In 1984, my senior year of high school, my uncle Jerry put me to work tearing out walls in the abandoned lakeside business my Grandfather had built in Valier, Montana. As the summer passed, I learned to use saws and other tools of the trade, but in the end, seeing that old building brought back to life was the greatest reward.

After graduating from Montana State University with a degree in Film and Television Production I moved to Los Angeles, California to work in the film industry. It didn’t take long to move full time into set construction, and it only took 17 more years to figure out that I was a country boy with no open space to breath in. I packed up my family and moved to Nevada City, California in 2004. We were lucky enough to find a home near the school our children would attend, with the added bonus of beautiful trees, gardening space and a cute little pond.

It’s never easy moving away from friends, family and work, but the people of Nevada County welcomed us in like we’d always been a part of the community. Within a year I was elected to public office in the county and was a member of the school board at the school my children attend. Work was a bit more difficult to find, but we were able to get by. It’s probably getting old by now, but I find myself saying, “anything to not live in LA,” quite frequently when people ask me what I do for a living.

I truly enjoy carpentry, finding the beauty in a piece of wood or a design feature on a house. I don’t see building as being that different from the other arts I enjoy.