Cabinet and custom woodworking shop owners and managers from across North America and beyond are invited to participate in the Cabinet Makers Association’s 2014 Benchmark Study.

All sizes of woodworking companies - from one person operations to shops with hundreds of employees - are encouraged to take this year’s survey.

The study takes a cross section of custom woodworking businesses and compiles an exhaustive report on the state of the industry. Included in this year’s study are brand preferences for hardware, software, shop automation and CNC machinery use, wages paid to a variety of employees based on experience, owner’s earnings, industry event and educational topic preferences and much more.

“We’ve laid out aggressive plans to put this survey in as many shop owner’s hands as possible,” said Dave Grulke, the CMA’s executive director, I a statement. “With over 500 qualified participants in last year’s study, we’d like to see that number increase significantly. And to sweeten the pot, we’ve added a prize drawing for qualified participants. Among the prizes are a new stationary woodworking machine, portable power tools and gift cards.

“We encourage everyone in the woodworking industry to help us distribute the survey to shop owners they know. Please send everyone you know the survey link so they can participate. The better the participation, the more accurate the data in the 2014 Benchmark Study report will be.”

Responses will be collected through mid-January, or whenever a minimum level of qualified participants has responded. Once the survey has closed, an analysis of the data obtained will result in an exhaustive annual survey report, with a tentative issue date in early February. Survey respondents will be the first to receive copies of the 2014 CMA Benchmark Study Report.

For information, visit www.cabinetmakers.org.