Cabinetmaker Brad Moffet finds success with family shop – Loveland Reporter-Herald

By Craig Young

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Employees at Longs Peak Cabinetworks in Loveland use electronic tablets such as this one attached to a machine and the label printer to keep track of every piece of every job. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

The latest boom in homebuilding and remodeling has encouraged a Loveland craftsman to go back into business for himself.

A year ago, Brad Moffet launched Longs Peak Cabinetworks, and the custom cabinet shop has been growing faster than he expected.

Moffet has worked as a contractor and for local cabinet-making companies, he said. He also had his own shop at one point, where he handled all aspects of the business, from sales and marketing to cabinetmaking.

But the recession forced him to give it up and go back to work for other shops.

Now that the housing market has rebounded, he's back in business.

"This time I structured it a little differently," he said. His four boys are older now, and two of them work for him.

Oldest son Brogan is Longs Peak's sales manager, and Austin works in the shop.

"Bringing Brogan into sales was a smart decision," he said. "That allows me to focus on production and manufacturing. I truly am a woodworker at heart."

Four months after starting Longs Peak, Brad had to hire workers from outside the family. Eight months after opening at 406 S. Lincoln Ave., he leased a larger space at 559 N. Denver Ave.

Now his crew builds the boxes and doors in the new location and assembles them in the old shop.

Competing with the big shops

As a small operation, Brad can't mass-produce cabinets the way a larger business can, so he said he focuses on quality, custom touches and personal attention to the customer.

But to help him compete, he has invested in some computer-controlled equipment that he said isn't common in smaller shops. He buys it used, he said, preferring to invest in his employees rather than racking up debt that would hurt his business when an inevitable slowdown comes.

As an example of his attention to detail, he said a European-style cabinet has holes drilled every 32 millimeters inside, to hold brackets for shelf supports, hinges and other hardware. Some of those holes never will be used, he said, so for a cleaner look, he programs his drill-router machine to make only the necessary holes.

This photo shows the kitchen of Loveland residents Jacob and Amanda Phillips after remodeling. Longs Peak Cabinetworks of Loveland built the cabinets of select alder. (Special to the Reporter-Herald)

Longs Peak Cabinetworks uses mostly traditional materials such as oak, alder, cherry, walnut and melamine paneling for its cabinets and closet-organizer systems. But thanks to a connection with a designer in Bozeman, Mont., it has hit on a new trend: recycled snow fences.

"Right out of the field"

"In Wyoming, there's a company that rips down old, weathered snow fence," Brogan said. "They take all the nails and stuff out, and we turn it into cabinets."

The wood comes in 16-foot-long planks that are 6 inches wide and three-fourths of an inch thick. Fresh from diverting windblown snow from the highways, the weathered wood sometimes still has hair from cows or pronghorn antelopes on it, and one time an embedded bullet, Brad said.

"The outside is still rough," Brogan said. "It looks like it's right out of the field."

Owners of rustic mountain homes love the look, Brad said, and his company has been experimenting with welded steel door frames for an "antique industrial feel."

From his experience in other shops, Brad said he knows how paperwork can get lost during the process of selling, manufacturing and installing cabinets, so he has created a paperless operation.

His newer computer-controlled machines have tablets attached, and a program keeps track of every piece of every order so that a job can be immediately updated if a measurement changes. Workers also affix a label to each piece of wood, to keep everything organized.

This picture shows the kitchen of Loveland residents Jacob and Amanda Phillips before it was remodeled last year. Little Paxton Phillips, 2 at the time, is at lower right. (Special to the Reporter-Herald)

"When we sit down in the morning, everybody grabs a tablet from somewhere, and we review what we're doing, and then we get to work," he said.

Collaboration with the customer

A Loveland customer who was planning a kitchen remodel last year heard about Longs Peak Cabinetworks from his contractor, and he said he's happy he hired the Moffets.

Jacob Phillips said he and his wife, Amanda, had a vision for their new kitchen, and Brogan had his own ideas, and they worked together on the eventual design.

"That's kind of what sold us on using them is that they were real helpful with the whole design process," Phillips said.

The couple looked at cabinets in a wide range of quality and prices before settling on Longs Peak, he said. "They were a good compromise quality cabinets at a good cost."

Using a cabinet shop just a mile from their home was a plus, too, Phillips said.

"The owner of the company was in my kitchen, working on the cabinets," he said.

Craig Young: 970-635-3634, cyoung@reporter-herald.com, http://www.twitter.com/CraigYoungRH.

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Cabinetmaker Brad Moffet finds success with family shop - Loveland Reporter-Herald