Excellent master Carpentry skills, designing, planning, finìshing all contracted work with high quality products, professionally done and on time schedule as promised on budget. Cleanup of work area was done well. I highly recommend. read more

I've just read the first review on FTC and I can't believe it. Literally, there is no way the person I dealt with is the same person being described in this review. There must be some personal beef? I hired Fair Trade Carpentry to do work for me earlier this year. They were polite (in person and on the phone), punctual and professional. They did everything I asked and then some and the standard of work was exceptional. The owner certainly takes a personal pride in the work he does and I couldn't be happier with the results. I have recommended him to all my friends who may need future work done. I'm not sure which part 'jeremy p' found confusing but when I hired Fair Trade Carpentry, the bid I received stated quite clearly at the bottom that work would not commence until I had signed and returned it. I've noticed lately that Fair Trade Carpentry now has a website which has a 'testimonials' page. There are numerous residential and commercial clients besides myself, who have sent in their testimonials...I think reading these would give a slightly more balanced view. I say this because I also noticed that jeremy p blogged about another construction company and whined about how they never returned his calls and must not want his business. If the same thing keeps happening to this guy then maybe he's the problem, not the companies he's contacting. read more

I really hate giving out one star, but I think Brett at FTC (sole owner/employee) really deserves it. Maybe he is a good carpenter, maybe not... but I'll never know. He seems very professional in person, but his customer service is nill. He tells me has has too many customers to 'chase' me down (and by 'chasing' me down he means not returning my messages for a month). He also says he doesn't want to do business with someone who has an 'attitude' when I question why it took him a month to tell me that he was waiting for me to mail him a signed copy of the bid. He wasted my time to the point where it is now to late to get my windows replaced and still get a tax credit. This is partly my fault... I should have cut and run when when he started to get hard to contact and kept sending me incomplete info. But... you just get lazy I guess. I received FTC's number with good reviews back in July 2010. I needed a few things done that I just didn't want to do myself (windows, demolish a porch, rebuild the sidewalk/curb, etc) so with this in mind I called to set up an appointment. He was willing to come out on Saturday, listened to all the things I wanted, gave me his thoughts/advice etc. He even took measurements of all the windows which is an improvement over the other guys I have talked to (they assumed, like me, that they were all the same size... they weren't). He was supposed to price out a high end window and a low end window... well, when he finally sent me the bid, it only included the high end because 'these are the only ones that will qualify for the tax credit so I assumed that what you wanted to know'. He also quoted me the sidewalk not the curb because 'thats the cities responsibility (it's not)... I'm not going to do that' I finally convince him to price the low end windows but it is getting close to the deadline for sidewalk permits, so I tell him to move ahead with that while we work out the windows. More nonsense... I have some trouble with city hall trying to get the city inspector to approve the application. I finally do, and Brett tells me 2 days before the deadline that he is not bonded to work on sidewalks. Yay! On to the windows. Its now November and we have worked out that the high end windows are best because of the many funny sizes in my old house. He sends me a bid by email with the labor, materials, etc and a signature block at the bottom. I message him back saying the price looks good, lets move on this. Nothing. I message him again a week later. Nothing. Its finally December and I send him a final message asking what is going on and he tells me he has been waiting for me to send him a signed copy of the bid in the mail. Fantastic. I tell him 'Fine. I will get it right in the mail. Why did it take you a month to tell me this?' His response: "I'm far to busy to chase up every bid I put out there. If I did, I wouldn't get any thing done. I think it's pretty clear on the bottom of all my proposals. I don't have patients with people with an attitude and I certainly don't need your business." FYI, the bottom of his proposal is essentially two lines... one with his signature and presumably one for mine. I'm glad to see he is doing so well that he doesn't have time for my business or my concerns. I wish he had been upfront about it and kept his nasty-grams to himself. My advice, don't get in the way of his customers... take your business elsewhere. read more

Fair Trade Carpentry is simply one of the best experiences with a general contractor I have ever had. Most homeowners know that word of mouth is the best way to hear about who you should have work on your home because an advertisement in the super saver for example is not going to cut it. And for those who rely on big box store's referrals -- good luck because in my experience it is a gamble. I sought out referrals from trusted friends and one dropped Fair Trade's name. FTC was very professional and honest when giving me an estimate for the jobs that needed to be done. I found the contract negotiation, and FTC's owner, Brett to be transparent and up front. Furthermore, the workmanship and quality of the results spoke for themselves. If there was a place to post pictures, I would. Now, as stated earlier, I will pass FTC's business card to any friend looking for a general contractor. I would assume the satisfied customers who have dealt with FTC to be doing the same. Which gets me to my last point. Regarding the absolute tool at the bottom who stated that he was not a customer and that he "hates" giving one star ratings - but surprise, surprise, gave another general contractor (McNik Construction) a one star rating (he must hate dealing with contractors in general). First of all, DUDE, why would anybody post a review on Yelp after not getting any work done on their home? I see enough waste of time posts like these on http://Amazon.com regarding people that window shop and are absolutely not helpful because they do not actually own the product. I do not care what forum it is, but the record needs to be set straight here. Update: I noticed Yelp took my post off and I felt it necessary to repost. I know there was another one too and balanced out the DUDE. read more

I have used Brett in the past for standard projects, as well as custom cabinetry, and customized furniture. Recently, when I redid my kitchen Brett took the extra time to rethink the original plans that I came up with. Brett took extra time out to redo the plans after discussing my goals of the project, as well as designing for future expansion I had in mind. Not only did this meet the goals for my current project, but ensured that I would absorb less cost and hassle in the future. His work was extremely attentive to detail, clean, and was delivered under the time initially allotted. There are no contractors/carpenters I would trust more than Brett and FTC to get the job done right!!! read more

I had FTC do work for me ,he was the best I have ever had. His work is far above standard . T he problem I did have was watching him work as hard as he did ,putting in 10 hr a days . His work is flawless, he is the best carpenter I have ever had.Looking foreword to FTC to do work for us in the furture . Mike C read more

The workmanship is excellent - and it's true, he is very busy, but for that reason. I also find these types of websites, where people can talk about their 'bad' (although I don't quite consider this individual's experience bad, but more and issue with his expectations) experiences with a working businessman and have that one review taint the work of a hard-working individual, as inconsiderate. It doesn't give the individual or business any recourse unless they are reviewing the comments - and most don't have the time to do so.. When I was searching for the Fair Trade Carpentry website, this website came up first, which is a shame. Fortunately, I am not swayed by the comments.. I know the work is always perfect and it's worth the wait. If anyone is interested, they should go to FairTradeCarpentry.com for a more sincere and true picture of this locally owned business. read more