Our Timber Framers
Mike's the head of the timber frame shop. In addition to his feline sense of balance (he'll be the guy walking nonchalantly along the ridge beam on raising day), Mike has an uncanny ability to think in 3D & can come up with a solution before anyone else has an inkling that there's a problem. Mike built the home he shares with his wife & children and when free of family obligations, can be found at one end of a fishing pole in the summer and attached to a bowstring during October.
As well as being a long-serving timber framer, Marc comes from a long line of master masons. He has the patience that comes with having a grown up daughter, two growing children and grandchildren. Marc and his family enjoy skiing, various sports, and soothing tones of the violin from daughter Olivia, a beginner-soon-to-be-master violinist.
Mike's love of things old school and quirky is a thread that runs through his day to day life. From his choice of tools to his vehicles — his car has its engine backwards he's got a kick starter & points on the bike — he's not afraid to take a stand against the vagaries of fashion.
The only member of the shop with a log-home building background and a Mr. Clean hairdo. Jake's steady hand, and carving skill is the force behind all of our timber engravings. He's also a pro at found form and putting the finishing touches on our mortise and tenon joints. When he's not swooning over his wife and daughter, he and his dog Stewie often find themselves at the dry end of a fishing pole.
Paul came to the timber frame shop by way of our construction group and is now all grown up with lovely wife Jolene, three young boys (all under the age of 5!), and a 19th century timber frame farmhouse that he's whipped into shape for them all to nest in.
Tim recently finished his own timber frame home just down the road from the site of our tree house workshop. Tim and his wife, Karen spend most of their time enjoying their two boys, but when time allows, he's back to work on his kayaks.
Andy's a bit of an enigma - a quiet guy with a tough work ethic. This may be part of his personality or it just may be the Alfred post-collegiate haze. Either way, his composed nature makes him a great hunter — which until recently had occupied most of his fall weekend mornings. As Andy and his wife Ashley have just welcomed their first baby, Bristol Elizabeth, into the world, we're sure he'll find lots of new ways to spend his free time.
Darren moved from the West Coast to the East Coast a few years back and found his place in our engineering department. Eventually the lure of the West was too strong and he soon found his way to Washington and then to Oregon where he lends his talents as our West Coast timber frame shop manager. Quick to smile with a contagious laugh, he enjoys all things outdoors and provides fierce competition to his fellow racquetball enthusiast co-workers.
Working construction on his own for several years, Dave first joined our construction crew but was fascinated by the craft of timberframing and is now one of our timberframers. An active guy, Dave competes in 5K races, cycles, swims, spends a good deal of time on the slopes in the winter, and is constantly working on new projects. With help from his wife, he continues to rennovate their home including peeled timber posts and other handcrafted elements whenever possible. We hear that recently he's begun crafting wooden paddleboards to use on the Finger Lakes. Did we mention he's always on the go?
Randy was interested in building a timber frame so he stopped by our McMinnville shop to learn more. During his tour we discovered his background in CNC machinery, experience running his own metal fabrication business, and his charismatic personality, and we knew he would be a great fit for our team. Today he is a whiz with our Hundegger, confesses to a new appreciation for timber, and continues to hone his skills with metal (creating some stellar artwork). Randy's wife, three children, and grandchild are a big focus of his free time.
Our Dreamers
Joining us after attending Cornell & years specializing in ecclesiastical architecture at a Rochester architectural firm - Ty made himself at home in the loft next to our engineers where he heads up our east coast design group. He & wife Kellie are parents of young boys Seth, Elijah, and Nahum. A few other things about Ty — he's dedicated to the NY Giants, he has a love for cycling & keeps a busy social schedule with his family [who also happen to be his neighbors].
Another RIT graduate - Eric went straight from school to being a mechanical engineer for an aerospace company and then to his desk upstairs. He's been trying out his wings as father, as he & Heather are proud parents of baby boy, Andrew. We're not sure, but we doubt fatherhood will slow him down on snowy mountains on his skis or on the muddy inclines on his mountain bike...
When in his creative mode this VIP is head of our west coast architectural team. We send Jonathan to meet with clients who are in the designing stages of their dream home process because his acute sense of room transition and home design panache are matched only by his subtle wit and crazy reading glasses.
Jonathan keeps a personal blog about his journey. Check it out.
John surfaced from years designing trade show booths and now he's part of our architecture department. A sculptor at heart, John spends a great deal of his free time in the art world exhibiting his work in regional & national shows. And then there are the times when he's simply away from it all - just him & wife Jamelle, daughters Alison & Heather, their dog Luca and his kayak.
Maxine is our west coast interior designer and chooser of color, texture, shape and form. Although you can sometimes find her in clients' projects or scouting Portland, OR showrooms, you'll have better luck tracking her down if you first look for her son Jake. Maxine will be the woman about four paces behind him with arms outstretched.
Mike left our design-loft a few years back for the sugary forests of Vermont to act as our New England Representative. The move's been refreshing and he’s found a whole new set of challenging hills for his long distance cycling habit. He & Jen manage to squeeze in a bit of personal travel once in a while but they're starting to settle with their daughters, Ava and Angelina. We expect the girls will soon learn the finer points of trail running & snowshoeing.
Email Mike
or call him directly: (802)310.3546
Dave's been with us for a few years now and he was accepted easily by the timber framers as he rides a motorcycle & a '68 ford pickup. He and Jen were married in a museum, (no kidding!), he's working on fixing up their house and adjusting to parenthood with new baby boy, Carter. An RIT grad, he comes from a family of farming engineers and he swapped designing tractor trailers for timber frames.
Michael Hahn works in our design department out west, laboring away to draw 3D images of timber frames, volume structures of homes and even rain water harvesting systems including the one at The Vermont Street project. He’s a graduate of the University of Oregon’s architectural program and has worked with some of Portland’s premium names in architecture. He’s also willing to jump in on whatever needs to get done around here including mixing plaster, carrying concrete blocks and delivering flooring.
A native of Upstate NY, Serge left the area for a while to design mountain homes in California but boomeranged back a few years ago. Now that he’s in NY to stay, he’s putting his architectural and design skills to work for our East Coast clients. If you live in the area, you're likely to find "Serge & Friends" pickin' and singin' rock/folk/blue grass tunes at a variety of venues around town.
Coming to us from Colorado, Sean began work in our timber frame shop for hands-on training. Now he’s uses his Architectural Engineering degree and practical application skills in our engineering group. Sean is an avid rock climber and snowboarder (more so while he lived out west) and he's also taken up biking. There is a soft side to Sean made evident by his pet pal: Coco, a fluffy Lionhead rabbit.
A native of upstate New York, Owen ventured to Florida for a few years working as a production engineer for powerboats including racing sailboats and aircraft float pontoons. He's returned home and joined our engineering group in Farmington, NY. Owen is an avid sailor, acting as skipper whenever he can. He's happy to be close to Lake Ontario and always looking for that perfect sailing day (although he admits he is looking forward to a cold and blustery winter so he can hone his downhill ski racing skills). If he's not out on the water…actually it seems that Owen is always on the water, sailing or kiteboarding or water skiing or swimming...
Bryan joined our engineering group after earning his degree from the SUNY Institute of Technology. He's quickly learning the intricacies of timber frame project engineering. Outside of the office he's an avid outdoorsman and enjoys anything to do on the water - fishing, boating, jet skiing, and kayaking to name a few. When the weather cooperates and there isn't a nearby body of water, he can often be found camping, hiking, or hunting. If the weather isn't so great, we've learned that he's a skilled blackjack and poker player.
Our Fine Woodworkers
Rob's the leader of the NEWwoodworks crew and has been with us for 15 years. [Ask him about the tiny office he used to share with PMW's Michele when we were first starting out in Shortsville. Oh, those were the days!] When his wife Stephanie can pry him away from the new cabinetry shop, you'll find Rob, Stephanie, and their daredevil son hanging out in the woods of Ithaca and the shores of Cayuga Lake.
The NEWwoodworks bunch acquired Rick from the New Energy Works engineering group because they needed a Sensei who would teach them the finer art of beard-growing. In his free-time from the facial hair conversations Rick's part of the team that designs & drafts the bespoke cabinetry & other bits of the woodworking shop. He's a vintage race car buff, summer resident of the Adirondack Mountains, and company Santa at Christmas.
Bill has the distinction of having employee #010, which makes him the 10th employee New Energy Works hired way back in 1986. Pretty darn cool. A fan of world music, literature and microbreweries, Bill spends his free time with his wife Charlotte, helping her run the Summerbeam bookstore and working on their house.
A quiet man of few words. In fact, this was about all we could muster Charlie to tell us about himself:
He has 29 years cabinet making experience, 3 children, and for a hobby he does woodturning. He volunteers as an ambulance EMT-CC & his cell phone plays Die Valkure.
With Desiree, his little girl, baby Hunter, and wife Jenna, Jay is busy being a parent and husband, which occupies most of his free time - but in the off chance he gets a respite, you can find him camping, hiking, and doing all of those other outdoors-y type things.
Gediminas is a transplant to American from Lithuania. He, his wife and daughter continue to celebrate anniversaries here in the great USofA. Though he still has a daughter & other family back in Lithuania whom he misses very much - he believes he's here to stay. You'll find Gediminas and his family enjoying the outdoors during the weekends.
Hans is the finishing guru on our fine woodworking team. His final touches create the super smooth surfaces on all of our hand crafted pieces. Hans enjoys several sports with his two sons – snowboarding, cross-country skiing, white water rafting, canoeing – they are currently working on building their third canoe. One of a number of musicians in our midst, Hans enjoys playing the mountain dulcimer and mandolin.
Good employees sometimes venture off to explore different opportunities, very often they come back. As is the case with Daniel, now on his second tour with NEWwoodworks. He and his wife, and two dogs make camping, hiking and skeet shooting high priorities. Though he's considering adding a mini-donkey to the clan possibly to compliment his hobby as a Republican propagandist. We can't help but wonder if it's because he couldn't find a mini-elephant?
A native of Argentina, Enrique joined us with an interesting background in stair, chair, and other custom furniture making for large ships and yachts. Skills that not only come in handy at the shop, but in restoring his home. Though these days he and his wife spend most of their time with their latest addition, baby Joaquin.
For over a decade Marty has designed and crafted furniture and cabinetry professionally. He easily made the transition to our fine woodworking division as a project manager for the kitchen and furniture group. With our use of reclaimed wood, we couldn’t have come up with a better fit for this former arborist. He and wife Alice, who is a freelance graphic designer, spend most of their time corralling their three children, Tim (8), Lia (6), and Caleb (2). When he finds some down time Marty enjoys competitive cycling and the occasional duathlon.
It’s not very often that you find a designer willing to get their hands a little dirty. After four years studying industrial design, two of which focused on furniture and working with wood, Zac tried his hand at the carpenter’s bench. While his skills as a custom door builder were growing, we decided to put his eye for design to work. When Zac isn't pouring over architectural drawings and engineering specs in our office, he and his fiancé Katie can be found gardening, brewing a new batch of homemade beer, or reenacting a battle from the Civil War.
Andy is patient, open to new ideas, positive, world-view kind of guy. So it's no surprise his past adventures included long stops in New Zeland, Fuji, and Australia. Throughout his moves Andy retained a love for woodworking. Returning to his hometown just ten minutes from our Farmington NY shop, Andy found us and joined our fine woodworkers. These days his travel is continental and his down time is filled with anything outdoors – skiing, camping, hiking, swimming. Andy is the only person we’ve ever met that does Poi, specifically the type of modern Poi twirling, specializing in fire spinning. Very cool, or hot, depending on your point of view.
Our Construction Crew
Keith has been with New Energy Works longer than anyone can remember. He started out as a timber framer and quickly progressed to being a key member of the management team. You can currently find him in the Construction Group where he splits his time between client development work and estimating, along with site work and troubleshooting.
Keith married a fellow New Energy Worker. He and Susan couldn't make their minds up when it came to kids, so they had one of each.
We have a few staff members who swapped web gear for tool belts. Tad's one of them; an ex-Marine who currently supervises the construction of our clients' homes and puts his own unmistakable stamp of quality on every project he touches.
Tad and wife Caitlin are proud parents of three and when he can spare time away from being a devoted father, Tad is an avid outdoorsman.
Carpenter Tom likes his life in pairs. He has four children, two boys and two girls, and two dogs. When out of the house he’s camping & hunting - and when in the house he’s pairing beer and NASCAR. We give him two thumbs up.
Bill is quick to smile even in the toughest construction environments - rain, snow, or shine. While he spends much of his time enclosing our frames, he recently experienced his first timber frame raising.
Brad has enjoyed a love of carpentry and wood since he was a boy, a passion that has earned him a living since his school days. He's a member of our construction team, though he often lends a hand in the timber frame shop or in the office supporting clients. He and his wife Erin are expecting a baby girl much to the delight of soon-to-be big brother. In his spare time Brad is remodeling their home, an old farm house in the middle of no where, yet just 20 minutes from our Farmington shop.
Our Office Groupies
Grande Fromage of both NEW and PMW, J.O. spends much of his time jetting around the globe in search of the next cool project, the best sources of timbers, the next big thing.
When he's not over-working, you'll find him tooling down the muddy inclines of Victor's single track or in the West, trolling up the Willamette River or speeding down Mt. Hood's glacier. On the home front, Jonathan enjoys the craziness of family life with adventurous & quizzical Jake River chasing after Dexter-the-dog, the occasional visit from an all-grown-up Sierra, and the ever-patient Maxine who manages to keep them all in health, in love and in line.
After a decade of heading up the engineering department and timber frame division, Brian is now the general manager for NEW. When he's not scheduling production, ordering timbers, designing frames, running into the shop, managing - you get the idea - he's chasing after his daughter Madeline and spending time with his wife Christy.
Karen has been a vital member of our community for 19 years. She's now in "retirement" continuing to help out in our finance department and heading up our Human Relations a few days a week. While she tries to project the personality of a pit bull, once you get to know her she's actually all warm & fuzzy. Grandchildren, amateur dramatics, boating, her duties as a Rotarian and several new volunteer positions fill her time when she's not in the office.
JoAnna had filled in for us here and there in the past and we're glad to have added her full-time to our group. With her experience in medical/clerical she'll be able to handle our needs with ease. In her spare time, JoAnna enjoys gardening, fishing, and spending time with her two children (Alana and Alex) and husband Ben. She is also an avid quilter.
A native of the Rochester region, Pam stepped in as our new finance manager in Farmington NY with positive energy and a contagious smile. Outside of work, Pam and her husband Jeremy are honing their swimming and soccer jargon thanks to their daughter Ella and son Connor’s avid interest in both sports. When she has a free moment Pam can be found shopping – she can hold her own with any bargain hunter – or jogging. Last year she ran her first 5K and we know she’s planning to conquer a few more in 2012.
Kori is a member of our finance team supporting both Pioneer Millworks and New Energy Works. She handles all our accounts payable and a handful of other number crunching, bean counting duties. She’s quick to laugh and enjoys stirring things up. A breakfast fiend, she has the office group addicted to breakfast pizza and even the occasional chain-restaurant egg sandwich. Her son, Michael, is a senior in high school and we expect once he’s off to college Kori will fill her free time honing her already formidable billiards skills, sharpening up her dart throwing, and poolside relaxing.
When Jennifer isn't honing her timber skills — you'll find her pouring over the latest industry trends, figures, campaigns and guerillas [advertising, not Primates]. Inspired by the curiosity of her three boys, her husband Will's rock star musings and the writings of Seth Godin, it's only on the crystal slopes of Hunt Hollow Ski Slopes that her body gets to catch up with the pace of her creativity. Jennifer is also currently President of the Timber Frame Business Council.
After a good gallop across the countryside on her horse, Megan can be found putting her creativity and multitasking abilities to work in the office. A stickler for making things happen accurately and on time, the only place she lets things slide is at home with her husband (that is when he's not working at nuclear plants around the globe). You might hear Megan's voice when you give us a call, but be warned, if you ask about her horse you're in for at least a half hour conversation.
Craig joined us in January '08, after a spell of freelance work. A man of many talents, he's at his best when immersed in the world of colors, shapes & typography, pulling together the elements of design to make our stuff look groovy. If you have any comments about this site, let him know. Outside of work, he's settling into his old RIT stomping grounds following his return from New Jersey. His roots in the upstate NY soil are about to get a little deeper, as he and wife Kathryn have a son, Owen, and a new baby girl, Violet!
Drake came to us from his own custom building enterprise in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he now serves as our midwest representative. Some of Drake's great pleasures include playing bluegrass music on one of his many guitars or mandolins, traveling across country in his pickup camper, relaxing by the fire with his wife, five kids and other family and friends or hiking in the woods with his troupe of dogs. His newest heart throbs are grandson Max, the first grandkid in the family, and newest addition (Max's cousin) Charlotte Lee.
Jan joined our finance group after owning and running a small manufacturing business while acting as assistant manager for the ARC. Needless to say, she can handle most anything thrown her way with ease! When asked about her free time, Jan laughs saying she and her beau Mark have "a bunch of kids!". They spend much of their time camping, geocaching, and hiking with Kay, Nathan, Adam, Michael, and occasionally Joshua (who is now in the Air Force). Jan is also a trustee for a local public library, a good fit as she is an avid reader.
Mike joins us with an extensive background in mechanics and a knack for making things run smoothly. While his passion lies with cars and motorcycles, his skills easily overlap to forklifts, milling machinery, dust collection systems, plumbing, and just about anything that needs to be fixed. A true gearhead, at every opportunity Mike along with loyal canine companion Holly, continues to tweak his dragster (currently running an 8 second 1/4 mile) and customize his other car-centric spaces.
Charlie is our official office greeter. Guests are met by a wet nose against their hands, his big brown eyes and a big wagging tail. He even has a custom water dish in the break room which was crafted from a reclaimed agricultural timber. While visiting us in the office has to be one of Charlie's favorite things (who wouldn't like getting pet and treats from everyone!) he also loves swimming, chasing the tennis ball, or playing Frisbee.
Dexter is a Brittany rescued by Maxine, Jake, and Jonathan. He's a big-hearted sort of a guy who doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Loved, and now missed by all in the NY shop since he took up his new assignment in Portland, OR at The Vermont Street Project.
