Sim Ayers is the owner of SBE Builders, a commercial and residential framing company, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which was established in 1988. He uses empirical knowledge, gained by means of observation, experience or experiment, to frame buildings from the ground line (Z1), to roof axis (A1), to the bring-back line for scribing (B1). Sim is a second generation carpenter. He is passing on the family tradition to his two sons Brian and Erik. As a typical California production roof cutter and stacker in the 1970s and 1980s, Sim keeps a sharp eye out for new information on roof framing geometry, or for writing online scripts that use a tetrahedron to show the relationship of geometric framing angles for use with the carpenter’s steel framing square. His online tools can be found on the web at www.sbebuilders.com/tools.

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Dan Broadbelt has spent all of his adult life building and fixing things. He joined the Army in 1980 and spent the next 25 years in C/E (communications electronics) Maintenance, fixing everything from AM/SSB radios, FM radios, Microwave radios, Teletype equipment, mine detector sets, multiplexers…ad infinitum. This career wasn’t really a choice, it just kind of happened. During this time he also began to build furniture and cabinets as a hobby, reading every book or magazine on woodworking that he could get his hands on. After retiring from the Army, Dan spent time as a carpenter, cabinetmaker, and then handyman. As a handyman he found a new calling. It was an opportunity to put his knowledge of all types of work and trades to good use, helping others, and working for himself. Alas, starting a new business in your 50s leaves precious little time to do the things he used to enjoy, such as competitive swimming and running. He hopes he’ll have more time for these activities in the future. Dan’s handyman service is called “In a Fix Property Maintenance.” He currently resides in the Reading, Pennsylvania area.

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John Butler is the foreman of a small construction company. He works with two other carpenters doing mostly new construction and general contracting, along with the occasional remodel thrown in. He’s feeling the shortage of new homes to build, but still continues to work 40+ hours a week. John’s homes are generally much smaller than the 6000 sq. ft. beast discussed in this article; most of them are three bedroom, single story and 2300 sq. ft. They sell for 300K, including the lot. John enjoys chainsawing and having the family over for a wienie roast. He’d also like to install an outdoor wood burner, if he can ever find a home in the country for sale.

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David Collins has been making stuff all his life. At age seven, he carved swords, canoes, and all sorts of things with his own pocket knives. At age eight, he made popsicle-stick fences to go around the Christmas tree — he painted them silver. David’s first entrepreneurial endeavor was trying to sell those silver fences. His 81-year-old mother still keeps some of those things in her cedar chest. David’s first construction jobs were in the summers of his 14th and 15th years, working for a roofer. Eventually, and after years of working in the field, he produced what is now called the Collins Coping Foot. That thing worked so well that he figured everyone would want one. He spent a lot of borrowed money on lawyers and tool and die makers and started the Collins Tool Company. David hasn’t done any finish carpentry for-hire since 2006. He spends his early mornings with the Good Book, and writing music at his music work station. The rest of the day is spent in tool production, and tooling up for a new product called Mitertite.

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Al Constan is a former precision sheet metal worker with 19 years experience in the trade. Since retiring in the mid-1990s, Al has been a licensed home maintenance contractor, a fencing contractor, and until recently, he has specialized in hanging doors. Al currently owns and operates Multi-blades, manufacturing aftermarket blades for oscillating tools. His website is www.multiblades.com

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RJ Davisson started building and carpentry when he was just 4 or 5 years old. Back then he swung a full-size hammer, but had to choke up a little, and he wore white work boots — what’s up with that! He learned his strong work ethic from his parents, independence and self-reliance from his farmer-grandfather, and carpentry from his uncle, “Donk,” who was a master carpenter, cabinetmaker, finish carpenter of the old school. By age 15, RJ had built three houses — from foundation hole and home-made concrete forms, to hand-cut rafters, hand-nailed strap- ping and toenailed studs — No nail guns, no… Well, you get the idea. RJ’s love of wood has helped him make a career doing what he likes — making beautiful things that draw on the wisdom of the past and that stand the test of time. When he isn’t working with wood, RJ loves to cook — plain, simple, exotic and complicated, BBQ or gourmet — he has tried cooking just about every cuisine from every country. RJ is a licensed general contractor, and his company, Davisson + Associates in Sterling, MA, specializes in finish carpentry, remodeling, restoration, and renovation.

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Jed Dixon designs, builds, and restores stairs and stair parts in historic New England homes. A sometime-Luddite, Jed uses power tools in his shop to make everything from treads to turned balusters to hand-carved volutes and railings. And while he orders the occasional custom part from a local CNC operator, and he’d never part with his Macintosh, I-Phone, or Ipod. Jed and his wife Helen raised their three kids in a 19th century farm house on their rural Rhode Island farm. Kip, their working sheep dog, lets visitors know that stair building may be Jed’s profession, but the farm is his passion.

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Erica Fischer, an Engineer at Murray Engineering PC’s New York office, has worked as a structural engineer in New York City for three years. Born and raised in Pound Ridge, NY, Erica grew up a Yankees and Giants fan. Not wanting to venture far from her New York roots, she attended Cornell University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. After moving to New York City, her work has focused on high-end cultural renovations and new residential buildings. Erica’s renovation experience concentrates on residential and theater renovations. She is currently chair of several committees for the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) including the Programs Committee Co-Chair, University Outreach Committee Chair, and the Sponsorship Committee Chair. Through these roles she helps plan the SEAoNY monthly lecture series at the Center for Architecture in New York as well as full day seminars for SEAoNY. Erica will be attending Purdue University this fall for her Masters of Science in Civil Engineering.

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Tom Gensmer lives in Minnetonka, Minnesota and has been a carpenter for nine years. He’s in the process of being certified by NARI as a Certified Lead Carpenter and is emplyed by Roncor Custom Rebuilders, where he works as a Lead Carpenter. Tom lives with his wife Beth and spends a great deal of his free time researching his craft through workshops, trade shows, online articles and forums.

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Brent Hull is one of the country’s leading experts on moldings, millwork and historic design. His company, Hull Historical, produces fine architectural millwork for commercial and residential all over the country. Brent strives for authenticity in materials as well as methods, to bring the best qualities of the past to millwork today. He has a small custom building company in Fort Worth and speaks and teaches frequently on fine craftsmanship, and historic design.

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Nick Katz is a carpenter by genetic and financial default. Almost every male in his family is a contractor, a carpenter, or works somehow in construction (including a few women!). There are a lot of things he’d rather be doing, like riding dirt bikes in the desert near the Colorado River, or racing motocross, or lying on the beach with a beer and a…but everyone has to make a living, right? He makes a pretty good one as an accomplished carpenter, working on high-end residential and challenging commercial jobs through the Los Angeles area.

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Keith Mathewson started working in the construction industry in the late 1970s as a summer job during college. He stayed in construction for another five years, then took a different career path for ten years. In the early 1990s, Keith got back into construction in a much bigger way. He opened a shop, and taught furniture-making after-hours. In 2004, he transitioned out of furniture-making and teaching back to finish carpentry, where he specialized in high-end custom homes. Since 2007, he has focused on stair-building.

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Kreg McMahon was born in 1954, when real woodshop was still taught in high school. And that’s where he got his first taste of woodworking, that and playing in the new post-war housing tracts in the San Fernando Valley. His father’s side of the family was in sales, and his mother’s side was in construction, so it’s not surprising that’s Kreg spent the first half of his life in sales. From the age of 12, Kreg has knocked on people’s doors to ask if they had any small jobs to do: weeding, cleaning, trash removal. Kreg has sold Amway, insurance, and advertisements in the Yellow Pages. But he’s now in the second half of his life — working as a carpenter and running a one-man business: “Honey-Do Handyman and Carpentry Service.” For inspiration and new tips, Kreg turns to the HGTV Network and the New Yankee Workshop. He likes to say: “There’s always something to learn.”

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Wm. Todd Murdock is a fourth-generation carpenter/woodworker who is currently employed as a corporate pilot. His schedule alternates between a week “on the road,” flying all over North America and the Caribbean, and a week at home in Northern Virginia. While at home he enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer and their three children. The time at home also allows him to “escape” to his shop where he builds custom furniture and cabinets. Most of his work is for pleasure these days, doing only one or two paying jobs a year. He began learning SketchUp as a way to kill time on layovers and quickly discovered he could use it to continue progress on projects back home. Having a detailed model completed ahead of time also makes his limited time in the shop more efficient, since all the details have already been worked out in a “virtual” prototype. During college, while working for a local contractor, Todd vividly remembers shingling a roof one VERY hot summer day. He paused for a moment to watch a jet flying high over head and thought to himself, “Boy, I wish I were up there flying.” Ironically, he now finds himself occasionally looking out the cockpit window from 35,000 feet and thinking, “I wish I were down there making sawdust.”

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Ben O’Connell landed in carpentry when, at the age of 24, he realized he’d better hurry up and learn a useful trade. After four years of production trim work in upstate NY, he headed for Portland, Maine, where he knew he wanted to be. He soon bought a fixed upper, found the woman of his dreams, and started his own business. Sounds like a perfect story, but then the bubble burst, and carpentry became less awesome and more stressful. After some soul searching, Ben decided to call it a day and move on to the next interesting career. Ben and his wife, Ana, recently opened a catering business featuring Ana’s recipes from Spain and the Basque country. As a final project in his carpentry education, Ben built a food cart, which he operates on the streets of Portland. When he isn’t schmoozing on the streets, Ben enjoys carpentry, golf, and hangin’ with the band.

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Roe Osborn‘s love of carpentry began as a kid building tree forts in the woods of southern Rhode Island. After receiving a degree in Fine Arts and English from Georgetown University, Roe began work as a carpenter and contractor, gaining experience in all aspects of home building from foundation to finish work. In addition Roe built boats on Narragansett Bay for four years and later plied his carpentry skills as a caretaker of an island off the Massachusetts coast. From 1994 to 2005 Roe worked for Fine Homebuilding magazine, where he edited or wrote over 180 articles on homes and home-building techniques, most of which he photographed as well. But the smell of salt water eventually lured him back to the New England shore. Now based on Cape Cod, Roe is an architectural and commercial photographer, as well as a freelance writer. In 2010 Taunton Press is publishing a book that he wrote on basic house framing. Roe’s photography work can be seen at his website. In his spare time, Roe is a bass player and songwriter, and he does abstract sculpture as well. But he’s been known to drop everything at a moment’s notice to race sailboats.

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Dan Parish has been working in the architectural millwork industry since he was 17. He started as a green apprentice with Gary Katz’s crew and is now owner of Millworks By Design, a company that specializes in high-end finish carpentry and architectural millwork installations. The road between apprenticeship and becoming the boss has been dotted with all sorts of experiences including working as a finish carpenter with several companies, a stair building apprenticeship with Jed Dixon, travel and speaking engagements with Gary Katz, the writing of various articles for Journal of Light Construction and Fine Homebuilding, and the startup and management of a finish carpentry division in local stair building company. In 2007, Dan started Millworks By Design and soon realized that the “school of hard knocks” was not far from over, but rather, just gaining momentum. Since then, Dan’s focus has been on building Millworks By Design into a leading provider and installer of fine millwork in the Los Angeles area. Dan, his wife Kendra and their three daughters live in Simi Valley, CA.

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Dave Parker has worked in the building trades for most of his career, with a focus on trim carpentry and architectural woodworking. At work he enjoys nothing more than a technically challenging project. At home he enjoys time spent with his family at the beach or in the snow. A graduate of The College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking program, he currently produces millwork and high end furniture from his shop in southeast Michigan.

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Bill Robinson: When I started working construction in Santa Barbara (for a fraction of my previous pay as a diver), I worked on a framing crew building a 12,000 square foot home in Montecito. I was surprised at the hectic jobsite, the lack of organization, of leadership, of expertise. No one seemed “in the know;” no one seemed in charge. What a difference from diving, where for fifteen years I often worked 400-500 feet below the surface. Not much room for error down there; someone in the know was in charge all the time — or people died. Not so in residential construction. People think that anyone with a circular saw, a hammer, and a hundred foot power cord can be a carpenter or a contractor. But what are the guidelines? Where can you learn more? One day while working for a contractor on a basement remodel, everyone seemed to suddenly disappear and I found myself in the middle of the slab on knee-boards with a steel trowel in each hand. I didn’t have clue what to do. At that moment I decided I was going to find out how all of this construction stuff worked — and share it with anyone else who would listen. I felt helpless out on that wet concrete and knew there was no reason to. No one should feel helpless in this industry.

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Doug Simmons got started doing small projects as a teenager, having always been interested in tools. His grandparents owned an old hardware store near Muncie, Indiana—the kind with 16-foot ceilings that had rolling ladders on each side, a wood floor, a hand-operated freight elevator, and a penny peanut machine! When Doug got out of the Air Force in 1978, he took a job as a laborer for a framer, then did handyman work, then a stint with a sauna company (which is where he first learned to hang doors). His next major move was to a larger builder who put him on the finish crew, where he had the opportunity to supervise some commercial projects. Next, Doug and his wife started a retail portable spa store. That lasted for about eight years, during which time he got his contractor license in order to be able to do installations (decks, gazebos, etc.) for their customers. Doug continues doing various finish work, both for himself and other contractors.

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Kerri Spier may be slight in stature, but she more than makes up for that in her personality. Born and raised on Block Island, Kerri graduated from Brown University in 1989. After college Kerri returned to the island, where she and her husband, John have run Spier Construction for the past 22 years. Four years ago Kerri, John and their three kids decided to follow a dream. They packed themselves up and sailed off on their 45-ft. catamaran, Aldora. The first year, they explored the East Coast and the Bahamas. They followed this with a trip down the eastern Caribbean to Curacao. Next, they took the boat through the Panama Canal and sailed as far as Australia with countless stops along the way. Last winter they worked their way up to Malaysia. Each year they return to Block Island and keep their hands in the building business, working for a few months before heading out again. On board Kerri and John boat school their kids with the ocean as their classroom. They hope to complete their circumnavigation in the next couple years before their oldest graduates from high school. And for the record, Kerri keeps her best tool belt on the boat for those rare trips up the mast.

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Sean Titmas: “Getting up each morning and spending the day in my shop working with my two hands on a beautiful species of wood is the closest thing to a love affair I can imagine,” Sean Titmas says with a wide smile. A full time carpenter since 1986 when he went to work with his father building custom homes and commercial interiors on the Jersey Shore, Sean has worked almost every phase of construction, from residential building and remodeling to commercial and retail interiors, through the course of his career. Now, 23 years after strapping on his first tool belt and practicing production carpentry, he’s decided to do something different. He’s opened his own shop and is building furniture and cabinetry.

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Jesse Wright: Life has changed a lot for Jesse Wright. Not long ago he spent his free time skateboarding, snowboarding, and scuba diving—a passion both he and his wife enjoyed along the California coast. And then there was the paintball team—serious stuff on military bases with military friends. But all that changed when Olive arrived. Now fifteen months old, Jesse’s daughter consumes most of his free time, and what remains he spends working on the home he bought last year, his first. You can tell it’s Jesse’s house from the street, and from all the great photographs he’s published and shared on the JLC Finish Carpentry forum. He’s remodeled the house one room at a time, and outside, one wall at a time, from Craftsman-style tapered casing to eave brackets. Jesse’s work continues to improve as his study and understanding of architectureal styles broadens. Always hungry for new ideas, Jesse prowls the internet for good books and haunts historic homes, from Pasadena to the Bay Area.