The one on the left is Jim, the one on the right is Mabel.  Jim does the remodeling.

I primarily do bathrooms with an emphasis on custom showers. I also do kitchens, finish carpentry, tile, stairs, and much more.  If it’s in or on a house, I’ve probably done it.

I’m an owner/operator contractor, so if you hire me, I do the work.  This differs from the larger companies where you don’t know who’s going to show up once your project gets underway.  It’s almost certainly not the person you initially discussed it with, it’s whatever crew the schedule dictates. Obviously, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The worlds full of great carpenters working for great companies, leaving a trail of happy customers in their wake.  

That being said, after 25+ years of doing this, I’ve seen a lot, and a lot of it hasn’t been pretty.  Over-selling and under-delivering. The disconnect between how long a customer is told a project will take and what it will cost versus reality.  Carpenters over-evaluating their own competency, or being put into a position where they’re out of their depth just because the job is on the schedule and it has to start for that first installment check to be made and the tile guy is busy on another project (because it’s running long because it was never going to get done in the amount of time that was allotted) so we’ll just send a framer over to get started because hey, it’s no big deal, right? You can figure it out.

The reality is (and I apologize in advance for how cheesy this is) the most valuable tool in your tool belt is experience. I’ve done dozens of projects at this point, and I still learn something new every time.  Stuff I used to have to think about is now second nature, and things I used to think looked great I wouldn’t allow as a finished product now. 

Unfortunately,  there exists in this industry a belief that anyone can do anything.  I don’t know if it’s HGTV or Youtube or what, but a lot of people seem to want to skip the “learning how to do a thing” phase of construction.  I recently was subcontracted by a large and reputable company in Portland to demolish a shower and rebuild it exactly because the previous subcontractor didn’t know how to build showers.  Like at all.  It looked like a shower (albeit with amateurish tile work), but it wasn’t waterproof and instead of the water going into the drain, it went into the dining room below.  This is an extreme example, but my point is you don’t need to role the dice like that.  I’ll tell you what I can and can’t do, and if I can’t do it, I won’t.  Want me to build you a new house? No.  Maybe someday, but not today.  There’s people that do that and I’m not one of them. Want me to tear your bathroom down to the studs and build whatever you want? Yes, that I can do. Want me to build you a website? Are you insane?  Look at this thing! Absolutely not, and you should be embarrassed for asking.  

Anyhow, look at the projects, see if there’s anything you like. Feel free to reach out about whatever.  I tend to like to do whole projects, but it doesn’t hurt to ask about smaller things too.  Thanks, Jim