About

Pillars of Craftsmanship

I work with homeowners, business owners, and contractors, to create spaces that have a positive impact.

Making any space functional, beautiful, and alive, is an art and every project is a unique creative endeavor. I work with you to achieve the fullest expression of your unique creative impulse.

I offer my technical expertise as a woodworker, and my wide range of building experience, to benefit your project. I value quality craftsmanship and ecological naturalization at every scale.

The project

With the details settled we’ll get the project under way. We’ll sustain positive feedback between your creative imagination, consistent communication, and project execution, to have effective creative impact.

Defining the terms

Every project is unique and benefits from a specific working relationship. We’ll work together to define our respective roles, the terms for billing, and project schedule.

Getting the whole picture

I’ll follow up with you with any clarifying question and to schedule a site visit to gain a full understanding of the project.

Making contact

Connect with me through the form on this website to introduce your project. Overall goals, ideal start date, and budget range are a good place to start, but any information you want to share is welcome.

Project Process

Who I Work For

Homeowners / Business Owners

Contractors

Artists

I work with homeowners and business owners to accomplish their project goals. If you’re envisioning bringing new life into your home or business I’ll work with you directly to refine that vision and make it a reality.

I work with contractors to complete custom carpentry elements, and finishing tasks. If you’re running a job and looking to subcontract out a specific aspect of the build, I’ll work with you to keep your project on track. You can expect a collaborative team member, and quality craftsmanship at every scale.

I work with artists to implement woodworking components that contribute to, or display their work. If you’re looking for a technician to assist in completing your work, reach out and we can determine if my skillset is right for your task.

Landed Communities

I work with communities cultivating a thriving and sustaining connection to the land they live on. If your community is stewarding land I’ll work with you to design and build infrastructure that supports your values. This includes building with community members, mentorship, and skill sharing.

Who I Am

My name is Garrett, I’m a carpenter and contractor working in the Greater Victoria area on Vancouver Island, as well as the Southern Gulf Islands. With over 20 years of experience, I have worked in a wide range of building environments to accumulate the technical skill and creative problem solving ability to meet a wide range of project needs. Focussing on regenerative building practices, I will work with you to restore, renew, expand, or reimagine, beauty and functionality, around your home, your business, or your land project.

What I Do

Home Renovations

Land Projects

Repairing, maintaining, and upgrading residential homes. Everything from a custom closet to a new kitchen or deck addition.

Built infrastructure of all kinds for landed communities. Farm and food processing, retreat spaces, dwelling, communal spaces.

Custom Carpentry

Commercial Interiors

Stairs, doors, windows, and other built-in fabrication. Outdoor elements such as pergolas, fences and garden infrastructure.

Considered interiors for Cafe’s, restaurants, office spaces and more. Shelving, seating, counters, displays, tables, partitions, wall and ceiling features.

Artist Technician

Technical woodworking elements for visual artists. Custom or unique framing, structural elements for sculpture, gallery mounting solutions, wood details and mixed medium art including wood.

D.I.Y Mentorship

Guidance for those wanting to maintain and improve their own home. Training in basic home renovation techniques with equipment consultation. Work alongside a mentor to acquire skills.

Project Inquiry

A Path of Many Perspectives

My work history and what it’s taught me

Home Renovation

2006 - Present

A home renovation can be as simple as redesigning a closet and as complex as tripping a house back to the studs to rearrange the walls. I started working on home renovation in West Vancouver when I was 18 and have continued to this day. Over the past 20 years I’ve had the opportunity to work at every scale of home renovation and for people along a broad economic spectrum, which gives me a wealth of experience to draw on when it comes to solving unique renovation challenges. In 2014 I was lucky enough to be a general carpenter on the total rebuild of an East Vancouver character home. This project represented a missive change to the structure of the house as well as upgraded material for the exterior and interior. It was a rich learning environment and an experience I still draw on often when considering adjusting a building's structural elements. After my table making apprenticeship in 2015 I narrowed my focus to the development of finer carpentry skills by taking on custom finishing elements in the renovation of homes and condos in the greater Vancouver area. I’ve fabricated custom stairs and handrails. I’ve built and installed custom doors and windows. I’ve installed both paint grade trim in modern interiors and stain grade trim in traditional interiors. This range of experience has given me the capacity to approach both the structural and finishing aspects of a renovation project with the scope of the entire project in mind.

Reforestation

2009 - 2015

I spent six years working seasonally in reforestation. These were formative years that gave me a direct perspective of the broader contexts within which the building trades are situated. The lumber industry, and the forestry practices that support it, represent a primary point of contact between humans and the ecosystems on which we depend. Having walked through winter snow to fill burlap sacks with the pinecones that are grown into seedlings. Having carried the seedlings on my back, to plant 2,500 per day, in the spring rain and summer sun. Having seen the death and birth of the forests we rely on, to make the dwellings we rely on, to keep us safe from the weather. All these experiences help me remember that a piece of lumber is never just a piece of lumber. Every board represents the life of a tree, and our lives, as with the lives of many others, are intimately bound up with theirs. Whenever possible I make choices that align with the mutual wellbeing of these interwoven ecologies.

Commercial Interiors

2010 - Present

The success of a business is intimately tied to the practicality and aesthetic of the space it inhabits. The space needs to accommodate a specific set of tasks with ease, and be a place where both customers and employees love spending their time. I started working on Commercial Remodels in Vancouver cafes in 2010 for the company Tetherstone Construction Inc. Though I was often relegated to sanding and other repetitive labour at this time I got to see the inner workings of a first rate commercial construction company completing some of Vancouver's most prestigious cafes. Since that time I’ve had the opportunity to take on a number of custom carpentry elements in a variety of commercial spaces. In 2019/2020, I was lead site carpenter for the buildout of a film production office that involved a dozen custom fabricated door and window assemblies (pictured to the left). More recently I’ve collaborated on crew with Pattern Builders on custom interiors for The Pink Geranium and Softer Drink. I always find the quality of design and the attention to detail on commercial builds incredibly satisfying.

Table Making Apprentice

2015 / 2016

In 2015 I moved to Cortez Island for six months to apprentice with the expert table maker Fred Savage of Savage Woodworking. During this period I was taught ancient joinery techniques and with both hand tools and power tools. I assisted Fred in completing two commissioned tables from salvaged Ontario barnwood, and had the opportunity to design and build a table of my own. For my table we sourced red cedar that had been sustainably logged on the island by a third generation milling operation. Fred helped me hone my ability to conceptualize and implement fine woodworking techniques in ways that created a sturdy foundation. A foundation I draw on for furniture making and finishing carpentry of all kinds. Having made his business by deconstructing condemned barns and salvaging the wood for custom furniture builds, Fred also helped me gain a deeper appreciation for the way the specific history of a building material enriches the ethos of the final built object.

Heritage Restoration

2024 - 2025

In my final years living in Vancouver I had several very valuable opportunities to collaborate with Ryan Bahris of Extraordinary League Contracting, one of the most skilled and accomplished Heritage Restoration specialists in the region. Under Ryan’s guidance I learned to restore interior and exterior aspects of heritage designated buildings to period specifications. As someone who is fascinated by various building techniques and how those techniques have been changing over time, I found it very compelling to restore old structures using a blend of old methods and modern practices. I particularly enjoyed refurbishing sash windows, delighting in the satisfaction of bringing such an old technology back to full functionality. This time was also a meaningful opportunity to contribute to maintaining important community infrastructure like St Augustine’s Anglican Church in Marpole. I spent two months at the church restoring cedar shingles around stained glass windows and other exterior wood finishes, during which time I was deeply touched by the programming they ran to provide people in economic precarity with access to wholesome food. It felt impactful to directly experience the larger scope of meaning connected to the work I was doing, and how it can aligned with core humanitarian values.

Land Projects

2022 - Current

In 2020 I began exploring possibilities for remote work in order to get involved with projects that prioritize harmonious relationships through cultivating land based communities. It’s in these contexts that there is ample room to explore regenerative principles. Where building practices can reflect the capacity for mutual thriving that is inherent to all species. A large scope of project allows the project vision to be guided by larger questions; about how to be in right relationship to the lands on which we live; about what is meaningful to gather around as people. We can then ask what kinds of built environments support most fully living the answers to these questions. Working on a relatively raw piece of land on Saltspring Island in 2022 I was lucky enough to contribute to the exploration of these questions in building infrastructure for Rhizome Springs, a visionary dance studio and land project. Dubbed ‘The Land of Living Inquiry’ this is a place where inquiring into our patterns of interconnectedness is a way of life. While working there I learned specific technical skills to meet the project’s needs, but the deeper learning was more broad reaching. This project asked for a constant state of creative adaptability and perseverance to meet the challenges of an ambitious yet emergent design. We were exploring the use of shipping containers, domes, modular infrastructure, and materials harvested on site, which made for a very dynamic building environment. This site is now a fully operational and internationally recognized destination for cutting edge dance pedagogy. The clear takeaway from this project was that a determined group of inspired individuals can create a world of possibility. I look forward to being involved in more projects that aspire to this level of cultural impact.

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

- William Morris