Today we’d like to introduce you to Wooden Woodworks LLC Oscar And Marla Santiago.
Wooden Woodworks LLC , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Wooden Woodworks began in a single car garage back in 2018. Oscar Santiago built a toy box for oldest son. After Family and friends saw the potential in his great craftmanship skills they too began to ask for custom orders. Some of the first few orders included a 10ft long dining table, entry tables and even a custom US Flag. At this point Marla was also helping with finishing orders and assisting Oscar with cuts assembly and deliveries. Oscar is a US Army Veteran that onset of this new hobby was working as a Commercial Truck Driver for PFG, while Marla was working for Baylor Scott and White in Temple.
In a short time all three car garage spaces were filled with orders, new machinery and evolved into a full shop set up. Both Oscar and Marla where working full time jobs on top of running a full time business from home into the late hours of the night. During the pandemic many began working remotely from home. During this time work was booming to the point that Oscar and Marla were both able to retire from their previous careers and dedicate 100% of their time in the business. This time we’d say was the moment where our business received most recognition around Central Texas. Builders began to reach out for small cabinet orders for bathrooms and shortly after entrusted us to building full kitchen cabinets. Eight years later we have 3,500 sqft shop and are building anywhere from 3-5 kitchens in a month alongside other built in orders with a team of 6 employees.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every route has its struggles, we encountered the need to first take a leap of faith in leaving our secure employment and dedicating everything we had to put into the business. Later we ran into lack of space, our three car garage was no longer enough space (it was a great problem to have as a business of only 2 years). We took yet another risk in leasing a commercial space we had no idea how we would keep enough orders to pay for. Along the way it has also been a challenge to find the right team and group of employees. Right now we area team of 6 total and we would ideally like to have a team of 8, but finding the right people has been one of our greatest challenges. Bookkeeping, taxes and other administrative areas have also been a process of growth and learning. We have been blessed in connecting with the right professionals that have helped us along every step.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
At Wooden Woodworks we are a fully custom Cabinet and Fine Furniture Company.
We specialize in Frameless European Style cabinetry, this means that cabinets have full access and no face frame. We do also make full over lay, partial overlay and inset cabinetry upon request. We work with any type of finishes, we do not limit or clients to choosing from a few colors or wood species. Most cabinet companies do limit their selections as it is a way to cut down on cost. We aim to have competitive pricing along with a limitless selection for design.
We provide a complete start to finish service, we begin with the design process giving our clients elevations that can be seen in 3D form. These are converted into elevations where we draw in every design selection and features from specialty roll outs like trash drawers, spice racks, knife holders along hundreds of other selections like drying racks for the laundry, hidden drawer in the Mantel for the Fireplace and more.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Our faith in God has been our greatest support, it has helped us stay positive even in moments where we have felt nothing would be possible. Secondly our family has been a great help, since the pandemic we have had the honor to employ fulltime both of Oscar’s Parents; Margie and Oscar Sr. as well as our brother in law Pablo part time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://woodenwoodworks.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodenwoodworks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Woodenwoodworks/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wooden-woodworks-salado
- Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wooden+Woodworks+LLC/@30.9786004,-97.5303399,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x86453fb0a3c9884b:0xbf5be5a37a9dc07b!8m2!3d30.9786004!4d-97.5281512
