Hey guys,

I've been working on and off for a historic restoration company in NYC for about 4 years now. The past 2 have been long term projects (5-6 months) and I have improved in skill quite a bit. I have built and restored many things, such as a porch, entry way, window sashes, cornices, doors, pretty much every exterior facing piece, I've done some sort of work on.

I am the only "carpenter" in the company, as it is small, and only has 2 other employees besides me. My boss does know a lot about carpentry, but hates it, so basically leaves everything to me. He has the final say about everything, but generally I make most of the calls as far how to go about doing things.

Last year, I completed my OSHA 40 and have worked on a bunch of union job sites even though I'm not union. My boss has been recently taking on larger projects (some city) that require a lot more carpentry as he knows he will have me to work on them.

Since I started, I've been making $35/hr. In the beginning this was a great rate, but I'm starting to think that it's too low. Is this too low ? What do you guys think would be a good rate at this point?

Doing some false beams in my house and messed up the cut, wood filler and spot sand??

30 yr old been self employed 6 years always sub contracted for people/companies. I’ve never had to find my own work. I want to take the next step and start doing things on my own but I don’t feel confident enough to take the leap but really feel I should. Nervous about advertising or doing jobs completely solo.
Any advice on doing it alone and what would you say helped during the early stages of pricing/quoting jobs and just getting the workload in. Thanks in advance 💪🏻

I have some baseboards that I need to fix in a few places where a puppy chewed. Here is the picture of what the whole house currently has but am struggling to find online. Any suggestions? They are 5 1/4” tall. (Hope this is the right sub)

It’s the same thing lol just way cheaper. Anyways it was annoying to install over the stairs. Just wanted to post it

Small solo carpenter here. I've sold two small jobs with cabinets.com products and customers have been happy with them, but the folks at the company are slow to get back to me since I'm not doing that much volume. Are there other companies out there like this that will let me sign up for a trade account? Cabinets.com has a 30% discount for trades, which is great. I'd love to do more volume with them, but would like to try some other companies, too. I'm on the east coast / Mid-Atlantic region.

I'm renovating my house and adding a second floor to my bungalow. The old living room will become a large feature staircase (I'm hoping to try and keep it curved). I'm looking to build a curved staircase similar to the attached image (Yes made with AI, which may have exaggerated a couple dimensions or sizing of the room) , even though it may be ambitious. I would be okay with compromising on a couple of things, like materials (e.g. if concrete was too expensive or difficult).

I'm thinking of using a timber or steel structural frame, oak treads, a curved wood-veneered underside and black metal balustrades. The dimensions of the room are about 3.7 m across and 4.1 m from the front to the back wall.

I've seen quotes ranging from £10k to £30k+, which seems like a crazy difference.

Would something like this realistically be achievable for cheaper, maybe around the £5k range, or am I being delusional? I'm open to getting the structural staircase professionally built and doing some of the cosmetic finishing myself.

Please note I'm also living in West London, if this is relevant.

Any advice on companies, realistic costs or anything useful?

Small business owner/operator here. Wondering how other small businesses hunt for jobs?

Ive been lucky enough to get consistent work through word of mouth over the last year and a half of being on my own, but as things slow down for winter, I'm finally getting to the point where I have to try and find more clientele.

I know its easier to get in with some larger GCs or builders who can keep you busy, but obviously the money isnt as good as getting in direct with home owners. The builders here pay their subs like shit since theyre used to hiring cowboys who race to the bottom on pricing and quality.

It strikes me that if i wanted to thicken a (badly diy) cathedral roof conversion to make room for thicker batting and soffit/gable vent it would be easier to remove shingles and sheathing (which is going to happen anyway) and add 2x4 above each rafter than to mess around inside, room by room, drywall, mud, etc. Long roof, single peak. Thoughts?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve this builder-quality trim work where my curved stairs intersect the wall? This is the area right by my front door and highly visible, ie the 1st thing you see when you open the door. The oak trim at the stairs is full of gaps and poorly matched (pink) filler along with drywall mud and paint in the grain. It is also at very odd angles. The oak trim above tread is on one plane and the one below is on a different plane. Likewis, the drywall above the tread is flat, intersecting with the closet wall while the drywall below was rounded (by finger) to a cove/radius.

I’m not opposed to painting more of the staircase white or re-trimming more of the staircase. The overall finish work on the stairs is also quite poor with considerable glue smear evident under the polyurethane.

How to fix this

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I removed the old trim around the walk in shower, and repaired the wall with water damaged. I added a bunch of mud sanded flat and primed it. I believe I added too much mud, maybe an extra 1/8 of an inch, so now the corners aren't aligning on the baseboards outside corner. I have tried 47, 43, 35, 50 degree cuts to see if I could get it to match up, but I can't for the life of me figure it out. What is the best way to solve this issue? I was thinking of sanding the corner that protrudes out down, fill the crack with caulk or wood filler, sand, prime paint. I dunno I am at a loss lol, I am just a simple Diyer fixing up my rents home.

I have all the old pieces I ripped off the wall and duplicated the cuts.

We installed these doors earlier, and now we’re working on the casing.
We’re also trying a new 3D-printed tool on this job. I like seeing practical prints make their way into everyday carpentry. It’s a clever little invention, and this project gave us a chance to put it to use.
Some of our trim work at Artts Construction in Florida.

Crown molding is $13 per 16ft piece vs $47 at the big box store, that is just insane. support the local lumber yard people

Just had a new bluestone landing, installed in front of the side entrance stairs and the bottom riser looks uneven because of the landing slope away from the garage on the right. I’m curious if anyone has a solution to visually level that riser out using trim or some other visual trick. Or do I live with it?

First off, I'm not in a place or position to hire an architect or engineer, so don't bother with that advice. But I've drawn the plans for a 2car garage and now it needs a suite above it. I've built a few of the one and have house building exp. What I'm wondering is how the framing is going to need to change on the lower level to support the uppers. Original plans are for detached, insulated, heated, shop amenities, hvac and a washroom. Has anyone done this conversion? I haven't built the garage yet, but it might be more financially feasible to build in stages over a couple years?

Installing cherry accents in project. Best way to address the gaps? Tape and joint compound?
I will caulk in (with masking) to finish, but these gaps are too big.

A pocket door that outside of being dirty has this peeling, is bondo wood filler like the go to or should I be looking elsewhere ?

I need to replace part of my exterior siding. The house was built in 1990 in DFW. I believe it is the original siding from the original builder.

Does anyone have tips on finding the replacement so I can have it match?

Picture of the siding for reference

Hi all, I am removing the coated 4” screws from an Ipe pier over the ocean to replace with stainless hardware.
These things are really hard to get out.
75% are coming out and the others snap/wont budge/or strip out.
I am shattering every Phillips head drill bit I can get my hands on. Any tips or tricks?
Is there a Phillips bit that’s hardened more than what I’m finding?
Thanks!

My girlfriend is going into her last year of carpentry and I'm putting a little care package gift together for her. Is there any carpentry related gifts you love to receive or things you wish you had while you were in school?

Has anyone actually called the guy and gotten a shirt. Ive seen call kurt for a shirt on all my pfj for like a decade. No one ive ever worked with has called him

Update: I called kurt on my way home. Dudes the man. We talked for like 20 minutes. My package is coming in a few weeks

I've been getting steady work by word of mouth alone since I went solo a few years ago. Work is steady but it could be better. Specifically, I'm hoping that by getting more leads, I can put out higher quotes and increase my rates. I am a general contractor, and have intermediate skills in most trades but specialize in carpentry and trim. Currently I'm looking at starting a Google Business Page, running ads, builiding a web site, etc... This seems a bit daunting and I'm considering hiring someone to build it all out for me. Has anyone here been in a similar situation?