I run a one-woman show finish carpentry business and find myself thinking about this very thing often. Like others have said, the overhead on a large company makes their pricing way different. After my first year of doing everything by the books and organized I can see how jobs like this can have such a huge price tag and not necessarily be higher quality. At the end of the day running a business is quite expensive. Being able to offer an affordable price while being licensed/insured and bonded with the cities you complete the job in seems less and less feasible. I personally like being as lean as possible, and falling into enough of a niche where I can provide a very high level of craftsmanship at a reasonable price and still walk away with enough to support my family.
