along with the opening date. At Jupiter, we painted the casework and shelving in the shop and pre-primed the coffered ceiling, columns and wainscot, so the site painter could finish them in place after install.
When stone or metal is part of the millwork package, those shops' schedules become part of ours. At Jupiter, the stone tops from Baroque Countertops were in our package, and Howdy Built did the metal.
Approvals from the venue
Some venues have to approve a material before anything is built. The cardboard for The North Face's tunnel at SFMOMA had to pass the museum's flame test. It passed on September 16, 2022, 18 days before we started building it on site. If a venue has to approve a material, that test belongs near the front of the schedule.
After opening
We've handled warranty work at Jupiter since it opened in October 2024, including a warranty walk with the team in August 2025.
Asking us for a timeline
Send the drawings and finish schedule, your opening date, the date the space will be ready for millwork, and the general contractor if there is one. The two dates do most of the work in a schedule estimate. More on restaurant and bar work is on our restaurant millwork page.