For ex. –
http://www.ehow.com/how_4800664_window-seat-bench.html – doesn’t have to be in front of a window
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On the plus side your greatest investment might be a vehicle and some minor tools.

Advertising such a service, and certainly word of mouth networking would be important, but… If a friend or co worker knew they were going to buy a grille Saturday; knew you were in the "Put Together" business, and they didn’t want to do it themselves, or pay the store to put it together, you’d probably be busy for awhile, but in essence it’s TIMING.

Some of those types of purchases, while seemingly planned, are in fact often impulse buys, or neccesity purchases, IE: Entertainment center furniture purchases, and might leave you a lot of time between jobs? In some ways you’d really have to "Be On Call." It might be rare for example, that I’d go buy a grille and not want to use it that same day, without setting up an appointment time.

You might also run into issues of what to charge? Obviously we all determine value/worth differently, and in the case of what that person might think their time is worth (family time aside) you might have to either negotiate different fees for different types of items or even different styles and sizes of the same item?

One thing you might do is know the local client base; to the point of knowing lifestyles, housing, economics of your area. It would be that you’d have to determine a scale/gauge of purchases, frequency, and the niche, including those who can afford what they bought, chose not to have the store build it, and/or once they get it home, wish they had. I don’t mean standing in front of an HD or Lowes checking out every major purchase, but that too might be a suggestion, albeit one that brings you to a point of putting flyers under windshield wipers, or handing them out at exits.

One of the major causes for the situation you envision from a customer perspective is that "instructions" are often vague, and quality control in manufacture is nearly non existant. Example: I bring home a bookcase, and have less hardware than I need to finish it, or the holes don’t line up, or the instructions are just pictures, and not easy to interpret.

Certainly it’s a noble idea. It just may take some tenacity on your part, and research. I suggest try it, and no offense at all, but hold on to your day job for awhile.

Steven Wolf
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