Building a new Chunky Chair to sell

My teenage son expressed support and confirmation he thinks people will buy this chair. He has a number of friends with big Dads who grill in the yard and always return inside their homes after they have tended the meat.

We both feel (it applies to me) if there was somewhere comfortable and easy to sit big guys & gals would stay outside check the grill and talk with friends & family.

Every time I have friends over there are a couple of people who take over the Chunky Chair on my deck (the one in the photos). It is very comfortable the user is seated higher than all other patio and deck furniture on a very solid structure. This chair does not move when you sit on it. It is rock (wood) solid there is no swaying or moving as the person's weight descends and settles on the Chunky Chair. We estimate it weighs around 200 lbs built of bolted and screwed solid wood sitting on industrial strength wheels and solid steel axles.

The Chunky Chair is built to be occupied every day and all day. It is designed to sit outside in all weathers and be used with or without a cushion. It is painted with elastomeric paint that repels water (the white color actually stays cool to the touch even in direct sunlight in Houston).

The chair is designed to be the correct height to allow the owner to sit on it without dropping down far to meet the seat and to get off by standing from the seated position without needing hand grips or assistance to stand. You can sit side saddle with your feet on the chair side support or ground or sit on it properly using the adjustable back rest that adjusts from lying nearly horizontal to seat back nearly straight, your feet on the front foot rest for reading or socializing.

Plan for the new Chunky Chair is to shorten the length by cutting back on the foot rest side bars and shorten the back support. If you look at the top set of photos on the right you can see this chair is too big. It was designed for very big people the new one will be designed for less than 6footers, it will have the strength and size to easily support people weighing well over 300lbs. I expect max payload to be around 450lbs we will calculate the maximum once it is completed.

Even the new slightly smaller version will be big. The seat width on the Chunky Chair in the photos and the new one to be built is 32 inches. Get a tape measure and measure your own chairs, 32" is huge. A 32" seat allows for the maximum width of the entire chair to be slightly less than 36 inches which means it will fit through most yard side gates which are usually 36 inches.

We will offer the chair for sale at cook offs, home shows, maybe dog shows, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo next year and anywhere else big, heavy, tall, short, overweight, obese, chunky and cuddly people may roam.

I have one more wine club meeting to host after that the dining room table goes back into the garage and we start building.

Quoting the Chair beats working on the Chair

Another friend asked for a quote to build him a Chunky Chair just like mine except he is not too tall and does not need the extra length. FYI the chair in the pics to the right was built for a 6ft 6inch or more very big guy, I'm only 6ft and my friend is 6 1 or so.

My materials cost seems to change every time I go to Home Depot, I'm going to re price all and see what quantity discounts might get me.

My friend was sober when he asked me and sober when I asked if he was really interested so I will spend the time to run through the materials cost and check if some of my parts are still available. I know the guy who did the back board no longer has a web site, I need to track him down. Wish me luck.

Chunky Chair Outdoor Patio Furniture for Big and Tall

Designed and hand built for big and tall, short and fat people. I realized there is very little outdoor, deck or patio furniture sold for big and/or tall heavy and fat people. After a couple of attempts I have designed and built an ugly, heavy mostly wood chair for the tall and / or heavy man or woman to sit and lie on.
Patio furniture for the big guy or gal. Nothing fancy, very strong, stable and easy to sit on or stand from. Higher off the ground and solid.

A good idea is still a good idea

even if you have done nothing with it for a year or two. I have decided to make another Chunky Chair. Not as long, just as strong, not as tall as the one in the slideshows but just as strong.
Instead of marketing to fat giants I will market to normal sized fatties. Well built, very strong and heavy outdoor patio furniture for fat people.

Everyman has a price

As I secretly suspected my friend wants a Chunky Chair if it costs $200. After running the numbers for materials bought at Home Depot and my time at $10 per hour my best price is still $1000. Maybe I will make another chair and sell it on Craig's List.
For now the thrill of an order is gone.

Novelty value aside I believe this is a great outdoor / patio chair for very heavy tall or big people, I don't have the time to market it and make new versions. An integral part of the manufacturing process is using my dining room table to assemble the Chunky Chair and I need it to eat and entertain on.

I am still thinking and working on it in my head.

Can you put a price on wood & metal

& wheels & bolts & nails & paint & drawing and my time?

Best price I can come up with is $12-1500 for the chair I sit on every day, drink my morning tea, read my magazines and watch the birds fly by. The materials cost are higher than I thought but the biggest cost is labour. Isn't it always.

Creating a new Chunky Chair from scratch will take time. I work full time and do not look forward to building another one. When I built the first chair I moved my dining room table into the garage and built much of the chunky chair on top of it. It was a brilliant idea, 'made lining up and securing everything easier.

That really is not an option today. I am hosting my friends wine club meeting one day in April and want to hold a birthday party for me in May. Both need a dining room table.

Hopefully when I quote the price to my friend who wants a Chunky Chair he will crap at the cost and decline. It's funny, I thought I wanted to build these chairs full time and sell them to athletes, big and tall and just big people, now I am not so sure.

It's all in the Details

Proving a little more work than I thought. Friend of mine wants me to build him a Chunky Chair just like mine. Pricing all the bits and pieces is taking longer than I thought.

This patio, outdoor, all weather chair is damned ugly, heavy, red and very strong. It will support very big and tall people, short and fat, tall and thin or just gigantic.
Because I built the first one for my own use I kinda overbuilt. Solid steel axles, very heavy duty wheels that were doubled up at the rear, half inch steel bolts, all weather deck nails, two by eight and two by ten inch wood, all painted with a high tech elastomeric paint used by the US military and other reputable organizations to seal the wood for years of all weather service. Makes great copy but pricing quantity and quality is really tedious.

I'm getting there.