Local Carpenter in Northampton, MA
Three generations of Thelwoods, one shop, twenty miles in any direction.
What We Make
Six things. The first one is most of our work and the last one is the one nobody else will quote.
If your job is not on this list, call anyway — we will tell you who in the Valley does it properly.
Three Generations, One Shop
Arthur Thelwood opened the shop on Pleasant Street in 1978 with a table saw and a pickup. His son runs it now and his granddaughter is four years into her apprenticeship. That is the whole company — there is no third crew, no sales rep, and nobody you have not met.
It also means we turn work down. We stay inside twenty miles because a carpenter who is an hour away is a carpenter who cannot come back in March when a door starts sticking. Coming back is most of what a family shop is for.
- Founded1978 — same shop, same street
- ThreeThelwoods at the bench, no subcontractors
- Twenty-mileradius so we can come back
- Hand-cutjoinery where it shows, machines where it does not
Four Things We Find In Valley Houses
Northampton, Florence and Easthampton are full of houses between 90 and 140 years old. These four turn up on nearly every job, and none of them are in the original quote if the carpenter has not looked.
Nothing is square
A century of settlement means walls lean, floors fall and openings rack. A cabinet cut to the tape will show a tapering gap. We measure the error first and scribe to it.
Four profiles in one hallway
Trim gets patched by whoever owned the house that decade. It is normal to find three or four different baseboard profiles downstairs. We match rather than replace unless you want it all gone.
Something soft behind the trim
Around a sill, under a threshold, behind a porch post. We open it before we quote finish work, because finding rot after the trim is on is the expensive version.
Plaster, not drywall
Lath and plaster does not take a nail gun the way drywall does, and it cracks if you fight it. Different fixings, different sequence, and the patching is part of the job rather than a surprise.
Two Ways, Both On Paper
Nobody should have to guess which one they are getting.
Fixed price for made things
Built-ins, cabinetry, decks, stairs. You get a drawing, a number and a start date. The number does not move unless you change the drawing or we open a wall and find something neither of us knew was there — and we will show you before we touch it.
Hourly for repairs
Sticking doors, rot patches, a shelf that has sagged. We charge by the hour because quoting small work honestly means padding it, and padding costs you more than the hours ever do. We tell you the rate and an estimate of hours before we start.
Built In The Pioneer Valley
The Things We Do Not Charge Extra For
A drawing before a deposit
To scale, emailed, yours to change for free until you approve it.
Dust extraction on every tool
You live in the house while we work. Floors covered, site vacuumed before we leave.
A start date in writing
On the quote. If we are going to miss it you hear from us before the date, not after.
The first winter
Wood moves. If a door we hung sticks in its first season, we come back and ease it.
What The Valley Says
My grandmother had Thelwood build her kitchen in 1991. They came back last year and built ours. The son who measured remembered the house. You do not get that from a company with a call center.
Our 1890 farmhouse had four different baseboard profiles because four different people had patched it over a century. They matched all four rather than telling us to rip it out. The downstairs finally looks like one house.
They quoted, they started on the day they said, and the invoice was the number on the quote. In eleven years of owning this house that has happened exactly once.
Something You'd Like Made?
Tell us the room and roughly when. We will be straight with you about whether we can do it, when, and what it costs.
Before You Call
How far out are you booked?
Usually six to twelve weeks, and longer in spring when everyone wants a deck. The real date goes on the quote. If we cannot start when you need us we say so on the phone rather than let you wait a week for a quote that was never going to work.
What does a built-in cost?
A painted alcove bookcase in a straightforward room is in the low thousands. A stain-grade run across a whole wall with doors and drawers is several times that. Paint grade versus stain grade is the single biggest lever, and we will give you a range on the phone rather than make you wait for a visit.
Do you take small jobs?
Yes, and they are how most customers meet us. A sticking door, a rotten threshold, one shelf. Hourly rather than quoted, and we keep a half day most weeks for exactly this.
Can you match trim nobody makes anymore?
Usually. We take a cut-off of the original, grind a knife to the profile and run new stock to match. It adds about a week. If matching is not worth what it costs for your room, we will tell you that instead of selling you the harder job.
Our house is plaster — is that a problem?
Not for us, but it changes the method. Lath and plaster cracks if you nail into it the way you would drywall, so fixings, sequence and patching are all different. It is part of the quote rather than a surprise on the invoice.
Are you licensed and insured?
Massachusetts Construction Supervisor license CS-104872 and Home Improvement Contractor registration 197340, plus general liability and workers' compensation. Certificates go out with every quote.
How far do you travel?
About twenty miles from Pleasant Street — Florence, Leeds, Easthampton, Amherst, Hadley, Williamsburg, South Hadley and Belchertown. We hold that line on purpose so we can come back when something needs easing.
Get A Free Quote
Fill this in or call the shop. You will speak to a carpenter, and you will get an honest answer about whether we are the right shop for the job.