Carpentry that fits the house it's in
Lower North Shore houses were built by carpenters who took their time — federation joinery in Willoughby and Cammeray, Griffin-era craft in Castlecrag, interwar solidity in Northbridge — and they respond badly to trades in a hurry. My work is measured against what's already there: stairs repaired so they stop creaking without losing their character, sash windows eased, rot cut back to sound timber and rebuilt (not puttied over), new work profiled to match the old so nothing announces itself.
On-site trade, workshop standards
The site work covers framing and structural repairs, subfloor and joist work, stair repairs and rebuilds, doors, architraves and skirting, timber feature walls and battens, window seats and banquettes built in place — plus the outdoor flagship work of decks and pergolas. When a piece is better built on the bench — wardrobes, cabinetry, entry gates — it moves to the joinery workshop and arrives finished. One standard, two benches.
Straight quotes, fixed projects
Small and medium jobs are priced plainly before I book them — send photos and I'll tell you straight, including when bundling several tasks into one visit beats booking them separately, because it usually does. Anything with a scope gets a fixed written quote instead: measured, specified, milestone-paid. Open-ended hourly on a project-sized job is how budgets die; I don't sell it.
How I work
Send photos of the job — I can price most small work from them same-day, and anything bigger gets a site visit within the week. Then I turn up when I said, protect the floors, do the work to the standard the house deserves, and sweep up like I was never there. Most of my carpentry comes from neighbours who watched the last job happen over the fence; that's the review system I build for.