MPieter Levels just posted on X about AI agents opening a massive market for carpenters.
CPieter Levels? The same guy who had Claude Code generating furniture designs last week?
MSame one. He says people design a piece with an AI agent, then a local carpenter buys the raw materials and builds it.
CSo the tedious part — the takeoff, the cut list — gets automated, and the human does the actual woodworking.
MHome Depot just launched something called Blueprint Takeoffs. Two hundred forty-nine dollars a project, materials list in two days or less.
CSo the biggest box store sees the same shift. AI does the planning, not the saw.
MBut is that a market for carpenters, or a pricing squeeze? Pieter's own reply made the IKEA point: at volume, flat-pack can be cheaper than buying raw wood yourself.
CFor a Billy bookcase, sure. But a custom walnut desk with hand-cut joinery? That's a different planet from IKEA.
MRight, but if everyone can generate the same cut list, does the carpenter become just a pair of hands?
CNo, no — the skill is in the joinery, the finishing, and fixing the wood when it isn't perfect. AI doesn't swing a chisel.
MBut the customer sees a cheaper design and then expects a cheaper build. That's the squeeze.
CThe build was always priced on labor. This replaces the CAD person, not the carpenter.
MMaybe. There's a maker named Ed Southwood who showed an AI conversation generating a full timber build pack — cut lists, hardware schedules, everything.
CAnd the lumbermade app lets you point a camera at a room and get a design, shopping list, cut plan, and assembly manual.
MSo we're talking about the death of the SketchUp middleman, not the death of the trades.
CExactly. Woodshop News is saying outsourcing to larger suppliers can cut costs and speed projects. Small shops can use the same design engine.
MBut if the engine is from Home Depot, the small shop might just be feeding Home Depot project leads.
COh, come on. Home Depot sells materials. If the AI sends a custom cut list to the local yard, the yard wins too.
MAlright, I'll give you that — for now. The market prediction is early, but the tools are real.
CAnd the panel market supports it. Woodshop News says cabinet-grade plywood and higher-end species like cherry and walnut are in solid demand.
MPricey but stable. So the raw material is there, the demand is there, and the design bottleneck is melting.
CThat's not a squeeze. That's an opening.
MUnless the platform sets the price. Home Depot at two hundred forty-nine dollars a takeoff isn't doing this for charity.
CI'm not asking for favors. I'm saying the local guy who used to lose the job without a 3D render now has one.
MFine. The local guy gets a tool. I still think the platform takes the margin.
CThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution says this could give Home Depot an edge with pro contractors.
MPro contractors, not weekend DIYers. So it's aimed at the exact people Pieter says should benefit.
CWhich is why the market is opening for small shops, not closing.
CDifferent headache now. Security people are pointing at old patches, not new exploits.
MKiran on X posted that today's two loudest attacks didn't need a zero-day. Synology NAS ransomware tied to a bug patched in late twenty twenty-four, and BTCPay hot-wallet thefts tied to an older version.
CWait — both of those are just "update your software" problems? Not some spy-novel zero-day?
MThose specific advisories still need official confirmation, but the pattern is real. KillSwitchStories on X posted the Colonial Pipeline reminder.
COne old password, no multifactor, and the biggest refined-products pipeline in the country goes quiet in May twenty twenty-one.
MExactly. No zero-day, no genius. Just an account left open.
CThat's what drives me insane. We treat some security as optional and then the whole grid feels it.
MAnd now the Synology and BTCPay chatter is the same shape: unpatched firmware, software versions months old.
CAuto-update anything facing the internet. Kiran said it: waiting on "later" is the real bug.
MHold on— enterprise storage boxes aren't laptops. Auto-updating a NAS can break backups if an update has a regression.
CThen patch in a test environment. You don't sit on a critical vulnerability for two years.
MI didn't say sit on it. I said the auto-update answer is too cute for hardware that holds a law firm's evidence.
CThe evidence is already gone if the box is encrypted. What's worse, a broken update or a ransomware note?
MThat's a false choice. You patch deliberately, test, and roll out. The real failure is that no one made the time.
CFine. We agree on the failure, we disagree on the pace.