My fascination with building began at the young age. I was always drafted to help dad and grandpa.

As a young boy, I spent time in Grandpa’s cabinet shop. In grade school, I was scrounging material to build tree forts.

In 1996 I had the opportunity to work on a cabin project from pouring footings, to siding, to interior trim. I worked alongside some very experienced carpenters. I credit that project with my realization that I should pursue carpentry. Prior to that project I had attended college, worked in restaurants, roofing, and as a pulp logger.

After that cabin, I worked for the local lumber yard and then found a job in the city as a production framer.  Our crew was focused on framing large town home buildings. My dad had said that I “could never be a framer because I was too meticulous and slow.” In one year, I worked my way from “low man” to “2^nd in command” on my crew and learned a lot of speed and efficiency.

While working framing in the city, I would come home on weekends to work with grandpa in his shop. We built kitchen cabinets and fancier case pieces together and I learned a lot – grandpa was a stickler for detail. I had always had one or two furniture projects going since those Saturdays I spent with Grandpa Elwood in his shop.  

The framing job was in the city and that grew tiresome. A builder in my hometown needed help, so I moved home and built custom single-family homes applying my framing knowledge but also learning exterior finish, doing fascia, soffit, siding, decks, and occasionally some interior trim.

In 1999, I quit that job to go to technical college for carpentry. That two-year program strengthened what I already knew and filled in some gaps in both my knowledge and experience. The mix of classroom and hands-on learning helped me to grow my skills.

In May of 2000 I got an internship with Great Northern Woodworks. That internship turned into a 22- year career.

Great Northern Woodworks is a small hand-cut timber frame company specializing in timber frames joined with mortise and tenon joints using wooden pegs. While there, I worked on over 100 houses and many other projects including porches, staircases, cabinets, built in shelf systems, eyebrow dormers, circular towers, and curved eave roof systems.

Great Northern also enclosed all their own projects, most of often with Structurally Insulated Panel Systems (SIPS). I did a lot of panel installation on that job.

After starting my family, I utilized my experience and five years of weekends to build my own timber frame home.

My passion for woodworking drives me to constantly grow in knowledge and skill by finding better ways to do things. I am thankful for the experiences I have been given and look to honor the family reputation for craftsmanship by making your custom project a reality.