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Joinery Workshop · Est. 2003
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Board Feet Milled This Year

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Structures Framed

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What 22 years of sawdust teaches you.

Project Phase
01

Phase One

Planning

Architect and contractor reviewing blueprints spread on a wooden table with pencil markings and measurements
Feb 2026 · Site Survey

A build that goes wrong almost always went wrong on paper first. Planning is where you catch the $400 mistake before it becomes a $14,000 tearout. We walk every site before a single permit application — reading the lot, the soil, the existing structure — and we build the schedule around the permit clock, not the other way around.

Site Survey TapeLaser LevelPermit ChecklistSoil Probe

Permit Window

Residential permits in most counties: 6–14 weeks. Pull early, pull once.

Material Lead Time

Engineered lumber and LVL beams: 3–5 weeks from distributor. Add 20% waste factor.

Soil & Foundation Check

Before any framing, confirm bearing capacity. Soft soil adds $4–12K to foundation costs.

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02

Phase Two

Framing

Framing is the skeleton. Get it right and everything downstream — drywall, trim, cabinets, doors — lands clean. Get it wrong and you spend the rest of the job shimming, scribing, and apologizing. We plate-to-ridge with 16-inch on-center layout, pull dimensions from the foundation, and never assume the slab is square.

Framing NailerSpeed SquareChalk Line4-ft LevelLVL Calculator

Wall Section · 2×6 Platform Frame

Double Top PlateLVL HeaderBottom Plate16″ OC
Wood framing structure of a house under construction showing exposed studs joists and rafters against blue sky
Mar 2026 · Day 4 of Frame

Header Sizing

Doubled 2×10 handles most residential door and window spans. LVL for anything over 6 feet — don't guess, calculate.

Crown & Plumb

Every stud goes crown-up. Check plumb on every fourth stud minimum. A wall that's 1/4″ out at the bottom is 2″ out at the ceiling.

Blocking Locations

Block at 48″ for drywall backing, at grab-bar heights in baths, and anywhere a future cabinet rail might land.

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03

Phase Three

Finishing

Carpenter installing custom wooden kitchen cabinets with precise measurements and careful alignment
Apr 2026 · Cabinet Hang Day

Old-Growth Fir

Restored, not replaced — grain density unmatched by modern lumber.

This is where a house becomes a home. Cabinet installation is half carpentry, half puzzle-solving — every wall has a lean, every floor has a crown, and the cabinets have to look like they grew there. For timber restoration, we read the wood first: what's structural, what's cosmetic, what the original builder intended. We work to restore structural truth before we restore surface beauty.

Cabinet JackScribe CompassMoisture MeterBrad NailerOscillating Tool

Cabinet Rail Height

Standard uppers at 54″ from finished floor — but always confirm ceiling height first. Low ceilings call for 42″ uppers, not 30″.

Timber Restoration

Century-old Douglas fir joists: check for powder-post beetle, sistering requirements, and moisture content below 19% before enclosing.

Scribe & Fit

No wall is plumb. Every cabinet end panel gets scribed to the wall — a 3/8″ gap at the back beats a racked door every time.

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04

Phase Four

Inspection

We don't just pass inspection — we build to pass on the first call. The inspector is reading the same code book we are. Know the code, build to it, and corrections become a rarity, not a routine.

Framing Inspection · Sample Checklist

Structural member sizing per engineer stamp

Anchor bolt spacing and embedment depth

Header bearing and post-to-beam connections

Shear wall nailing pattern (3″ OC at edges)

Blocking at mid-span (added day of inspection)

Fire blocking at floor/ceiling transitions

5/6 items cleared on first inspection. Blocking corrected same day — no re-inspection fee.

Building inspector reviewing structural drawings and checking framing connections with clipboard on construction site
Apr 2026 · Framing Inspection

Correction Rate

Industry average: 2.3 corrections per inspection. Our 3-year average: 0.4. We do a self-inspection the morning of — the same checklist the inspector carries.

What Inspectors Actually Look For

Nailing patterns, header sizing, hold-down hardware, fire blocking, and shear wall continuity. These five account for 80% of corrections. We photograph every one before the inspector arrives.

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05

Phase Five

Living

The best work is the work you stop thinking about. When the doors hang plumb and the drawers run smooth and the floors don't creak in the same spot for twenty years — that's the job done right. Our measure of quality isn't the day of completion. It's the decade after.

23 years

Average lifespan of a properly framed structure before first major repair

0 callbacks

Structural callbacks in the last 4 years of completed projects

11 days

Average framing completion time on a 2,400 sq ft single-family home

Finished modern kitchen with custom wooden cabinetry warm lighting and clean countertops in a completed home
May 2026 · Project Complete

"The framing was clean, the cabinets hung level, and they were off-site before the drywall crew arrived. That's the standard I hold every trade to, and Joinery is the only crew I've never had to call back."

Marcus Okafor

General Contractor · 14 projects together

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Free Resource

Download the Build Guide

A plain-language PDF covering material estimates, permit timelines, and the contractor vetting questions we'd ask if we were hiring someone to build our own house.

Material Estimate Sheets

Lumber, hardware, and waste factor tables for 3 build types.

Permit Timeline Map

County-by-county average windows and what causes delays.

Contractor Vetting Guide

14 questions to ask before signing any framing contract.

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