I have a regular "Day" job - my wife and I also buy houses and fix them up. The original intent was to flip them but the bottom fell out and we fix them up and rent them out. We went slow enough that we were not impacted. We bought all the houses low enough that the rent we collect is almost double the mortgage payment. When you buy houses like this, often you get into serious renovation work. It amazes me that people will just ignore water leaks until their entire bathroom or kitchen floor is rotten - including the joists underneath. My brother showed me the ropes - the first time you take your circular saw and set it to 1 1/2 inch deep and then cut the floor out is a bit intimidating. SO - you get into some rough woodwork when you start sistering joists and jacking up sagging floors.
On the lighter side, I have built cabinets where I took some fir that had fine grain and routed down a side to make it look like the tongue and groove paneling that was frequently used in the 60's. They came out pretty good. One christmas I did a lot of trays for all the ladies in the family. I'd post some pics if someone can point me to a thread that walks me through the pic posting process........
