Our work on Acadia National Park's Gateway Center was recognized as a winner in Architizer's 14th annual A+ Awards!

https://winners.architizer.com/2026/Sustainability/built-3/sustainable-infrastructure-project/

Our friends, Ed and Molly Shill had their Canandaigua barn featured in the 25th edition of Design NY. Read more below.

Ed and Molly Shill’s Finger Lakes barn was built for function, form, and fun; a 4,400-square-foot multipurpose barn that reflects the past, present, and future.

The structure sits adjacent to the shore of Canandaigua Lake and nestles into the surrounding landscape like a long-loved working barn.

This contemporary build combines both professional and creative spaces and has one foot firmly in the past through its aesthetic choices. A cupola and weathervane crown the structure, a representation of the farms that marked Ed’s youth.

The goals for the barn’s design were numerous yet attainable; a meditation studio for Molly, to practice Yoga, a place to store and display Ed’s classic cars, and several spaces to keep equipment and mechanicals for the property’s upkeep.

Marrying function with high-end detail, the barn expresses craftsmanship rooted in pastoral tradition. On the exterior of the barn is reclaimed American Prairie Coral Board, providing the structure with a rustic setting. On the interior is reclaimed mushroom board creating a warm brown interior typically found in old barns. These reclaimed materials were sourced locally from Pioneer Millworks.

With a robust granite and siding combination that provides the outside of the building with character, the interior is illuminated by custom lighting and beautifully rendered timbers.

On a plot of land in Hingham, Massachusetts what appears to be a classic working gambrel barn from the outside reveals a bespoke entertainment space and regulation basketball court on its interior. Functionality is key as this barn can provide a full court press as well as refined dinner party for several guests. Dual outside porches and a loft offer specialized viewing platforms, while backlit custom timbers and black duct work sail through the trusses providing a contemporary appeal to a venerable form.

Renowned architect Patrick Ahern recalls the project, “So, we inherited an existing house, a relatively new, Georgian brick manor house that was kind of a replica house with some really terrible finishes on the interior. We gutted the interior of the house. It wasn't that old, about 20 years old, and we brought it back into style, and following that we developed a new pool cabana near the existing pool. The barn was desired to provide the clients with a dedicated exercise and gathering space. It has a functional point of view as well as a span-centric point of view which was important. From the outside you have no idea that it’s a sports barn, it could have been a working barn on the site before they built the manor house. I think it works really well.”

“We needed the barn to not feel like it was a dairy barn. We needed it to feel like it was an upscale barn and that’s why we selected the gambrel form to give it the clear ceiling height we needed for the basketball court. We had the ceiling height where we needed it, but also where it didn’t compete with the main house. That was an important piece. Then we used the dormers and clerestory lights to bring more light into the space while using the stone veneer on the base to anchor the building. Finally, the little farmer's porch which was done in post and beam gives you a hint of what the interior is going to be.

Set to open in the Spring of 2026 is the new Joseph P. Mack ’55 Catholic Center and William and Mary Christine Carpenter Catholic Chapel at the University of Rochester.

Following several years of planning, with funding from over 450 donors, and navigating numerous logistical challenges, the project has reached the final stage – the end is in sight.

The facility is intended to represent the over 1,800 Catholic students on the U of R campus, while providing a sanctuary for people of every background and tradition.

The goal of the campus’s master plan and the new complex is to enhance opportunities on campus for greater engagement regardless of religions faith or orientation. This new facility will provide additional ways to foster spiritual growth and a more enriched communal experience for faculty and students.

New Energy Works has played an integral part in the expansion of the Catholic Center providing a timber frame structure, and structurally insulated roof panels, for the building. 

We are honored to apply our craftsmanship to the new timber-centric foundation for an enhanced University of Rochester experience, providing new opportunities for campus faculty, staff, and students to gather together while constructing strong bonds of faith, friendship, and community.

CPL Team

LeChase Construction

“We didn’t want a log home, but we wanted something with some character to it. We saw a few examples of timber frame homes and we chose that,” says homeowner Ray Cardella. 

“We not only saw them in person, because there’s a few around here that we were aware of, but we’d also look through magazines and online,” Janet Cardella adds. “We scoured the timber framing magazines and Log Home and all that other fun stuff to get a good sense of what we wanted.”

Perched on the point of a woody peninsula jutting out into the tannin-tinged waters of Sixth Lake in Inlet, New York, the Cardella’s hybrid timber home recalls the vernacular of the famed Adirondack Great Camps.  Surrounded by forest preserve lands, the home, and accompanying boathouse nestle next to the shoreline in a symbiotic relationship. 

“We started the process pretty early in 2018 initially with the builder because getting a builder up here is a difficult thing and I wanted to reserve his time knowing we wouldn’t start anything for a couple of years,” says Janet. “The builder had worked with New Energy Works before, or was in the process of working with you on a couple of other projects and suggested that we reach out to you guys relative to some of the timber framing that we wanted done.”

“We knew we wanted a look that was hybrid timber frame, not a full timber frame, not something that was all wood,” says Janet. “We wanted to make sure that it was light and bright and also took the most advantage of the views that we have along with the lake frontage. We spent some time with Owen and some others at New Energy Works and talked about what we were looking for and worked with DMC architecture to make sure that what we desired was structurally stable.” 

New Energy Works Construction Division is Rochester Business Journal’s 2025 Leaders in Construction & Real Estate award winner for home building. Our timber frame project, Inclusion in Motion, is a 2025 Top Projects award honoree. 

“We are excited to join a distinguished collection of other Rochester area developers, architects, contractors, and partners who practice innovation, forward thinking building methods with our home building leader award,” says Eric Fraser President of East Coast New Energy Works. “But the real honor is having Inclusion in Motion win a top project. This radically inclusive playground and pavilion was a passion project for our internal team with its impact on the community. We’re glad to see it honored.” 

“My wife wanted a timber frame or log type home, says homeowner Kevin Knisley, “We kicked around ideas and both of us fell in love with the timber frame aesthetics and the look. We don’t see too many of them in Michigan. I’ve always liked the design and the feeling, that was the main thing. When I built my last house here, I wanted to make it a timber frame house.”

On the bucolic shoreline of Lake Lapeer, Michigan, the Knisley’s built their dream home. “We’ve always wanted to do a timber frame, we love the design, it makes us feel like we’re up North or in the mountains, Montana, or Idaho – but we’re in Michigan, and on the waterfront too."

A special combination and one that is not typical to the region. But then again, the Knisley’s are anything but a typical client. In addition to working with heavy timber, being close to the water was a critical part of the construction of the Knisley’s new home. Because Kevin is a retired airline pilot, he needed an aquatic runway to land his seaplane.

“I knew based off of some of the research and due diligence I had done that I wanted to use New Energy Works,” Knisley says. “They’re a professional group of people; I looked forward to working with them. I knew that they were good, seasoned, veteran journeyman framers and good old fashion wood workers. 

“We did a layout that I took to my architect, and he drew up. Then we got together with New Energy Works. Your architectural team and my architectural team together came up with a final design.” 

That collaboration resulted in an expansive and custom home that postures like an estate but feels like a lodge. “Big timbers are a real masculine type feeling, heavy timbers the bigger the better,” Knisley says. “They look beefy and are very structurally sound and something that’s going to last not just 50 to 100 years but 150 to 200 years.”

For New Energy Works project manager, Evan Clow, this timber frame porch is a project to remember, because it was his first. “I started as a sales assistant with New Energy Works right around the time that we were selling the job. So, I was making the model and doing some of the sales work around the porch. That was cool because I got to be a part of the project from cradle to finish.”

The clients had relocated from the Midwest to Portland, Oregon and had always dreamed of a timber frame home. With both children now grown, staying in Portland was a priority so they could be close to grandchildren. With timber frame still in their hearts, the clients decided to invest in a space the family could enjoy together.

“The clients had a plan to do something unique to make their suburban home stand apart from the crowd a bit. A special place in their backyard that their entire family could share,” Clow shared.  “They decided, ‘Let’s just go the full nine yards and build the most awesome timber frame porch for our backyard!’ We drew up a few pretty elaborate frames for porches that we could fit into one spot, and they were excited by the results.”

Clow says, “The clients, were very engaged and wanted to be a part of the process as much as possible."

They were so excited for their new timber porch that they visited our McMinnville mill to witness their timbers being cut. That doesn’t happen often, and it was really special to be able to share that moment with them.

Timber Frame champion for this job, Seth Douglas recalled some of the challenges raising a frame in a suburban environment. “Working in occupied space and in urban areas poses unique site consideration and raising challenges. No access for heavy machinery meant this frame was unloaded, assembled, and raised the old-fashioned way, by hand.”

Our Farmington, New York campus recently had a visit from Tennessee clients who are looking to move from their current dwelling and into a hybrid timber frame home high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We love taking folks through the shops and talking wood with families who are on their home building journey.

Our clients purchased 400 acres of Appalachian Mountain property bordered on both sides by National Park lands. Their dream is for a high craft home that exhibits their love of elegance with the privacy and rustic opulence of a mountain chalet.

New Energy Works West Coast Architect David Shirley explains, “We’ve been working with these clients for over a year now, as the site work is completed, to get prepped and brainstorm the design. The clients wanted to build on the top of the mountain, so instead of leveling the summit of the peak, they built a retaining wall system to create a large flat landing space for the home. There is a huge amount of engineering work and roads, plus the retaining walls needed to make this project feasible.”

“The house will feature 360-degree views at 3000’ above sea level. Directly behind the home is a National Park to the North. The South goes down to the main valley and up the other side of the mountain to more National Park lands—so it’s sandwiched in nature.”

The home is in its formative stages, with collaboration and idea sharing the central focus. The clients really wanted connection to the land and people who live there. It turns out Shirley, who grew up in Tennessee is very familiar with the build location. It turns out that as a kid he spent much time four-wheeling on the land where the clients are building their dream home.

In this episode of Bridging the Gap, our founder and CEO Jonathan Orpin joins host Todd Weyandt to discuss blending old-world craftsmanship and forward-thinking sustainability.

“The barn is the first piece of a much bigger master plan, “says architect Mark Finlay. “It was built as a place that the homeowner could have privacy, it was to be a little get-away for her. She loved the idea of doing a sort of modern barn structure, and the whole master plan was designed so that she would get that.”

The client’s main house is located next door to their auxiliary barn build. They demoed an existing structure on the lot just adjacent to their home and then began to personalize the property in a large-scale way. Following the preparations of the lot, construction began in earnest on the client’s contemporary get-away barn.

“She really liked certain barns that I had designed with the structure expressed on the inside,” Finlay recalls. “New Energy Works was great. The hardest thing was getting the right color; the color was critical to the homeowner.”

Our team worked diligently at getting the hue provided by Finlay and his client translated to perfect timber tone for the project. Finlay continued, “There’s a double layer of timber on the roof and the color of the timbers is very specific, sort of a California, she wanted a kind of glazed wood with a softer look.”

This look is accomplished through the buttery timber finish that sits in comfortable contrast with subtle black steel embellishments on both the light fixtures and timber joinery. There is an abundance of natural light diffused throughout the space emanating from the dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows found in the living space and echoed in the centerpiece of the barn – the large glass enclosed porch.

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The NEWBeamery has been full of finishing touches, though we’ve been running jobs through the Oikos X for the last few months. Timber frames plus fabricate & finish jobs for partners in the mass timber space. Now we’re taking a moment to celebrate some smaller things on the non-production side that make the shop feel like home.  

Timber Frame Entry
It wouldn’t be a New Energy Works space if it didn’t have a timber frame greeting. Back when we moved to McMinnville in the early 2000’s adding a truss to the front door was one of our first to-dos.

Same here, as The NEWBeamery gets an official raising of a timber frame entry and porch. It sets the stage for what’s to come inside and gives a taste to visitors of our roots. Though not visible from the road as a greeting, it certainly adds warmth and suggests respite for the mostly industrial complex.

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“My grandfather bought this piece of property in 1942. He hunted it his whole life and so did my dad. When I was a little kid, my dad took me to the property all the time with my mom and sister,” reminisced the homeowner of their family cabin in the woods. 

The storied history of this long family-owned Allegheny property has deep roots embedded into its rolling hills and rich soil. 

The land had been forested, cleared for homes and agriculture, and then abandoned during the depression. Families started returning in the 1950’s for recreation while various state-run programs began to caretake and reforest the land. Through these programs, the homeowner’s grandparents (the first generation to own the land) planted tens of thousands of trees on the lot—both providing a green future and family fingerprint on the property. 

Their land began as a 68-acre portion containing a small primitive cabin called “The Shack” that was previously used as a farm granary. The building burned down in the 1950’s and was replaced with another rustic cabin without plumbing or electric. The first generation of family constructed that cabin from materials they harvested on the site – trees, old planks, and more.

A handful of years later, a second cabin was built next to the first. This new cabin had three rooms, but still no heat, electric, or plumbing, and was occupied by various family members through the years. This second cabin was expanded on, then left behind, when the family outgrew it.

“The idea was to create a gathering place on the lake for several of the families that have houses or cabins on the larger property,” Bob Wagner of High Peaks Carpenters said. “A place for them all to entertain and be together at once.”

Found on the pastoral shoreline of Lake Champlain and nestled in the shadows of the Adirondack High Peaks, sits a scenic pavilion that brings together two separate parcels of land. Enjoyed by several generations, five of the families collaborated on the lakeside centerpiece. 

“The first objective was to sit the structure, so it didn’t block the view of the lake from the surrounding houses,” says architect Joan Heaton. “Also to knit the two sites together. There is this big retaining wall that forms sort of a plinth for the building to sit on and an earthen ramp that goes from the more manicured space down towards the water and the beach.”

The deceivingly simple barn style building is essentially an open-ended park pavilion featuring a multitude of comfortable spaces and several high-end amenities. “There are changing rooms and two bathrooms, with one of them being accessible for a wheelchair,” Heaton added. “The entry on the upper side is a ramp—reminiscent of a bank barn. And the pavilion has a bedroom upstairs that can be used as an office or overflow for extra visitors.”

The communal building is an axis of ineffable views available from inside and outside. “The sight lines were very intentional, as the North and East open up to views,” Heaton said. “The two sides of the pavilion open up to both light and landscape The screen porch is tucked away so that it’s not blocking views from the interior.”

On a private drive just above the shoreline of Canandaigua Lake, the New Energy Works timber frame team collaborated with Grossi Construction on the raising of an expansive multi-use barn. 

Architect Dan Pieters came to the New Energy Works team with, “the initial architecture and schematic design and then we drove the sizing, the structure and the finite dimensions of it.” says New Energy Works designer Bethany Schaertl. There was a lot of coordination back and forth between our team, Dan Pieters, and Grossi construction to make sure all the moving parts were working toward the same goal.

“It was mainly designed for a car barn, and a little bit of utility stuff, and the second floor is going to be a Yoga studio and office, says Steve Grossi of Louis J. Grossi Construction, Inc. “You could call it multi-use, but the main purpose is for vehicles.”

Five years earlier Grossi had built the homeowners current living quarters just down the private drive from the barn. “Their house is conventionally framed with a few timber elements, says Grossi. “We knew that we wanted to incorporate some of those timber features from the house into the barn.” In the end, the entire barn became a fully structurally supported timber frame.

On the morning of the raising, efficiency and precision were the order of the day as our timber frame team moved quickly around the property as one unit, moving the heavy Douglas fir trusses weightlessly through the air. The darkened timbers were carefully put into place, lending the biophilic bones to the two-story barn structure. 

“Every facet of the company is involved in this project, it’s been cool to see all of gears essentially of New Energy Works revolving around to make this project come to life,” says Jake Desmarais, Site Supervisor for New Energy Works General Contracting division who is overseeing the Otisco Lake build.

Developed by our in house design team, with a timber frame and high-performance enclosure by New Energy Works; the house also features details from our fine ­craftspeople at NEWwoodworks and sustainable wood products from our sister company Pioneer Millworks. 

Tucked on the shoreline of Otisco Lake, this custom residence is our client’s legacy home, built for them, but also for the family’s future generations. Spotlighting massive intersecting gable roofs, and a rustic timber-centric lake side porch, the homes crowning achievement is its great room. Designed for socializing and embellished by high craft Douglas fir trusses, the room is interred with our high-performance wall enclosures and thoughtfully detailed by our talented NEWwoodworks team.

The homeowners live just next door to the build site, so keeping them up to date on the work has been special for our team, who get great joy out of seeing our clients’ reactions to the daily progress.

“This has been a labor of love,” says Desmarais. “There have been some tiring days but there are other days when you get that instant gratification which is what being in the trades is all about. Days where you can step back and say, ‘Oh my gosh we got all of this stuff done.’ The site supervision is so important and gives the homeowners piece of mind.” 

“This was going to be an agricultural utility building. It was not going to be a venue, it was not going to a classroom—the outdoors is our classroom,” says Mary Mannix, Vice President Board of Directors Natick Community Organic Farm. “Whatever the farm teaches, its mission is education.”

Established in 1974, the Natick Community Organic Farm is a non-profit certified organic farm. It serves 26 communities and features 30 acres of open space while providing farm products and education to patrons of all ages, year-round. Often referred to as just The Farm, it has become THE place for the Natick community to learn. Whether about the food chain, land management, ecosystems, or natural farming skills, the farm has provided Massachusetts youth the life skills to last them into adulthood.

“Having your child go to a place like The Farm where they’re going to explore and do things like look at bugs,” says Mannix. “That’s what makes it such a beloved place. No screens, no cell phones, and the pace is agreeable.”

The centerpiece of The Farm was its functional 200-year-old timber frame cattle barn that dated from 1815. On March 17, 2021, in the early hours of St. Patrick’s Day, the barn was destroyed in a three-alarm fire. The destructive blaze was a devastating blow to the community who didn’t know how The Farm would ever recover. 

Whereas the tragic blaze could have torn the community apart, what it did was inspire a coming together through a grassroots fundraising campaign. The support was immediate and massive. Donations poured in locally as well as from surrounding areas. The community responded quickly because the farm had resonated and affected everyone in a positive way. 

Tucked away in the pastoral heart of the Finger Lakes region is an award-winning golf course, Ravenwood, which spotlights 18 holes, lush greens, and crisp fairways while offering a unique challenge to golfers of all skill levels. A full-service facility, Ravenwood also hosts weddings, corporate events and banquets on its expansive grounds. 

For everything that the course encompasses, to take the property to the next level they needed a clubhouse upgrade. The clubhouse is a naturally a high traffic area, a place to take a respite from the course, or to catch up with friends after a long day of golf. Adding a diverse outdoor space to the facility was a priority for Ravenwood and the most efficient way to develop this new space while still providing long term stability and a touch of class to the existing clubhouse was by introducing heavy timber. 

The incorporation of a timber frame into the Ravenwood clubhouse was to provide patrons with “a wow factor,” Jennifer Gossage, Director of Clubhouse Operations at Ravenwood said. “Our vision included an indoor-outdoor bar area connected to beautiful patio space. The timber frame was the ideal solution, combing rustic charm with elegance to achieve the impact we desired. We wanted to upgrade our facility and to provide patrons with an enhanced experience.”

Situated on a tree dotted slope overlooking the property, the clubhouse nestles into the surrounding landscape. A central hub of activity for the facility, the upgrade needed to be inviting as well as functional. A well thought out outdoor space can have as powerful an aesthetic impact on visitors as a beautifully designed interior space. In the case of a Ravenwood, the new timer frame build offers the specialized experience of seamlessly enjoying indoor leisure activities without ever having to leave the course. 

“Accessibility is often mandated, but inclusion is a choice.” – Mike Bentley

On a donated field not far from the shores of Canandaigua Lake in New York, a brand new and overdue community space just opened. Motion Junction is located on Outhouse Road in the Richard P Outhouse Memorial Park, so named for the family that donated the land on which the park and new playground now stand. Motion Junction has the distinction of being the first Universal Design (UD) certified and fully inclusive playground in the United States. Universal Design is defined as ‘a concept in which products and environments are designed to be usable by all people, to the greatest extend possible, without the need for adaption or specialized design’. Motion Junction is an entire complex focused on improving health, wellness, performance, and social participation for a diverse population of people.

Architects, builders, families, and volunteers united for Motion Junction’s common goal of creating a space where people of all abilities can be engaged in a sensory rich environment that provides a safe harbor from the storms of their struggles. While the facility is labeled as a playground, it is much more than that, it’s a truly a diverse community space for everyone.

The mission of any fully inclusive playground is to encourage and increase interactions between a variety of people and institute parallel play. Parallel play is when children regardless of ability interact and engage with each other in a safe and inclusive space. The hope is that the socialization facilitated by parallel play will take root and expand into later life — informing the entire community.

Recently our west coast team participated in a community project for Miller Woods, a public woodland park located near our McMinnville, Oregon shop.

For the project New Energy Works in partnership with Solid Carbon and Elk Creek Forest Products provided a new timber frame pavilion for Miller Woods, which was raised by hand on a sunny Saturday by a group of community volunteers, partners, and many of our New Energy Works co-workers.

“We are always on the lookout for small community projects like this, so that we can help folks out and be good citizens in our local community,” explained New Energy Works Founder & CEO Jonathan Orpin. “John Mead, our friend from Solid Carbon, called us up and said: ‘I know New Energy Works is always looking for interesting projects, and we are pouring a carbon sequestering concrete slab for this great woodland park near your shop in McMinnville called Miller Woods, would you like to be part of it and put up a timber frame pavilion?’ and I told him you bet!”  

When the owners of this recently completed lakefront residence began their journey to build a custom timber frame home in the Finger Lakes, they relied on the experience and comprehensive design + build services offered by New Energy Works, based in nearby Farmington New York.

For over thirty years New Energy Works has been crafting sustainably minded timber frame homes throughout the Finger Lakes region. In that time their expertise and service offerings have grown to include in-house Architects, interior designers, and general contracting/ construction as well as a fine woodworking division known as NEWwoodworks, and their sister company Pioneer Millworks – who manufacture reclaimed and sustainable wood products, all of which were utilized to construct this one-of-a-kind home.

The homeowners came to the project with a previous connection to New Energy Works through the company’s fine woodworking division, who had done extensive remodeling work for them on a different property in the past. But building a brand-new home on one of the Finger Lakes can present unique challenges, which Architect Kyle Barber RA, CPHC – the head of New Energy Works design team knows all too well.

On a recent episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast, host Tom Raftery sat down with our founder & CEO Jonathan Orpin to discuss his journey helping to revolutionize the timber and construction industry with a staunch commitment to sustainability.

The episode dives deep into how New Energy Works incorporates an eco-friendly approach to our projects, often focusing on the use of reclaimed and sustainably harvested wood in partnership with our sister company Pioneer Millworks.

See the interview on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/kNPvRjzPLx8
 

See more from Digital Supply Chain:  The Future of Building: Sustainability and Innovation with Jonathan Orpin (digitalsupplychainpodcast.com)

For homeowners Mary & Eric, building a responsibly sized and environmentally sound retirement home was a priority for them as they looked toward their own future, and the planets. Utilizing as many environmentally friendly building materials as possible, the couple were equally concerned about the homes short term impact on the environment, as well as its long-term energy use and performance.

“Eric is a scientist-type personality and Mary is a cool artist-type personality, and juxtaposing those two points of view together into a finished home was the challenge here. We worked with them and added more timber into the building, opened some windows, and worked with the couple to minimize the square footage of the space down to what was essential to their lifestyle. It was quite the task to meet the needs of both clients, with Mary being focused on the craft and beauty of the home, and Eric being very concerned with material selections, sourcing, imbedded carbon, and performance. It was a winning combination though, and both were willing to compromise when needed to make things work and stuck by their guns when necessary to get what they wanted. In the end we came up with a very nice design that was a beautiful compromise to what they each wanted out of this home.” - Architect David Shirley AIA, NCARB

“When we looked at the New Energy Works website and read about how the company crafts high-performance enclosures that pay very close attention to a home’s thermal envelope as part of their Design + Build process, we were very impressed that the team makes sustainability a normal part of how they do business,” Eric shared. “To our mind that is the kind of company we want to support.”

Our friends at Rochester Home Magazine honored us with a detailed cover editorial featuring our east coast design team.

Written by Helana Shumway

Project photos by Tim Wilkes

Read the whole issue online: September//October 2023 Rochester HOME Magazine by Featured Media - Issuu

A few years back New Energy Works provided a timber frame for a new hybrid custom home in Oregon located on an idyllic eight-acre plot of land. Recently we returned to raise a matching classic timber frame barn on the property clad in reclaimed wood siding from our sister company Pioneer Millworks.

“We built a new timber frame house with New Energy Works a few years ago, it is not a totally timber frame house, it’s a hybrid, but one large section is completely timber framed,” said Ric, the homeowner and builder.  “The property had an old metal pole barn on it that we used during the construction of the house, but once the house was done, the old metal barn was an eyesore, so we decided to build a new big, beautiful timber frame barn that would go with the house.”

This new addition to the acreage is a space for gardening, projects, and parties, but was designed to be easily adaptable in years to come. A labor of love inside and out, this barn is part of the long-term plan for the development of the property by the recently retired homeowners. 

Recently New Energy Works raised a modern Douglas fir timber frame pavilion designed by our friends at Eco-Logic Studio for the Motion Junction Playground, a first of its kind inclusive playground that provides an accessible play experience to children and adults of all physical and mental abilities located near our east coast shop in Canandaigua New York.

The large pavilion project is 120 feet by 35 feet and includes 270+ timbers, the largest of which are over 35-feet long. Even the local media stopped by to check out the raising and our own Nick Foley made it on the evening news!

“Lighting is an important part of designing a home from the inside out. Low voltage accent lighting highlights architectural features while stylistic fixtures identify the gathering spaces.” -Diana Gerken 

When Mark and his wife set out to craft a timber frame home in central New York State, the journey started with finding the right piece of country real estate to build on. Once they had acquired the land to develop, it became time to design their new family home.

“During the design process we often ask ourselves: How will they know where to go? Here the main entry is called attention to by a trellised walking path from the face of the garage to an expressive covered entry, which extends to be the most prominent extension on the main facade.” - Kyle Zinteck, RA New Energy Works

“We customed designed our home, so it is exactly what we wanted. My wife and I are not youthful anymore, so we had a clear idea of what we needed for the next 25 years or so,” Mark shared. “We have a large extended family, so we designed the house around our need to host large groups of people to accommodate our family when they visit.”

“The main entrance is substantiated with stone walls on either side of the door to support the timber porch that draws guests in to a custom NEWwoodworks door. Taking inspiration from a previous New Energy Works project that the homeowners loved, we designed this Douglas fir door with transom and sidelights in a finish that blends harmoniously with the timber color and stained cedar siding.” -Diana Gerken 

Rolling seaside hills serve as the backdrop to this barn styled home that was inspired by traditional timber frame barn designs familiar to the surrounding area. This home truly celebrates the simplicity of its form and takes the interior timber structure outward to the exterior.

“The western side of the home was purposely designed to be the primary entry to the house, and you approach that entry by car,” said Michael Schmitt AIA, the Architect on the project.  “Our idea was that space could be where the whole design revealed itself, where part of the exterior is pulled back to reveal some of the interior timber structure and express some of the frame from the inside on the outside. It is also where the garage is, so even guests would arrive on that side of the house and come up a few steps into the exposed barn structure and then into the interior.”

“The design idea was to express the barn frame from the interior out to the exterior in that one location of the home, but It also breaks down the monotony of a 100-foot by 30-foot barn,” Michael continued. “The visual actually erodes at that corner and becomes the barn frame, which is what we tried to express throughout the whole project, the beautiful simplicity of the barn’s timber frame.”

For homeowner Brett, the idea of spending quality time with his wife and young children outdoors in a timber frame pavilion was one that followed him from one home to the next. Originally discussing the idea with his father, who is also his homebuilder, several years ago for his first home, it was here in his second home the idea finally took form. 

“It was actually an idea we had in our old house, then we decided not to add on and move, so the idea followed us to this new house,” Brett told us. “This project was an idea of ours for 5 or 10 years, quite a while. We love the outdoors and after seeing some of the other New Energy Works projects online, this idea just came together overtime to build a three-season timber frame room.”

The porch has quickly become the focal point of the house, with evenings and weekends now largely shared by the whole family on the porch when the weather is nice, and sometimes even when it’s not.

See more: Fine Homebuilding Magazine

Project Credits: 

Solar Partner: SunCommon

Timber Frame: New Energy Works

Engineer: Sellers Treybal Structural Engineers 

Now available in New York & Vermont

Coming soon to the West Coast U.S.A.

See our case study: The Solar Canopy | New Energy Works

What do pizza boxes, a canceled wedding, and a community hand raising have in common? This backyard pavilion in Oregon.

For homeowners Matt & Laura, 2020 was rough. Both work in the front-line medical industry and their dream wedding was looking less and less likely to ever happen. The couple decided that they would turn tradition around, forgoing a traditional one-time wedding ceremony and instead spending what would have been their wedding fund on an outdoor timber frame pavilion they could enjoy with their friends and family for many years to come.

At first, they used empty pizza boxes laid out on the ground to envision their ideas for the space, eventually deciding on a layout for their timber pavilion that included an outdoor pizza oven and Argentine grill, among other amenities.

When Julie built her ranch style home in Oregon back in 1989, she wanted a classic timber frame, but was unable to find anyone in the area building timber homes at the time. With a background in the construction industry and woodworking, she was her own general contractor on the home and got as close as she could to the timber frame aesthetic by including exposed beams and wood pillars.

“We are retired now, but what we did for a profession was excavation and heavy equipment rental, site work, a lot of high-end homes, municipality, public excavation work, like high schools, streets,” Julie told us. “Funny enough, we helped develop the neighborhood we live in about 35 years ago. We built our family home here, and at that time I wanted to do a timber frame structure, but no one in the area was doing them. What we have in the main house is open beam and wood pillars, which is as close as I could get to timber framing in 1989.”

More recently when Julie began considering retirement, she reached out to New Energy Works to design and build a timber frame addition to her much-loved family home. The reverent timber space that now houses her at home woodshop is designed to be a flexible space that can adapt to her fine woodworking needs today but could also be converted to functional living space in the decades to come.

(585) Magazine recently covered one of our favorite recent Design + Build projects in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. This project combined all our related services, Timber Frame, Design + Build, HPEz, fine woodworking from NEWwoodworks, and our sister company Pioneer Millworks.

More from (585): (585) magazine - Rochester, NY (585mag.com)

Related Content:

Long-Term Lake Front | New Energy Works

Natural materials for a custom home: Design Q&A | Pioneermillworks

Project Credits:

Architect: New Energy Works

Builder: New Energy Works, High-Performance Enclosure: New Energy Works

Engineer: Fire Tower Engineered Timber 

Reclaimed Wood: Pioneer Millworks 

I’ve been timber framing for more than 30 years. Very often over this time we’ve worked with owner builders. These folks span the same wide range as any other custom builder, from hands off the tools and just managing everyone, to placing every form, nailing every connector, and setting the last piece of bathroom tile.

Mostly though, it’s somewhere in between, smack in the middle. Scott & Jill are that way, and on a recent stop in after we’d been done with our part for a couple months, I was once again reminded of my oft-stated, “Human potential is an amazing thing”.

When I first visited their site in Sisters, Oregon, the two were busy clearing brush and building a pump house. They could see where they were going, had the views of The Three Sisters Mountain Range captured just right, and knew how the driveway and entry porch would eventually welcome guests. My coworker David had finished their plans but truthfully, Scott had sent us about the most detailed set of preliminaries we have ever received. They knew what they wanted.

And they knew how to work for it. You might remember the post from August when we raised their timber frame in 100+ °F and bright sun. We then went back and installed tongue and groove and structural insulated panels (SIPs). But everything else was Scott & Jill and their own set of subs and coworkers…and a lot more hard work of their own. Here are some shots on a recent snowy afternoon by our coworker Kelsey Boyer.

These are images of a well organized, quality job site. And of so much of a dream unfolding. I once asked those two how they are still so much in love (as was evident, if you get my drift).  “Shared dreams and the perfect partner,” was about the response. Stay with us over the next months. We’ll visit again and share the progress.

Anthony Venezia  has been spending his weekends this past year building a highly crafted high-performance home in Canandaigua New York. This construction project is designed to be a modern and sustainable home for Anthony and his family and features dark stained Douglas fir timber accents as well as two-tone Shou Sugi Ban exterior siding and white oak flooring & stair treads from our sister company Pioneer Millworks.

Most importantly, the home utilizes our High Performance Made Easier ™ (HPEz) enclosure system which enabled Anthony and Luke to construct the home to the efficiency standards they wanted to achieve with the project. 

Now that the family home is nearing completion, we caught up with Anthony to discuss how the project got started, why he wanted to build sustainably, and what it was like building a home for his family with a high-performance enclosure system that was manufactured off-site.

Q: How did this high-performance construction project get started?

For one couple in rural Connecticut the concept was to create a multigenerational space to enjoy with their five children, friends, and extended family. Part of a sweeping master plan for their property, this understated antiqued party barn is intended to adapt as the family grows and ages over time.

Architect Mark P. Finlay, who has a long-standing relationship with the family, defined the core concept for this family barn as a multigenerational building with a long-term plan. The current incarnation of the space is that of a party barn where the owners children can spend time with their friends out of the main house while remaining on the family property.

“It’s a multigenerational design.” Explains Mark. “We worked it through and talked about the functions of the building, how it’s going to work, who is going to use it, how it would be used in 20 years versus now. We really talked through the whole thing. It’s part of a three generation, or 50-year, plan. It is a building with a singular design idea that will work really well in the future because it can adapt to a lot of different functions.”

On a recent weekend I visited 21 sites in New York from Friday night until Sunday evening.  I was touring with some west coast-based members of our timber framing team.  The goal is sharing, connecting, and learning from recent and ongoing projects as well as some from our long past.  I think I’ll write more about this trip in an upcoming post, as we were all deeply affected, with a Friday night ride on the Buffalo Heritage Carousel and ending with an acapella performance at Christ Church in Rochester and touring the Baroque period organ project there.

The tour left us all pretty stunned.  Even for me, who had been part of these projects.  Seeing it all together like this was magic, if a bit overwhelming.

Towards the end of Sunday, we were at our longtime clients Tom and Karen’s place in the Finger Lakes when Tom said, “Hey our neighbor Larry stopped by and when he heard you were coming was adamant you guys visit him as well.”  Wow, a total warm wind of memory whipped right through.  Larry H.  We built for him in 1988.  And when his name comes up, so do the stories…

Affectionately referred to as “Trout Point” by the homeowners, the timber framed addition to this family home was built with recreation at heart. Seamlessly integrating with the existing house, the bar and game room is a place where the homeowners and their friends can kick back and relax while enjoying Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. 

Featuring a custom woodworked bar, dart board, wine storage area and integrated shuffleboard court crafted by NEWwoodworks, this space allows for year-round fun with family and friends. The entire project allowed for creative expression in its design and execution with results that the homeowners describe as a dream come true.

Because of the homeowner’s willingness to freely embrace the talents of the design and build teams they assembled for the project; these clients are regarded by everyone who has played a role in the addition as dream clients for creating an atmosphere where creativity could flourish, and partnerships thrived. We caught up with a few of the key players who shared their experience on this most beloved of projects.

Recently we raised a pavilion/carport for Tom Kime and his wife Karen as part of a large-scale renovation project of their property on Seneca Lake in New York. Tom is the president of Lyons National Bank (or LNB), who has worked with New Energy Works on projects large and small for many years. We caught up with Tom & Karen recently to talk about the raising of the pavilion, their remodeling project, community partnerships, working with likeminded folks, and the goodwill a well-made pie can bring to a jobsite.

The renovation project itself is part of a group of connected family properties the couple enjoy with their adult children and grandchildren. Bringing in contractors with longtime business ties to LNB to work on the property is nothing new for Tom & Karen, they have long believed that close relationships are the key to doing good business and that a sense of community among vendors leads to better results.

“Most everyone we work with are customers of the bank.” Tom says. “We like doing business with people who are customers of ours and that relationship goes both ways.”

For owners Doug Doetsch and his wife Susan Manning, their roots of apple farming in the Catskills Mountain Region of New York run deep. Doug has apple farming in his blood, tracing his ties to the area back five generations on both sides of his family including apple farms of the 1800’s, through prohibition era bootlegging of hard cider and applejack, to his own childhood growing up on orchards in the area. Apple farming is something of a Doetsch legacy.

After moving away for thirty-or-so years to establish a career in international finance law, Doug returned to his roots and recently founded Seminary Hill, an organic orchard & cidery in Callicoon.

With the help of renowned orchardist Michael Philips and an expansive team of local like-minded folks, the Seminary Hill team started planning the holistic twelve acre orchard in 2012. It now includes more than 1,500 trees with an astonishing 60 varieties of American, English, and French heirloom apples and pears with plans to expand in the coming decade. The orchards ecosystem is based on the sympathetic planting of pollinating and pest-repellent plants and flowers so that the apples and pears can be grown without the use of chemical pesticides. Organic all the way.

About a year ago, Dave Cratty wrote about a timber frame raising on a remote lakefront job site in the Adirondack Mountains that was only accessible by boat with no roads, no Wi-Fi, and no cell phone service.

Recently we returned to the site in the Adirondack State Park to hand-raise a second structure to complement the first Lake House.

This new main cabin had to fit into the existing footprint of an older structure with a design that was limited by height restrictions. It also had to be completely raised by hand in the off-grid setting. Since there was no way to get heavy equipment to the site, each timber was delivered by barge and offloaded by hand.

Every morning the New Energy Works team would drive an hour from their hotel, boat across the isolated lake to the job site, work until dark, and then make the journey back. As arduous as it sounds, the team loved the remote nature of the work, the commute, and the old-school methods of the timber frame raising.  

For homeowners Ben & Kate and their three young children, the seven-year journey to their forever home just outside Ithaca New York was a long and winding road filled with life lessons, dreams, and joy.

“For our entire adult life, my husband and I, we always dreamed about building a house. We just wanted to build a home that we would live in forever that would suit our own needs and come from our own ideas.” Says Kate. “Seven years ago, our dream started to become a reality when we found this plot of land and we really fell in love with it. It was all woods, and we cleared a section of the land, but we needed to save to build our dream home. So, we decided to buy a double wide trailer and live in that, in the corner of the property, while we continued to plan and dream.”

When the Kate & Ben began this process and took a leap of faith into trailer life seven years ago, their youngest son (who is now 5) hadn’t even been born yet. As the happy family grew and evolved over time, albeit in tight quarters, so did the design of their future dream home.

We work all over the country, but you already knew that.  And while there is no doubt that it’s great to get back home the night of a raising when it’s local to either our Western New York or McMinnville, Oregon shops, the truth is most of us like to travel, and that we get to do!  

Out here on the West Coast, where I spend most of my time, we’ve had a summer of unreal views and sights (and sites). Someone asked me recently where we’ve been.  Lessee...  Yosemite, Leavenworth, Flathead Lake, Carmel, Lake Lapeer, Michigan…  Wait Michigan?  You bet.  

Most of our clients and much of our industry are looking for their timber frames in Douglas fir, so doing these out of our west coast shop makes a lot of sense as we are in the midst of Doug-fir-land here in Oregon.  We also feel strongly that whenever possible our timbers should be kiln dried.  It just makes a better final product.  And yes, we’re in the middle of kiln country as well.

So, sending a large set of hammer beam trusses and bents to a beautiful Michigan lake fits.

As does Yosemite, where we are returning next week to finish the exterior timbers on the top of this hill.  

Rochester Childfirst Network has been serving the children of Rochester New York and the surrounding area since 1857. To provide some context as to how long that has been, the American Civil War began in 1861, four years after R.C.N. began their mission to care for children in Rochester.

Over the years RCN has changed with the needs of the community, beginning as an organization aimed at addressing the dire needs of orphaned, poverty stricken, and homeless children with vocational schooling, which were commonplace issues of the late Victorian age continuing into the industrial revolution. Today the group has transitioned to offering community based early education and care programs on their South Avenue campus in downtown Rochester.

RCN’s mission centers on not-for-profit advocation at local, state, and national levels for early education and care practices for all children with a guiding vision that every child should grow up safe, strong, and able to achieve their full potential.

When Vogue Magazine listed the most anticipated hotel openings for 2020 there was a rumble through our community. The magazine cited properties in Paris, Palm Beach, Palermo and…Canandaigua Lake, a mere 10 miles from our Farmington NY campus–The Lake House, a project we were already intimately familiar with.

We often say that the land, the building site, teaches us how to design the home. This is simplistic. There are many inputs that are needed to start the design process, including:

Who will live here?

What is their lifestyle?

What are their tastes? Their loves? Their feelings about Home?

What are the needs and have-to-haves?

What is the budget?
 

Businesses around the country were forced to make significant changes to how they operate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. When our friends at the Benedictine Brewery called with a need to raise an outdoor pavilion for their customers, we were happy to jump into action.

 One of only three breweries in the United States owned and operated by monks, the Benedictine brewery raising in 2017 was a community effort and one that we will always remember.  You can catch up on that story and watch a video of 100 folks hoisting the frame here: (https://newenergyworks.com/blog/a-community-raising-the-benedictine-brewery-mt-angel-oregon)

Designed to mimic the original brewery and taproom with their close to 14,000 board feet of Douglas fir, we created the structure of the pavilion with matching embellishments, using chamfered edges and a clear, natural finish to the wood.  Just as the original raising started in 2017, the Douglas fir timbers quickly defined the shape of the pavilion and now serve as a way for the brewery to continue serving as a welcoming way for the community to gather, taste, and believe.

Guest Author: New Energy Works, Dave Cratty

We all have those dreams of wanting to leave it all behind and live off the grid.  Find a place in the Adirondack mountains, on a remote lake, and just surround yourself with nature and the outdoors.  The question is, how do you deliver and raise a beautiful timber frame lake house to a location that no roads have touched?  The answer, by boat.  

Our New Energy Works timber frame crew spent seven tireless days, traveling back and forth by barge to deliver, off load and raise by hand, this beautiful 1361 square foot bungalow.  The homeowner’s plan to utilize this location in the warmer seasonal months, created a unique opportunity to use a 3x tongue and groove design for the walls, while every door frame and window were outlined with timber.  The layout offered an open floor plan and offering visitors an unobstructed views of the private lake from this cozy, secluded cabin.

Tucked into Puget Sound in Washington, this site allows the homeowners to feed their passions: boating, family time, and entertaining. Easy access for boats and creating spaces large enough to house large family and friends gatherings drove the design, secondary only to the desire for a “refined lodge” aesthetic.

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Known as a full timber frame, the entirety of the home and garage were crafted with timbers, specifically reclaimed Douglas fir timbers. When plans began, the design was quite traditional. “The more we looked at the site and the possible views, the more it transitioned, evolved,” explained David Shirley, AIA, member of our design team. “We angled the house in a soft arc of sorts which maximized views of the Sound as well as those of the Cascade Mountain range in the distance.” This change capitalized on the views and the natural wrap of the land.

No, it is not built into an earthen bank, rather this traditionally inspired timber frame ‘barn’ has had a financial bank built into it. Welcome to the newest branch of LNB (Lyons National Bank):

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Waving corn fields and tight rows of soybeans have given way to smooth grass, colorful signage, and numerous clusters of homes within the Town of Farmington in Ontario County, NY. Grow though the Town has, respecting and celebrating their rural roots is of utmost importance to the community. When LNB approached the Town about a site that was home to the second oldest structure in the County, a farmhouse that has stood for two centuries, there was some skepticism. But at the core LNB is about community. The Town became excited by the bank’s proposal: LNB wanted to embrace the old homestead, the Hathaway House, endeavoring to preserve, celebrate, and open it to the community as part of their new branch. 
(More on the history of the home and property was provided by the Hathaway Sisters, who shared stories, photos, and personal memories around the old homestead, as celebrated by LNB here.)    

The Canalside waterfront entertainment district in Buffalo NY, a popular destination for locals and visitors, will add another attraction this summer: a fully restored 1920’s carousel! The carousel will be housed within a gazebo-inspired timber frame pavilion with glass walls.

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“The timber frame is an 80’ octagon with a clerestory. A 1500 lb steel octagon ring in the center will allow timber rafters to connect and light to come down from the clerestory,” explains Owen MacDonald, our lead timber frame engineer for the carousel. “We’ll have plenty of equipment for the raising: a large scissor lift, all-terrain forklift, two large cranes…and lots of muscle.”

We’re excited share more of the story on our long-time banking partner, LNB (Lyons National Bank), and their newest community branch which we raised just up the road from our Farmington, NY shop.

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The first bent is raised for the new LNB Farmington NY branch, early 2020. Photo (C) Jim Kerins.

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While the branch is quickly heading towards completion, we wanted to re-cap some of the processes involved in getting there:

LNB has a focus on people and is always very involved in the local communities, ethos that parallel our own. The Farmington branch site includes a historic home that is being preserved and refreshed. A new timber frame, connecting to the historic home, will accommodate the bank’s main operations.

State College, PA: Homeowners Jim and Cheryl came to us with a dream home request: design and craft a home for two which could also easily accommodate much larger gatherings with family and friends. The resulting simple and classic cruciform plan for their hybrid timber frame home fits the couple while incorporating space—inside and out—for others.

Jim and Cheryl, their children, and their friends attended the same university near State College in PA where game season is a great reason to join together. The couple found a site nestled at the base of a long rise to the mountains on one side, and open to expansive views into Nittney Valley on the other. “We wanted to take advantage of the views and offer additional space for intensive entertaining to flow outside,” explained Ty Allen, our design/build manager. “The result is nearly 2,000 sq ft of outdoor deck, porch, and patio space in addition to interior living areas.”

Screen porches and a terrace for grilling connect to the fire pit stone patio area which in turn is tied back to the rec area with connecting landscaping. The lower level of the home offers guest and rec space with overflow sleeping ready in the bunk house over the garage. Photo (C) Scott Hemenway

From tree to canal lock to restaurant: In a historic timber reclamation and upcycling story, 500-year-old timbers enter their fourth life (or third use) at Point of the Bluff Vineyards in the Finger Lakes Region of NY:

In the late 90’s our sister company, Pioneer Millworks, salvaged massive, 37″ x 42″ x 48′ Douglas fir timbers from one of the Welland Canal locks in Ontario, Canada. The trees culled for the timbers were 400+ years old when they were harvested and served the canal for nearly 60 years.

From the beginning–a bit history of on the heavy timbers:

37″ x 42″ x 48′ Douglas fir timbers from the Welland Canal Lock. The trees were at least 400 years old when they were harvested in the early 1900’s. 

The falls and rapids of the Niagara River presented a major obstacle for an uninterrupted waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the American heartland. To circumvent the river, the Welland Canal, with eight large locks, was built. Initiated by local businessmen, the first canal was built in 1829. The present-day Welland Canal is the fourth to be constructed. The difference of 99.5 m (326.5 feet) between the levels of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie is now overcome with 43.4 km (27 miles) of canal.

When we met Nancy and Larry to first chat about their timber frame home aspirations, we learned that Larry is a beekeeper and suddenly we were as full of questions about beekeeping as we were with answers to home designing and building. The couple shares a special affinity for nature, much like our various teams (if you’ve ever read our bios, you’ll see a reoccurring theme of ‘hiking, biking, and being outdoors’). Taking a look at the bucolic piece of farm and woodlands near Ithaca, NY was one of the first steps to designing the couple’s home. Ty Allen, AIA, our design build manager and architect, met with Larry and Nancy on their site to explore the possibilities. Ty shared with us a bit about the overall project and process:

“When we walked the site it became clear we could create a design that would give Larry and Nancy a home which engaged with both the surrounding woods and open spaces. We knew they wanted something of manageable size and easy to maintain where they could enjoy their retirement,” Ty shared.

The owners of this timber frame lakeside retreat enjoyed the original lake farmhouse on the site for many years. When it became apparent that their beloved lake house had outlived its use, they made the bittersweet decision to deconstruct it in favor of a new home.

The land, the lake, and home’s impact there was a driving force in the design. Our design team started with respecting the local vernacular and maintaining existing trees and then included advanced enclosure and mechanical systems, FSC-certified® and reclaimed wood flooring and siding, roofing made of recycled wood fiber and rubber, and a geothermal heat system—all resulting in energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

In keeping with local vernacular, the road side facia of this cottage home is modest and welcoming.

For years I’ve resisted writing this post. It can come off as very self-serving. Please don’t let it. Instead, I’ll attempt to be as neutral-valued as I can, and share some of my 30-year history, and perhaps just a tad of the experiences, and sometimes frustrating stories, our clients have shared…and some that I have witnessed.

The timber frame industry has a great many good people in it, associated with it, and as I’ve often said, many of the coolest clients I can imagine. So first, think about a timber framer who is involved with the Timber Framers Guild. At our Guild conferences and our meet-ups, in the committee work we do, in the publications we create, two important things occur: we learn, and are better professionals because of it; we share, and our craft is better for it. In both cases you win.

And when you ask, “Is your company a member?” be sure to dig just bit deeper. Do you attend the conferences? Do you send your shop folk and your designers? Do you give, as well as receive?

“Jonathan, et al…

As I write out the final check for Invoice #9, it seems the right moment to pen a note of appreciation for the bundle of work, energy, and creativity that we currently reside in. It is not lost on us for a moment that we discovered NEW at a moment in time that was just right for everyone; Rocio stumbled onto your website looking for a builder of ‘barn homes’ and was immediately captured by the concepts and pics displayed. Everything seemed to line up:  small house, close to shop, (relatively) simple design, similar vision, seasonal timing, etc. to enable you all to pull off an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, efficient, stunning, one-of-a-kind home for us.

It is quite difficult to express the deep sense of gratitude we feel towards everyone that contributed to the Jewel…many of which I don’t have the ability to send this to, or even be able to name. The artistic, creative flair combined with real-life practicality is a major component of our place we will love for many years to come.

Please pass on our thanks to everyone that was involved. We look forward to visits from any and all as time goes by.

Sincerely,

Phil and Rocio

Dayton, Oregon”