Diagnose before deciding
The stated problem and the actual problem are often different.
Considered Carpentry & Home Maintenance
Small household projects, handled with consideration
Repairs, installations, small projects & creative problem-solving for homeowners who care about the details.
Most projects take a day or two.
A considered solution for the work that’s hard to place
“Considered” understands that a home is the sum of a thousand small choices.
Some projects are too small for a builder or too particular to hand to just anyone. That work is my speciality: the repairs, installations, small projects & unique problems that call on practical skill, aesthetic judgment, and respect for what a house means to its owners.
It should look intentional
Small work goes wrong when it reads as an addition to the room instead of part of it.
Ask before guessing
When what’s behind the wall or the material in hand changes the decision, the next step is a question.
Protect the house
Floors, furnishings, and adjacent finishes are covered before work starts. The area is cleaned before it’s handed back.
For design professionals
Protecting the referral is part of the job
When you refer your clients, you retain control over the project & design unless you tell me otherwise.
- I work within the scope you set towards the result you identify.
- All visually consequential decisions come back to you.
- Completion photographs and notes detailing work - visible and not - are delivered on all projects.
- When part of a project calls for a licensed trade, I'm happy to work with your team to preserve the design vision in the finished work.
- Work outside my scope is identified and discussed, never improvised.
- Nothing appears in my portfolio without your written permission.
If the project poses a question, the next step is a conversation, not a guess.
Send a referral briefInstallation
- Flat-screen TVs and electronics
- Art, mirrors, shelves, and decorative hardware
- Window treatments
- Furniture assembly and integration, including wall anchoring
Adjustment and repair
- Doors, drawers, cabinets, and hardware
- Trim and millwork
- Furniture modification
Small carpentry solutions
- Shelves, ledges, and integrated storage
- Small custom pieces like benches, pergolas, or whatever that one special spot requires
A focused punch list
- Weekend-saver: small household tasks, handled with consideration
- Seasonal house-readiness work
- Corrections after your move or major projects
- Designer closeout items
- Realtor staging
Let's get to work!
Send me your project
Here's how it works
- 01
Describe your project, idea, or notion
Describe the result you're looking for and any challenges or restrictions. Attach photographs if they're useful.
- 02
Receive response with fit evaluation
I personally review every request to confirm fit, and follow up with questions or to schedule a site visit so I can understand your vision.
- 03
Approve a written scope
Before work is scheduled, you'll receive a scope that details the included work, exclusions, assumptions, timing & pricing.
- 04
Project Completion
The work isn't complete until it's been documented and explained, and the job site has been restored.
Here's how I work
One person, start to finish.
I work directly with every client — reviewing the photographs, defining the scope, doing the work, and closing it out. The practice focuses on small, particular problems in homes where design and detail matter—work where diagnosis, preparation, and restraint matter as much as tool skill.
I spent years as a researcher before this, and the habit that carried over is a useful one: work out what the actual problem is before committing to a solution. In a house, that means accounting for old walls, imperfect materials, prior repairs, and the way a room actually gets used.
- Based
- Traverse City, Michigan
- Practice
- One-person, small-project work
- Scope
- Accepted individually after photo review
- Specialist work
- Completed in collaboration with the client’s or designer’s chosen specialist when needed.
Start here
Tell me about your project
Tell me about what you want the finished work to look like and what it should do. Tell me about your concerns or anything you want to avoid. Photographs are helpful but not required. I’ll review the request, identify questions, and then we'll have a conversation to make sure we're on the same page.
Photographs are used only to evaluate and manage the inquiry. They are never added to the portfolio without separate permission. See the privacy page.
Service area
Serving the Traverse City area
Based in Traverse City, working across Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. How far I travel depends on the scope and timing of the project.
- Traverse City
- Old Mission Peninsula
- Suttons Bay
- Leland
- Lake Leelanau
- Glen Arbor
- Empire
- Acme
- Interlochen