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“I love structure that is gorgeous, and the timber work on this project is form and function at its best,” says Kevin Beland of Wood and Clay Fine Homes.

There are three buildings located on the expansive New Hampshire compound where two new timber frame structures will be raised. The property includes the client’s main home, a new garage, and a new timber frame party barn. While the client’s main living quarters is getting an update from Wood and Clay, the two new structures are being raised to complete a master plan that mimics the existing aesthetic detailing found around the property.

“The idea is that all of the structures are going to speak to each other. We try to have things have logic to them,” says Beland. “The garage sits between the main house and the party barn. The garage and barn are brand-new buildings and we’re giving the main house a facelift to bring it together with the other structures. 

Shannon Robinson-Beland, co-owner of Wood and Clay, adds, “The party barn is going to be a family space for entertaining. There will be a ping-pong table, a lounge area, and a bar. Just like the name says, it’s a party barn! Adjacent to that structure there is a garage where there will be a few of the client’s favorite cars on display and an additional gym space. The garage space is more functional but still has a high level of finish both in terms of the timbers, the butternut siding on the walls and stained wood details on the ceiling.”

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.

New Energy Works project, The House of Sand and Salt, with Eliza Silva, Eliza Alles Interiors, is the cover story in April/May 2025 Log & Timber Home Living Magazine. Read more about this Nantucket home here.  

“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.

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"The client was a referral from my son who is a structural engineer in Denver. That’s where this project started around 2017,” says Drake Ambrosino New Energy Works Midwest sales representative. “New Energy Works did the timber frame for the client’s home in 2019 and since the client was thrilled with the work, we did on his house he said, ‘I want to build a barn.’”

Only a stone’s throw from their home on the same acreage, the client’s legacy barn will consolidate their land’s livestock, hay, and farming implements under one sturdy timber frame roof. “It’s a ten-acre site in Lafayette, Colorado which is northeast of Denver. The client is a commercial builder, so he’s got experience – he knows what he’s doing,” says Ambrosino. “He raises goats and chickens and cuts his own hay on the property, so this is going to be a working barn.”

“It’s what we call a six-bent barn from front to back. The end gables, the number 1 and the number 6 bents are a king post and queen post combination; they are on the ends because they will also have gable doors installed on them,” Ambrosino says. The truss is a bit of an amalgamation, as Ambrosino explains, “There’s a short king post (center to peak of the truss), two queen’s posts (on each side of the king), the rafters and the bottom cord. For the middle bents 2,3,4, and 5 the client wanted head room, especially 4 and 5 for the loft. If they were conventional trusses, it would have been a head knocker for anyone up in the loft.”

Ambrosino continued, “We were stumped for a little while on how to create the head space in the middle, so I suggested to the client, ‘Why don’t we do the scissor trusses like the ones that are in your house? We can just mirror them’, and that excited him.” So, bents 2,3,4, and 5 became scissor trusses.”

“Our vision was a modern mountain home where clean lines and the raw materials of the engineered structure were part of the finished palette of the home. The black steel I-beam spans the width of the home west to east, and supports the Douglas fir glulam timber frame rafters,” says Pete Heintzelman, Method Architecture Studio architect and homeowner.

The blending of these disparate materials is the foundation of a low lying, high volume modern mountain home in Vermont. Eschewing the more traditional elements of a timber frame, the house’s structure deftly mixes light large scale industrial elements with the softer biophilic feel of natural wood, seamlessly marring different genres of design into a unified building.

“My favorite materials to work with are exposed wood and steel. I knew from the beginning that we were going to do a timber frame or exposed structural elements,” says Heintzelman. “I love the color of Douglas fir with its clear coated richness, and how you can interact metal with it.” 

These interactions play together throughout the home providing a contrast between the rustic and the modernized, the sophisticated and unrefined.

Adirondack Life Magazine's "Adirondack Home & Camps" Issue is out and features our White Tail project with Architect Andy Ramsguard. The home is set on a family compound that features other cottages occupied throughout the year for hunting getaways and family gatherings and throughout the year. 

Oikos, translated from Greek, means an inhabited house or as we use the word in English, a home. It is also the name of an Italian model of a CNC machine designed to cut timber. Our Oikos will then fulfill its meaning or origin cutting the timber frames and glulam homes for our Oregon shop. Sure, it will cut commercial buildings too, in fact we’re pretty excited to be able to offer more to our commercial designers and builders given the machine’s ability to cut 12" x 48" in cross-section and 60' in length. But let’s just for a moment consider the beauty of a machine named home creating homes.

Name is certainly not the reason we chose the Oikos X for the NEWBeamery in McMinnville, though it is poetic. “The Oikos X is a six-axis robotic arm style CNC machine.” said Kelsey Boyer Timber Frame Engineer for our West Coast team. “This significantly differs from what we’ve typically operated with, which is more of an assembly line style of CNC machine where there is an all-in-line variety of tools and the machine grabs the beam and brings the beam to the tool. This CNC machine brings the arm with multiple tools to the timber and moves around the timber.”

“We looked at three separate machines,” continues Kelsey. “And we ranked each machine in a series of categories. As we worked through this decision matrix, and looked at the rankings of the categories that we value highly, the Oikos was ranked above the other two competitors.” 

After making the decision, Kelsey and lead timber framer Darren Watson traveled to Italy to spend time actually running some of our joinery through an Oikos X that is nearly identical to the one that would be ours. Then we worked with a company to create some customized tools for our arm, so that we could use the Oikos more. This makes our machine even more personalized to the way we cut frames.

“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.

This past winter we had the honor of cutting and raising the timber frame for the new Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton, ME. (You can read about the raising here.) The building will welcome visitors to Acadia, giving them a place to park and then ride buses to Mountain Desert Island and Acadia National Park. 

Besides the large timber frame, and its glulam curved "eyebrow" beams, the $27.7 million dollar project will include geothermal heating/cooling, rooftop solar, and electric charging stations. Earlier this July, the Maine Department of Transportation awarded nearly $23.5 million dollars to the Island Explorer bus system to electrify the buses that will bring visitors from the Gateway Center to the parks. This will allow the parks to still have the visitor traffic (38.8 million in 2023), but also cut down on the cars that visit the park and the emissions that causes; a compromise to the popularity of the parks and the wear/tear that they endure for being so popular.

As for the timber frame, we’re happy to report that it is enclosed and work on the interiors has begun. The walls and roof enclosures are SIPs, or structurally insulated panels – designed to wrap this massive timber frame, the largest to ever come through our Farmington shop.

The whole project is slated to complete in 2025, and we’re not the only ones who are excited to see it complete. “This project has been decades in the making and it’s so exciting to see it coming together,” shares the Friends of Acadia website. “It’s really an impressive space! Friends of Acadia donors who’ve supported this work can feel incredibly proud.”

Our friends at Luxe Interiors + Design—Greater New York recently featured our Westport project with a stunning editorial including interviews with architect Mark Finlay and the homeowners.

See more:

View the article on Issuu

Other Project Credits:

Architect: Mark P. Finlay

Photography: Eric Piasecki/OTTO

Every once in a while I make my way upstairs to chat with the engineers only to be delighted with the knowledge that something we made is going up in my hometown. Nestled in a neighborhood in Clarence, NY is Brookfield Country Club—a place to play a friendly round, have a wedding, or if it was the 90s and you were a high schooler in Clarence, get a summer job. And soon, home to some New Energy Works' big a** trusses.

"I don't think I've ever seen tension numbers as high as these," said Owen MacDonald, EC Timber Frame Department Manager. 

"An incredible 71.6 kips (71,600 lbs)," replied Melissa Schmidt, Timber Frame Engineer.

And to deal with all of that tension these 50'6" trusses have a glulam bottom cord and hidden huge steel plates paired with traditional mortise and tenon joinery.

"The client wanted the timbers to work well with, yet contrast against, the cocoa T&G that they're using. So the Douglas fir solid timbers and glulams have a custom dark brown finish. This way the glulam blends even further into the truss, making it visually seamless," says Schmidt.

The New Energy Works timber trusses will be part of an expansion of the event space at the country club. The trusses sit atop steel beams and show off a massive 45' skylight that runs down the center of the space.

Delphi Falls Park is a public park in Madison County, NY. Originally private land with a residence and barn it became a park in August of 2018. Since then, the county has been working on expanding the park and upgrading buildings for better community use.

And that’s where we come in, as our team lead by Timber Frame Champion Jason Houtenbrink, has been on site over the last few weeks raising a timber frame visitors center, breezeway, and bathroom complex. 

“The site is the best part of the entire project,” says timber frame engineer Steve Gibbons who worked on the drawings of the frame. “The visitor’s center faces a waterfall, with a view from the inside of the center of the falls and a timber frame porch that allows people to enjoy the falls from a covered area.”

The main timber frame is a roof system, with custom finished Douglas fir queen post trusses and exposed steel that sit atop steel supports with a Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) roof. The blend of timber and exposed steel gives a lightness to the smaller interior space. Externally there is a full timber frame porch, in the same Douglas fir & custom finish, to blend the outside and in. The bathhouse is connected to the main visitor’s center by a timber frame breezeway joining the two buildings together.

This lakeside home in New York's Finger Lakes region takes timeless structural timber frame design and weaves in modern finishes for a clean and bright unifying aesthetic.

"Everyone I work with on a project is an intentional choice,” explained builder Steve Grossi of Louis J. Grossi Construction. “I have been a fine homebuilder long enough to know who I need to work with to achieve the quality of work my clients are looking for, so I have developed a small core group of partners that I work with again and again, and New Energy Works is part of that group."

With a burned and brushed custom textured finish, the Douglas fir timber frame provides a commanding presence throughout the home. The outdoor porch area is softened by thoughtful design choices, colors, and detailed finishes that give the home a modern personality and elegant flow.

The Druthers Brewing Company's Clifton Park location is more than just a brewery and restaurant, it is an expansive European-styled family friendly space where the local community is encouraged to gather together to eat, drink, and play.

“We have done a lot of work with Druthers Brewing Company in the past for some of their other locations in central/upstate New York in Saratoga Springs, Albany, and Schenectady. The brewery’s owner had always wanted to do something in Clifton Park, which is kind of a main hub of activity in the region,” Architect John Paone explained. “The owner of Druthers Brewing Company found some land, and really wanted to develop this location into a big statement and build something worthy of the area and provide something that Clifton Park really did not offer at the time, which is a community destination. This location has a brewery and a restaurant, but its more than that, it is a place where you can hang out, gather, and spend time.”

The main barn-inspired building with traditional gambrel roof is a nod to the agricultural history of the region, complimented by the large, landscaped courtyard area which doubles as an outdoor community space, live music venue, and children's play area.

Styled after a classic Rocky Mountain lodge, this lake home in Virginia is designed for family, fun, and getting away from the stresses of daily life.

"The homeowner came into this project with a very clear vision and wanted to craft a thoughtful, fun space for his family with natural heavy timbers and lots of lake views,” explained Architect Peter Heintzelman, AIA LEED G.A. “There were a lot of big ideas expressed throughout this lodge, and we enjoyed playing those up to create a dynamic family environment." 

Featuring a full structural Douglas fir timber frame, the home contains a number of whimsical elements like a three-story glass enclosed elevator, underground wine room, Jamaican style bar, a home theater, and a number of nooks that house vintage arcade games.

Recently our west coast design team, led by Architect David Shirley AIA, NCARB, CPHB, were approached by the owner of a very remote ranch property located in the Alvord Desert of southwest Oregon to design a functional horse barn for him and his wife, who is an avid horse lover.

“The owner and his wife had approached a handful of other well-known architects in the region prior to reaching out to New Energy Works but felt that their design needs were not fully understood, as well as there being a general lack of experience building with heavy timber, which to them set our team apart,” David explained. “Once the design process started, our team worked closely with the owners on the look and feel of the barn which will be part of an active working ranch once it is completed.”

Taking all the early collaborative design conversations with the owners to heart, David and the team developed three early design options for the ranches remote build site. The first was a very straightforward utilitarian timber design, the second a classic lyrical New Energy Works design, and the third a reverent cathedral-style design, modeled loosely after rib vault cathedral ceilings commonly found throughout Europe.

This charming residential barn sits comfortably on a seaside cove in Massachusetts surrounded by woodlands waiting for guests to arrive.

“New Energy Works has been a great partner to build out our designs,” said Architect Patrick Ahearn.  “In the past three years we've done more than a dozen barns with them all over the country, from Ohio to outside of Boston. They're fabulous to work with."

With its traditional timber frame structure, sliding barn doors, and classic exterior cladding, this barn could easily be mistaken for an agricultural building from the outside, but inside it hides a bright modern entertaining space, kitchen, and loft lounge area.

Drawing inspiration from a home in Sweden that is encased in a one-of-a-kind greenhouse shell, this Scandinavian style glass and timber home is a marvel of minimalist engineering, European construction techniques, and good old fashioned American craftsmanship.

“The background on this project is that my partner and I sold everything we had in 2020 and bought a van, moved our family into the van, and decided to drive around the country,” said Katie Lesh, the homeowner and Interior Designer on the project. “Our ultimate long-term goal was to build a house, and we knew we had to kind of sell everything we had to make it happen.” 

“In France, where I am from, timber frame is considered an old style that is not slick or sleek, it’s very heavy. But the use of modern technology allows us to move past the traditional methods of timber frame and construct sleeker designs and expand the range of possibilities in what we can do with timber. This house was simple yet challenging with the timbers and so many windows all coming together in a minimal aesthetic, very European in its approach.” - Quentin Olivier, Engineer – New Energy Works

New Energy Works in collaboration with the McMinnville Economic Development Partnership, Representative Lucetta Elmer, and Mayor Remy Drabkin hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for our new 20,000 square foot production facility in McMinnville Oregon on Thursday, December 21st.

With this new facility, employee-owned New Energy Works will be expanding our McMinnville operations adding new cutting edge CNC equipment, offices, and production space to our existing campus, which will increase our capabilities and service offerings, resulting in regional growth and expanded employment opportunities in the McMinnville 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)

Framed by rolling farmland hills in the foreground, and the majestic Blue Ridge Mountain range in the background, this 22-acre farm property features an Irish inspired stone & heavy timber barn as well as a port cochere entry/ farm office building, all designed and built in less than a year.

“This barn is on a 22-acre small farm, and there is no residence on the property,” the property owner shared. “I have always wanted a barn like this, and it’s not really any more complicated than that. I bought this property almost a decade ago, and there was only a small storage shed building on the land, it was always part of my plans to build something like this.”

Ep. 178 - Triple Bottom Line with Jonathan Orpin

In this episode of Contractor Radio host Jim talks with our CEO and Founder Jonathan Orpin about operating a business sustainably on multiple fronts by implementing the Triple Bottom Line Company model.

Jim and Jonathan discuss why the triple bottom line emphasizes people AND profits. They turn their discussion toward aging out of your business sustainably by creating an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that rewards your workers with ownership and leaves the former owner/founder with a sense that their company is in good hands.

In the second part of the episode Jim and Jonathan dig into the flexible definition of sustainability. They have a great talk on what it means to focus as much energy and resources into stewarding the planet as generating profit.

See more:

The Timber Banks Golf clubhouse lives up to its name and features heavy timber throughout the expansive building that houses a full-service restaurant & bar, pro-shop, event hall, bridal suite, and more. Designed by Homes, King, Kallquist & Associates Architects LLP, the fast-moving project was recently completed near Syracuse, New York. 

“We have worked with New Energy Works on a variety of projects and enjoy every minute of it,” said Carlton Homes & Kami Cheney of Homes, King, Kallquist & Associates Architects LLP. “This project was called Timber Banks from the get-go, so we really just followed the theme. The grand entry hall area has a stain glass ceiling, and then the wow factor of all the large timbers, fireplaces, and chandeliers. Everyone that goes there gives it high marks in terms of the aesthetics.”

This family-owned development project spans nearly 800 acres with a full 18-hole golf course, marina, and residential housing with the clubhouse serving as the focal point for all the activities the club offers to its members and the general public. Also a premiere wedding venue, Timber Banks acts as the backdrop for ceremonies and receptions year-round.

This reimagined family home is built on the foundation of a historic lakefront camp in the Hudson River Valley of New York. The camp was comprised of seven independent structures that were taken down prior to the renovation, the four new buildings on the site were built in the footprints of the original structures on the picturesque estate.

“The site is an old lake front religious camp in the Hudson Valley that was made up of a number of structures originally, which we ended up taking down and re-building over their existing footprints, which is why the buildings are shaped the way they are and why they are positioned where they are on the site,” explained Mike Maggio, Project Manager Hudson Design. “That enabled us to build as close to the lake as possible, and really capture the best views.”

Consisting of a large timber frame main house, yoga studio, boat house, and two-bedroom guest house, the one-of-a-kind property has plenty of room for friends and family to gather. Located on the very end of the lake where the water hooks around into the surrounding woodlands, the camp is a serene and private place perfect for quiet contemplation and meaningful conversations.

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. 

Artfully blending the modern farmhouse aesthetic with classic lake house style for this property in New York’s Finger Lakes region, this home features steep gables, traditional white shiplap, a screened in timber porch, and extensive timber detailing.

“The clients really like that clean, white, modern farmhouse look with steeper gables, white shiplap, and timber detailing,” Peter Heintzelman, AIA, LEED G.A. from Method Architecture Studio shared. “On the exterior we also added a little character with stained and finished timber. There is also a large screen porch that is connected to the living area that increases the size and variability of the space. The owners left it pretty open ended in terms of the design work, but they definitely had a look they were going for overall.”

The West Coast team was on site this spring raising what can only be described as a cathedral-like horse barn. One of the most intense barns New Energy Works has designed & raised, this one with the added challenge of being in the Alvord Desert in southwest Oregon.

The Alvord is actually a (mostly) dry lakebed that stretches for miles: flat and lifeless with a chapped sandy surface.  It’s worth the visit, but be prepared, there's only one gas station and no grocery stores for 100 miles.

The team spent two weeks on site raising the frame in 40 mile an hour winds, blazing hot sun some days, and snowstorms on others. Still, when picking giant bents, you can’t bring a timber framer down when their passion and spirits are high.

“I had a lot of fun doing it. And I mean that. We got to play with some interesting crane rigging,” Darren Watson our west coast Timber Frame Lead shared, getting rather building geeky with glee. “Skookum with pulleys…two different points…spreader bar…and keeping it balanced. It was pretty neat.”

New Energy Works Solar Pavilions recently appeared in a feature editorial by our friends at Log & Timber Home Living in the August 2023 Waste Not Want Not issue, which focuses on sustainable modern home designs.

Featuring an interview with our founder Jonathan Orpin, this editorial focuses on ways to add solar to timber frame homes and surrounding properties and the cost vs. benefits of modern solar power in residential settings.

Photos by SunCommon

Learn More:

The Solar Canopy | New Energy Works

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 

When homeowners Mike & Carrie bought their farmhouse in the Finger Lakes region of New York 23+ years ago, there were foundational remnants of the original turn of the century barn on the property, which they always dreamed of one day rebuilding. More recently the couple, who now have four adult children, realized they might actually need a barn for additional storage and a place to socialize near their backyard pool area. But it took a family wedding to really push the project from dream to reality.

While plans for the barn meets pool house were already underway before their daughter got engaged, it was her request to get married at home that sped the project to completion just in time to serve as a family wedding venue.

The construction of their new traditional bank style barn was a collaborative effort with the barns classically styled timber frame provided by New Energy Works combined with the talents of partners Hanlon Architects and Russell Builders, with Farmed Board cladding and Hickory flooring from our sister company Pioneer Millworks.

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

Recently our team revisited one of our favorite restaurant locations near our Farmington New York campus to install a decorative custom-made reclaimed Douglas fir truss.

This flagship Dibella’s Italian Market location is in the nearby town of Henrietta and features extensive woodwork from our fine woodworking division NEWwoodworks, who have over the course of several years crafted a series of heavy timber craftsmen style tables, butcher block counters, and booth tabletops featuring reclaimed Heart Pine provided by our sister company Pioneer Millworks, as well as built in shelving & paneling among other features.

This past year we retuned once again to the location to raise an expansive fully custom 44-foot-long freestanding parallel-cord truss that artfully divides the expansive dining space. The choice to use reclaimed 12x12 Douglas fir timbers with Heart Pine accents speaks to the idea of old-world craft which Debella’s embodies.

This vacation home was lovingly renovated to serve as a family retreat spurred on by the realities of a changing world during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The homeowners spent nearly two years envisioning what the project would look like before they approached architect Andrew Ramsgard to get the renovation started.

“COVID-19 changed a lot of people’s lives, and the staycation became a very real thing for some families. Being able to enjoy the outdoors was the primary reason for this home’s renovation, but also the safety and security of the backyard environment,” architect Andrew Ramsgard explained. “Everyone’s home is a castle, and in the case of this project it becomes just a fabulous place to enjoy.“

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.

(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 

Seminary Hill Orchard Cidery is the first ever passive house certified building of its kind among all cideries, breweries, and wineries in the world and recently won a Northeastern US regional Planet Positive award. The open truss frame is reinforced with steel connections featuring our high-performance enclosure system to comprise the efficient shell surrounding the space.

Our friends at Log & Timber Home Living are celebrating their 40th anniversary as a publication with a look back on what has (and hasn’t) changed in the industry over the years. Included in the issue is a destination feature about the Seminary Hill Cidery project in Callicoon New York. To read the full article as a PDF, click here.

Log & Timber Home Living: Timber Home Living: Timber Frame Homes, Home Floor Plans, Photos & Building Advice

Visit Seminary Hill: https://www.seminaryhill.co/

This New Energy Works project in North Georgia was recently featured in a feature editorial by our friends at Green Building + Design Magazine (GB+D) in the “Warmth of Wood” Winter 2022 issue that focuses on sustainable modern designs and the beauty & practicality of wood in the design + build industry.

Featuring an interview with our own David Shirley AIA, NCARB from our west coast team, the sweeping feature touches on almost every aspect of New Energy Works including design, timber frame, high-performance enclosures, fine woodworking from NEWwoodworks, and reclaimed wood from our sister company Pioneer Millworks.   

Written by MIRIAH HAMRICK 

Photos by Garey Gomez

This modern farmhouse from architect Niels Schoenfelder and homebuilder Prutting + Co. was designed to complement a series of free-standing barns from the 1920’s on an expansive farm property in Upstate New York. The uniquely styled home was crafted to blend into the surrounding landscape and serve as the primary residence for its homeowner.

“You will have to imagine, it is a large 127-acre property and in the immediate vicinity of this house you have two large barns from the 1920’s, beautiful barns that are more architecturally finished than typical barns from that era, with stick frame construction that are free standing on a large expanse of meadow,” explained architect Niels Schoenfelder of Mancini Enterprises PVT LTD. “This house completes that picture in a sense as it was designed to be like a smaller cousin to those two big original barns, which explains the shape and the simplicity of the homes structure.”

“The original structural design was very robust and called for a lot of steel work which we felt could be handled with timber alone. We felt it was appropriate to bring in New Energy Works to guide us on what timber could handle on a stand-alone structural standpoint, and just used steel where we needed it.” -Jack Truman of Prutting + Co

The timber frame pavilion at the Dharmakaya Wellness Center is located high in the Catskill Mountains of New York, and was the last of a planned group of buildings at the center that host wellness, yoga, and meditation retreats that are open to the public.

“The Wellness Center had a vision to build this outdoor pavilion space and they reached out to us to help them realize it. We recommended that New Energy Works provide the timber frame because of a relationship we had built working together on other projects in the past,” explained Daniel J. Salvatore of PC Construction, the project superintendent on the pavilion. “The pavilion space is intended to be used as a functional outdoor area for the activities Dharmakaya offers to guests visiting the wellness center which include meditation, yoga, and various other spiritual trainings.”

Perched high on a hillside in Cragsmoor, a rural corner of New York State just north of New York City, the ninety-acre campus of the wellness center is as inspiring as it is breathtaking. Far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the grounds of the center are tailored to promote a feeling of calm serenity in a quiet natural setting.

The hotel & Spa Del Monte Lodge wanted to refresh their tastefully modest building in the historic village setting of Pittsford New York with a new porte-cochere that conveyed the elegance of the hotel and spa while harkening to the contextual design elements of the area. Andrew Van Roo the Director of Design & Construction for Del Monte Group and his team thought the best way to address the main entrance, and specifically the space that leads directly into the lobby and reception desk area, was with a timeless timber frame design.

The building itself is gracefully understated featuring a mostly neutral color palate with details that are relatively subdued. To accentuate the existing aesthetic of the building the Del Monte Group’s design team thought there was an opportunity to insert a new structural design element into the overall hotel & spa complex to make an impactful statement in the main entry area that would give the best initial impression when a guest first arrives.

The unique timber frame building surrounding the Buffalo Heritage Carrousel in Buffalo, New York is part of the sweeping Canalside revitalization project at the terminus of the historic Erie Canal. The structure houses the extremely rare De Angelis Carousel, a hand carved menagerie carrousel that is nearly one hundred years old and is believed to be one of only ten carrousels of its kind produced by Spillman Engineering Corporation of nearby North Tonawanda New York.

Designed to be reminiscent of an eight-sided circus tent, the timber frame building surrounding the historic carousel is a merging of old and new technology. Featuring a cutting-edge solar array roof donated by Tesla that powers the antique carousel, that was also manufactured in Buffalo.

“We had targeted early on for the carrousel to be solar powered. We approached Tesla and asked if they would like to be involved and they said absolutely. So, they donated the roof,” says Carima El-Behairy, Director Operations & Development for Buffalo Heritage Carrousel inc. “The local Tesla Plant is only two miles up the road from us and our solar array roof came out of there, and I believe it is the first solar array roof in Buffalo.”

This Adirondack lakefront lodge with wrap around porches and stunning lake views was lovingly designed to seamlessly merge rugged Adirondack exterior aesthetics with turn of the century Craftsman interior style. Consisting of a main home and an adjacent guest & care takers quarters connected by large, elevated porches with timber covered walkways, this family home harkens to the lodge homes of the Adirondack region of New York in the early 1900’s.

“This building I would term a Craftsman - Adirondack fusion. The main house and the guest house are interconnected by covered walkways much in the fashion of the great Adirondack camps of the days of yore, where you could go from building to building under cover,” says Carlton Homes of Holmes, King & Kallquist Architects, the architecture firm behind the project. “The interior is a throwback to the Craftsman era of design, probably 1910 to 1920 era, with quarter sawn White Oak and other past era detailing, while the exterior is classic Adirondack post & beam with cove siding.”

With a desire to be closer to friends and family the homeowners bought the modestly sized one-hundred-foot-wide lakefront property in the Adirondack region of central New York with the intention to build a functional home that would allow them to gracefully age in place in the decades to come.

Renowned folk musician and guitarist Happy Traum, along with his wife Jane, and architect son-in-law Barry Price, teamed up with New Energy Works recently to create a Japanese inspired car port for their property near the legendary town of Woodstock in Ulster County New York.

Happy began his music career in the 1950s as part of the emerging acoustic and folk scene in Greenwich Village - New York City alongside contemporaries like Bob Dylan. Having longstanding ties with the local community, Happy and his wife Jane first moved to the Woodstock area in the 1960’s from NYC, riding the success of one of Happy’s early record deals to purchase the property.

“We have lived in the Woodstock area since 1967. We moved up here from New York and bought a piece of property and started to build,” Happy’s wife Jane told us. “Our world is the world of music, and we were drawn to Woodstock because it was an artist colony and a music center, even before the famous music festival, so we put down roots here.”

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.”

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.

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.  

Our friend Randy is building a new house, or maybe two, as he is planning a little house/big house progression (more on this later). I plan to chronicle Randy’s journey over the next year or so with a small number of posts, starting with this one, the beginning.

Randy’s building a new home because his burned down. Put together a week without electricity (storm damage), a kerosene lantern, a cat named Barnie who jumps up on a table, outstretched hands too late to catch the spill and the house went fast. Randy got out with little but the cat and some clothes. Eventually an insurance settlement and some steel resolve provided his path forward. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but the idea is to first build a tiny home, so he can get out of the dang RV fast, and then build a larger forever home. More on this next post.

Randy tends to think so far out of the box that I often wonder if he even knows the box exists. I wasn’t surprised, then, when he called to say he wanted to cut down one of the trees in his woods by hand, old fashioned, as a symbolic start to his building process. Wouldn’t miss this, says I, so wife Maxine, friend Ari and Luca the dog get into the camper van one Saturday morning not long ago and head to his place for the weekend. We’ll be joined later when son Jake and his friend Javier arrive back from motorcycling in Canada to find they might miss this fun?  No way. Add my friend Bill, Randy’s friend Alex along with his builder Andrew, and we have a party.

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.

We've been partnering with SunCommon to make available these Solar Canopies in New York & Vermont. A win-win of solar panels and timber structure that can add a form and function to your outdoor space. Thanks to Upstate House for including us in their Summer 2021 edition. To download a PDF of this article click here.

Our thanks to Adirondack Life for featuring the Kovacs residence in their 2021 Home issue; and a thanks to Holmes King Kallquist Associates for bringing us into this lovely project. To read the article as a PDF, click here.

Growing up in Buffalo, NY is one of the biggest pieces of who I am. If you’re from Buffalo, or any small town with a lot of pride, I am sure you can relate to being shaped by your hometown. I eat chicken wings, not Buffalo wings. I add a “the” before a major highway (I get on THE 90, not i-90). I do not care for football at all, but even I get a little sentimental when the Bills win anything. I consider myself basically Canadian-lite.

So it was a pretty big deal for me to learn that New Energy Works would be part of Canalside, Buffalo's urban-waterfront revitalization project, through a timber frame pavilion that houses a solar-operated historic carousel. It checks all of my boxes.

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?
 

We’re fortunate to have a variety of landscapes within New York State. Those who are passionate about the outdoors, mountains, lakes, and the accompanying passions of skiing, hiking, water sports, and more, can find a bit of it all “upstate”. The Adirondack Mountains, the Finger Lakes Region, and even Western NY each offer opportunity for these pastimes. Shane and his family found their East Coast calling near Old Forge in the Adirondacks. 
 

Upon purchasing a special plot of land, planning and projects began. Beginning with a garage that included a living space, the family then spruced up the grounds, rebuilt the boathouse, and in the final stage, turned attention to creating the main house. 
 

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.

Nestled on nearly 30 acres in Palmetto Bluff, SC a family home, guest house, and barn flow from the architectural plan created by Rob Bramhall of Rob Bramhall Architects. “The site is beautiful, and the clients were great, allowing for architecture that could respond to the land and work for them,” shares Rob.

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The project began with a guest home for the clients to enjoy while they sold their old home. Next was the barn, one of the first features visitors encounter as they enter the long drive.

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The story goes that in the early years of our company, aka the 80’s, the old shop suffered a collapse and upon thinking to scrap the remains, it was suggested by a couple we were building for that we should re-use the timbers for their home. It was, as stories go, an ‘ah ha!’ moment. Always having enjoyed reclaimed wood, we now had a bigger purpose for bigger reclaimed timbers.

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Since that 1980’s event, we have continued to make special projects from reclaimed timbers, including the roof system (above) our team crafted, joined, and raised just last week.

Reclaimed timbers bring additional texture, aesthetic, and a unique history to every project. This Summer we’ve had several weeks of reclaimed timbers in the shop, designated for a few raisings for residential projects. Remarkable and esteemed, we're giving them another moment in the spotlight:
 

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New joinery and a few special details were added prior to pre-assembly of this split king post truss (see previous image of this truss being raised).

“Reclaimed wood is a top choice for timber frame projects as its history and character is unmatched – clients particularly enjoy the story of their frame,” explains Eric Fraser, Timber Frame Manager.

5,000 feet above elevation, a 5-month build window, US Forest Service rules controlling everything from color to shape to size to the anthropology of the site…This project required extraordinary planning, prefabrication, and architect/builder/client coordination. The cabin is located on Odell Lake which sits atop the Cascade Mountains of South-Central Oregon, God’s country by all of our definitions. Dan Hill, architect and co-founder of Arbor South Architecture the design & build group that spearheaded this west coast cabin project, provided more of the story in a guest post below: 

The site is located on the west side of Odell Lake in the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range in an area with small, early to mid-century cabins under land leases by the US Forest Service. Our client had purchased the cabin and land lease with the intention of remodeling the existing 1940’s cabin. It became clear that the old structure had too many issues–including extensive mold (sick house), no perimeter foundation, multiple structural, electrical, and plumbing problems–to salvage or remodel.

LNB (The Lyons National Bank) recently broke ground for a new branch in Farmington, NY. The site includes a historic home that is being preserved and refreshed. A new timber frame, connecting to the historic home, will be raised to accommodate the bank’s main operations.

“As a company, we’ve long been clients of LNB; we admire their deliberate focus on the individual and business needs of each community they join–and their commitment to doing right by the planet,” said Bryan, project lead from our timber frame engineering team. “We’ve been privileged to work with LNB on several of their branches and we’re excited that they’re opening just down the road from our headquarters in Farmington.”

Below: A previous project with LNB for their Canandaigua NY branch included a timber frame core crafted with reclaimed Douglas fir timbers sourced by Pioneer Millworks.

In November of 2018 we had a community raising for the Mount Angel Abbey’s Benedictine Brewery. One hundred volunteers gathered early, listened thoughtfully to a strategy introduction and a safety meeting, and got it done.

The Benedictine Brewery in Mt. Angel, Oregon. Photo by Loren Nelson

Of the people who showed up to help, about 50 or so were from Mount Angel Abbey, the monastery at the top of the hill where we were working. We had our team and timber framers from companies who are part of the Timber Framers Guild from all around come to help. (You can read about that amazing day in a previous blog post, and we’ve included the raising video at the end of this post.)

This season, the Brewery has been up and running with plenty On Tap. We’re excited to be working with them again, this time extending their covered outdoor space to accommodate and shelter more folks:

With divisions in design, timber framing, and woodworking, along with a sister company that specializes in reclaimed wood and timbers, collaboration is something that happens often at New Energy Works. Now and again there are projects that highlight when we’ve really had everyone involved, often realized at the close of the job where things have gone smoothly and everyone stands back with a beer to say, “hell yes.”

Muji at Hudson Yards in New York City is one of those projects of collaboration. Pioneer Millworks brought the project to us after working with Muji’s design team to get just the right reclaimed timbers for the store’s aesthetic.

“The Hudson Yard’s store is a really interesting mix of clean, neutral tones with these rugged salvaged textures,” says Jered Slusser, Northeast sales for Pioneer Millworks. “The walls are clad in American Prairie Brown Board which continues to play up that contrast.”

Reclaimed as-found industrial timbers from a military base in New England, some of the roughest we’ve seen, were what the design team was aiming for. The timbers were needed in very specific sizes, with original patina on all four sides and a consistent tone/texture from piece to piece—a task Pioneer Millworks was able to meet.

The world of timber frames is ubiquitous to Douglas fir, treated with an oil, and left to mellow over time to a golden hue. It’s classic, bringing to mind the mountain home with a two-story vaulted great room and a wall of windows overlooking a vista. Bring us a mug of hot cocoa and let us snuggle by the fire.

These hand-hewn Shou Sugi Ban timbers have an additional two-three coats of staining. Photo courtesy of Cardello Architects.

Classic oiled Douglas fir timbers in this Colorado mountain timber frame home.

That’s not all timber frames can be, though. Take your species of choice and add a custom finish. The advantage to the design professional is a huge color palette of options and to the homeowner the ability for timber to flex and fit many styles. We like it because it gives us a chance to play, to bring a material we’re intimately familiar with into another existence.

Rough-sawn and white wash finished Douglas fir timbers in this Boston home. Photo: Meghann Gregory Photography.