How a flight attendant’s side hustle nets him more than $1,000 per gig

Who: Brendon Savic Main gig: Flight attendant Annual salary: $51,466 Side hustle: Cabinetmaker Additional income: $1,000 to $1,500 per project

I grew up in Cold Lake, Alberta, where my mom worked as a registered nurse and my dad as a master cabinetmaker. They immigrated to Canada from Serbia in 1985 and have the immigrant work ethic. While my mom was working long hours, my two older brothers and I would spend time in my dad’s woodshop.

At six years old, I was playing with a wood lathe. Even at that age, I was eager to help out. I started out cleaning up the shop and eventually took on more intricate tasks. My dad noticed I had an eye for detail. By the time I was 10, I had already learned how to make sure the edges of cabinets were properly sanded. In high school, the school bus would drop me off at 4 p.m., and I’d head straight into the house to change out of my good clothes, then off to the shop. Most nights, I’d return home well after 1 or 2 a.m., and I’d often find myself sleeping in the back of my dad’s cube van, wrapped in the same blankets we used to protect the cabinets.

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Both of my brothers became Red Seal cabinetmakers, and I always thought I would too, but I surprised myself by going in another direction—to Mount Royal University in Calgary to study marketing. I was interested in the strategic aspects of how my dad grew his business and was drawn to the idea of being behind the desk. Plus, knowing the physical demands of cabinetmaking—the heavy lifting, repetitive motions and long hours—made me consider a different path.

Growing up, I hadn’t travelled much, but when I was 24, I booked a spontaneous trip to Las Vegas after closing a client deal. It was my first time on a plane, and I was nervous and exhilarated. I boarded in Calgary, had a layover in Seattle, then landed in Vegas. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get somewhere so quickly. I realized I had been missing out on a world waiting to be explored and felt an urgent need to see more. I had a good friend who worked for an airline and who was able to set me up with an interview to become a flight attendant. It all happened really fast. I applied for the job on a Thursday and had an interview the following Monday.

I started flying out of Calgary and eventually moved to Toronto in 2014. Being a flight attendant opens up unparalleled opportunities for travel, and you meet incredible people while flying. I’ve explored wine regions in Italy, from Piedmont to Tuscany, as well as South Africa’s Stellenbosch region. My dream trip is to start in Santiago, Chile, soak in the vineyards, then head to the Galapagos Islands to witness the incredible wildlife. Even when you’re employed by an airline, it isn’t entirely free or seamless to fly standby—I still have to pay taxes, and whether there will be space on a flight is always a bit of a gamble. But, when it works, it really works.

Being a flight attendant is one of those jobs where the longer you do it, the better it gets. Seniority is everything. We submit monthly bids for the trips we’d like to work, and with more seniority, we have a better chance of getting what we ask for. Now that I’ve been at the company for 14 years, I’m at the point where I’m able to block my flights at the beginning of the week so I have more time at the end of the week to travel or spend time with my dog, Bianca, a 100-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback.

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As much as I love flying, I’d always felt like there was something missing. When you’re doing the same job for many years, it becomes a little routine. Then there was the financial side of things: the income for flight attendants for the airline I work at is capped. With my salary of $51,466, I was starting to slip into the lower end of the middle class. I live in a place at Church and Wellesley, and the cost of rent and groceries has jumped nearly 40 per cent since 2021.

I started to feel like I was falling behind everyone else my age. Invitations to things like restaurants and weddings were going by the wayside—it was just not feasible to me to spend an extra $100 on a meal or a new dress shirt. I work in aviation but haven’t taken a vacation in a year and a half. Sure, I could put my credit card down and not think about it, but I wanted to be responsible and not go into debt just to keep up with people who make more money than me.

I thought the most logical step would be to start a business, something lucrative I could do on the side. And it was obvious what my untapped talent was: woodworking. I’d done a few projects over the years, like building a full set of cabinets in the house I’d shared with my ex for many years. I’d also done some cabinet refacing work for friends. I’d never considered turning it into a business, but I thought, Why not? I’m good at it, I love doing it and I’ve had requests for it in the past.

So I bent my knees, took a deep breath and jumped. I launched my company, Biabre Interiors, in January. It’s a portmanteau of my name, Brendon, and my dog’s, Bianca. She’s the love of my life and the inspiration for why I’m doing this. I wanted to make sure I could not just support myself but also give her the best life possible.

There are a lot of start-up costs when it comes to cabinetmaking. The first hurdle is finding a shop to work out of. There are sound issues to consider: I’d be using tools that go above 100 decibels, so I needed a place where I could make noise without issue. I also needed a bay door, because some companies won’t deliver materials unless you have one. I was able to find a 300-square-foot workshop near High Park for $1,400 per month.

Then I had to buy tools: a drill for $250, a miter saw for $550, a table saw for $800. For everything else, there’s the Toronto Tool Library, where I can rent tools for up to a week for an annual membership of $85. A lot of their tools are donated, though, so I have to be careful and make sure the blade is sharp when I’m doing fine detail work. New saw blades can cost upward of $700. I don’t have any big machines, so I do a lot of work by hand, going back to the roots of how cabinetry was done many years ago. I installed shelving in my workshop to hold the materials I need for each project. In total, material costs can range from $1,000 to $4,000 just to get started.

So far, I’ve finished two projects: a custom closet in North York and a bathroom vanity for a friend who owns a townhouse on Homewood Avenue. I’m starting a new bathroom project soon. I charge between $2,500 and $10,000, depending on the project, and so far I’ve turned a 25 to 30 per cent profit on each job. On the first job, I made $1,600, and on the second, I made $1,500. A single gig covers my monthly rent for the workshop, and anything else I make, I’m planning on putting back into the business. Once I use the tools more, my profit margins will go up. Eventually, I would like to complete two to three projects per month.

I plan to balance flying with cabinetmaking for as long as I can. With my seniority, I’ve been able to successfully bid to satisfy my monthly flying hours on Mondays and Tuesdays so I can keep the rest of my week open for Biabre. These flights can be 14 hours, which is tiring, but it’s worth the trade-off. Flying has been such a huge part of my life for so long, and I truly love it. Now I also have this incredible creative outlet I’d been craving: being hands-on, building something tangible, bringing a vision to life. Putting on my flying uniform one day, then heading into the shop the next is a rhythm that works for me. One fuels my need for social interaction and movement, and the other satisfies my desire to lean in to craftsmanship.

Since starting my business, I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. I get to spend more time at home with my dog. Plus, the extra padding in my bank account has made the things I want to do more accessible. After living on a fixed income for so many years, I finally feel like I have financial freedom. I’m going to a wedding in two weeks, and I’ll definitely be buying a new shirt.