Job Opportunity - Lead Carpenter

Faroe Woodworks is in search of a lead carpenter who has five or more years of residential renovation experience. We are a small custom renovation company working on beautiful old homes in Hamilton, Ontario. Our company focuses on high quality, clean, and thoughtful remodels. We have a great relationship with all of our homeowners and we value clear communication throughout the whole renovation experience.

A little bit about ourselves! Team Faroe performs almost all of the work in-house except for the licensed trades and some exterior work. We are a small team that all work together to push a project ahead - estimating, budgets, design, problem-solving, material orders etc. We work hard but respect people’s outside lives (family time, weekends off). We love music, movies and having a laugh. We are progressive, inclusive and democratic. We take the time to train, teach and develop/refine skills.

We are looking for someone with the following skills -

• Advanced carpentry skills - frame to finish. Custom stair and rafter work, custom door work, all aspects of finished trim, structural framing.

• Reading and building from construction drawings.

• Site management of sub-contractors and trade partners.

• Leading a small crew of 2 to 3 people.

• Confident and comfortable with client interaction.

• Preferred quality in plaster/drywall works and tile works including modern waterproofing methods.

• Strong attention to all finished details and being able to clearly see and plan how construction comes together.

• Being able to problem solve the inevitable challenges that come with old homes (helping sub-trades brainstorm solutions to the inevitable challenges that come with old homes).

This is a full time position starting September paying $30 to $40 dollars an hour depending on experience.

To apply - email patrick@faroewood.com.

We appreciate all applications but will only be responding to successful candidates!

Five Things That Make Faroe Unique

With the holidays approaching and the year winding through, it’s a perfect time to reflect on a company culture. What works? What didn’t work? For us here at Team Faroe we want to take a quick moment and discuss what works for us. We feel we are making some truly great connections with suppliers, clients, peers, and sub-trades.

1. COMMUNICATION. We clearly lay out details, material selections, delays, changes etc. My wife sometimes jokingly asks why I’m texting back a client at midnight on a Friday but it’s reliability, trust and knowing that we can be reached. We build trust with our honesty. Clear questions or answers on a site meeting or project schedule can alleviate the fear and anxiety of a renovation. Consistent updates can make a project feel more collaborative and engaging.

2. THE A-TEAM. A renovation quickly becomes rewarding and justified when everybody involved is aiming for the highest level of quality. It’s taken us years to find what we consider the best sub-trades, suppliers and industry colleagues. That’s the full package that we bring to a renovation - tradesmen who are highly skilled and specialized. Craftsmen that respect the clients and their homes and enjoy what they do for a living; always striving to be better.

3. SMALL COMPANY. We don’t lose you in the shuffle. We’re never too busy to get back to you. We generally work on one project at a time and this allows for all the details to be covered, and for very clear communication as you see us every day. We do almost all of the work in-house (except for licensed sub-trades) which allows for consistent quality levels, schedule flexibility and fluidity, and of course, no delays.

4. PASSION FOR OLD HOMES. We don’t only work on older homes, but we definitely have a specialty for them. From full remodels to blending new trim, paint or plaster works - it takes a lot of care and craft to renovate thoughtfully.

5. DESIGN SENSE. The background of the ownership of Team Faroe is in music, writing, and film with a serious hobby and appreciation for all different types of art and craft. We thoroughly enjoy piecing a project’s materials together and find it exciting to be creative in that realm. That’s the boutique angle of the company defined for us as making your space customized and unique.

Patrick

FAMILY OPERATED AND WHAT THAT MEANS TO US

When we were young I don't think I could have imagined a scenario where we were working this closely and this together. Being twins was a blast when growing up - all the benefits of having a best friend and confidante and philosophical partner-in-crime - where we could talk and share everything happening around us and be locked in, even when that telepathic twin thing took over when we didn't have to verbalize it. But as we got older I always saw us moving a little farther apart metaphorically so we could each stretch our wings and do our own thing without having to default back to the 'twin' powers. I went and moved to Toronto and got married years ago and now we have our beautiful daughter Sian. And as it turns out, a few years pass and now we live a ten minute walk from Patrick and his wife Madeleine (and their daughter on the way too!) in the east end of Toronto. As far as we move away physically from each other somehow after those great distances, somehow we end up back closer together. We work well together, we've played music for upwards of 20 years, we've travelled across Canada and USA in bands and in a simple brother duo formation most recently, and it seems to keep us energized. That's the family vibe, blood runs thickest...

My background is music and music copyright and publishing, I've worked a bunch on solo music and ran a record label and mixtape series and was generally A-OK with that path. Patrick was the carpenter watching youtube videos of proper power tool techniques and reading Fine Homebuilding magazine while I watched rare Indian Classical videos and was reading The Wire magazine. Pretty different hobbies and tastes when you break it all down. 

Patrick needed a hand behind-the-scenes and we both realized that my creative thinking-outside-the-box brain could help out. And it's working. We balance each other out, he brings the technical specifications and how-to wisdom and thinking-on-his-feet improvisational skillset, and I bring the organizational, planning-ahead and artistic angle, I think I'm able to see projects at greater distances while he stays close under the craftsman's eye. Where can we go with this? What are the goals here? We can learn from each other and then who knows...

That's the idea of family operated to us: togetherness and sharing. Open to see things in new ways by sharing our diverse viewpoints and open to letting the expertise shine where that expertise may fall. There's more to business than swinging a hammer or running a payroll cycle. There's the lifeblood that runs through it all, the passion and creativity and quest to learn more, to learn more about the trades and the design. Construction can be a lot of things, and we get to choose how that will unfold. We want to make sure that our clients absolutely love the finished product, and we want them to know that we love doing this and working collaboratively to realize those dreams too.

Our team will always operate like a small family, we have trusting, spirited co-workers with integrity and drive. We'll learn from each other. Faroe then can be an extension of our family energy, hungry to learn more and never content to play it safe. 

Our mission statement: Kick ass every single day. 

You work hard for family because it means something. 

Team Faroe is Growing!

As spring eludes us and summer hints at warmth we can't quite fully remember, Faroe Woodworks has put the thinking toque back on for the evolving nature of expansion and creativity. When time has a way of rolling along, we sometimes have to let the current take control and follow its natural winding path. Where it will go, we don't yet know, but it sure is fun being picked up and sent along. The next step in rooting the family tree for Faroe Woodworks is by bringing on more family. We are finding Faroe is taking on a shape of its own, but that's a lucky thing we don't take lightly, so here's to blowing the leaves around a bit, and staying productive. Kevin Cahill, my brother (pictured here with his baby daughter Sian), has joined the team as an operational release valve, and will continue to help us push the boulder up the mountain. We are more than happy with gaining the brotherly creative help as we build and maintain our defining principles - strong and passionate work ethic and drive; open communication and topflight customer service; and a ever-growing attention to detail and craft.    

Ontario Wood Partner

The winter newsletter from Ontario Wood will surface soon and it has a great profile on Faroe Woodworks. This a program designed to bring attention to the many uses of local Ontario woods in all different types of projects; from crafts, toys and tiny objects to full construction, carpentry and furniture. I believe in the importance of learning your local trees and for what purposes these woods were traditionally used. This also includes the salvaging of old timbers and barn wood from abandoned barns and homes and effectively managing healthy, sustainable forests in Ontario.

I posted a super cool film from the National Film Board of Canada on my personal twitter page about a year ago but it’s a fitting video to watch here.  A craftsman from the Manawan Reserve near Montreal displays the traditional craft of building a canoe entirely from the surrounding woods.

https://www.nfb.ca/film/cesars_bark_canoe/ 

And I’ll leave you with a beautiful poem from Gary Snyder’s The Back Country - Foxtail Pine 

The Pumpkins Will Freeze! - Fall and Winter Planning 2017

Let's collaborate on finishing your small carpentry jobs around the house in time for the holidays. Hosting friends and family can be a rewarding and joyful experience. Making things go effortlessly and having places for everything and everyone can be a challenge. Faroe Woodworks can work with you to make this happen! We can build you custom benches for the kitchen and under windows, replace or fix old doors and loose railings, install traditional or modern trim, use reclaimed Ontario wood as an accent wall or for custom shelving, create new storage spaces, and/or design and make one-of-a-kind small wood furniture and objects. 

Why the name "Faroe"?

The name Faroe Woodworks comes from Fårö Island, Sweden. I'm a massive film buff and some of the more interesting films to watch, er, "take in" are from the Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. He filmed several features on this remote island, fell in love with the landscape and the people; and moved there. He had several buildings on a large estate where he eventually filmed many more movies. The films are slow, minimal and stark but set within hauntingly beautiful scenery. "Persona" is amazing and that's the one that led me down the Fårö path. 

It was actually the look of the homes as well as the amazing natural wood elements all within the interiors that stuck with me.

I would google "Ingmar Bergman Faroe Islands" funnily enough, before realizing that those Danish islands are indeed different than this elusive Swedish one. It was only fitting to bridge them together, as I typed Faroe over and over again, mining the images for carpentry inspiration and to look at such neatly designed and visually inviting homes. I would imagine myself sitting on a beautiful, comfortable handcrafted wooden chair in his library and read books off the shelves for hours with a piping hot cup of coffee with the steam rising and drifting. The rooms are simple, elegant and rustic, but with a refined and studied craftsmanship. The woodworking is not showy, the remote island reclusively dispels the look-at-me of more modern eras, the homes are understated and beautiful, both to live in and to frame visually in that cinematic magic of his. 

So when I began visualizing my carpentry company and what we would stand for, look like, and be inspired by - Faroe - was all the direction I needed. 

What is a Red Seal?

As Faroe Woodworks was in the process of launching, and as I was passing out the company business cards or directing people to the company Instagram and Facebook account, questions of what a Red Seal carpenter means became common. The Interprovincial Red Seal Program establishes standards and regulations for common, designated trades throughout Canada. From boilermakers to bakers to automotive technicians to hairstylists. Each trade has an apprenticeship in which the person accumulates work experience on the job and the necessary skills and training through separate blocks of schooling. At the end of the apprenticeship when one has gained the necessary hours of work and passed the blocks of schooling, they may challenge the Interprovincial Red Seal exam to become a licensed Red Seal Journeyperson. Some trades in Canada require a license to practice the work; a designated compulsory trade. This is why you want to hire licensed electricians, plumbers and HVAC technicians. They have to be licensed to do the work. 

A general carpenter is known as a voluntary trade. One does not require a license to practice carpentry in Canada, except for Quebec where it is a compulsory trade. When one passes the apprenticeship and challenges the Red Seal exam as a carpenter in Ontario, one becomes a licensed Journeyperson in the Interprovincial Program. Although this license is not compulsory, the license is extremely useful. 

The uses are many - the Interprovincial standard allows a licensed Red Seal carpenter to work anywhere in Canada at a recognized skill level. Most commercial construction companies hire licensed carpenters because they recognize the skills and training as some of the very best. One would need a carpenter's license to teach in any school or college, to work for the various levels of government or transit corporations, or to apply for carpentry jobs overseas with reputable International companies. It is not just the local carpenter unions that demand this education. 

I challenged the Red Seal general carpenter's exam by putting together a package that demonstrated that I had worked over 10,000 hours in the trade and practiced equivalent skills to that of the apprenticeship. In addition to my many years of carpentry experience in the field, I also graduated with a diploma from the Building Renovation Technician program at George Brown College, in Toronto, where I studied and mentored under extremely talented Red Seal carpenters. It was a career goal for me to challenge the exam and to become a licensed Red Seal carpenter. My grandfather William Davies was a master licensed carpenter in Sarnia and it was through working with him and watching him build amazing things that I fell in love with carpentry. Teaching carpentry at the high school or college level is also something that I hope to do at some point in my career. I believe that the Red Seal license can simply define a carpenter; as both knowledgable and experienced. 

Try Saying This Three Times Fast - Skogskyrkogården

This past May my partner, Madeleine, and I were able to take a tiny bit of time from work to travel. We chose a few days in Iceland and then five days in Stockholm, Sweden. There is an inherent magic to Scandinavia and all of what defines it. The rugged, rustic landscapes of Iceland and the clean, perfect beauty of Stockholm were an engaging contrast. For myself, it was the chance to see up close the building practices and beautiful woodwork design that I have been passionately researching online and inspecting in Scandinavian films. The Swedish platform framing model is a more advanced way of looking at how we frame wood houses, with the simple but smart philosophy of the insulation being the most important factor in the wall system.  The minimal, practical and often elegant woodworking in homes and commercial spaces was superb eye candy for this eager carpenter. The way we choose to finish our surroundings and living spaces with wood trim, shelves, doors, windows or mouldings will always be interesting to me. And how we use these wood elements, not only as a building practice to cover gaps or seams, but also to bring that space warmth, energy, and life. 

One of the highlights of our trip was our visit to Unesco World Heritage Site, Skogskyrkogården, the Woodland Cemetery. The landscape, history and architecture of this very spiritual place were astounding. We took many, many photographs but I would like to share some of the photos of the woodwork.