So you’re thinking about commissioning a project?

This part can be either the most exciting or the most frustrating: the planning stage. Don’t worry, we’ve got you. In order to ease your mind, we’re going to walk you through our typical design + build process from your first idea to the finished piece. Many clients start with just an idea, inspiration images, or a rough sketch — that’s perfect. We can help shape those ideas into a thoughtful, workable design that’s ready for build.

Step 1 — Gather your ideas

You might collect inspiration images, sketch out a rough idea, or just have a vague “this could be nice” feeling about your space. That’s perfect. Ideas can be half-baked at this point. In fact, that’s kind of our favorite starting point. We can help you cook them up into something real, make suggestions, and turn your spark of an idea into a plan that actually works.

Project Design: We can build what you want if you have specific details in mind OR we can design your project for you or some combination of the both.

Step 2 — Reach out to us

This step usually starts with a phone call, DM, text, or email. From there, we’ll redirect you to our handy-dandy contact form. This form helps us get some key details down right away like your cell number (in case our reply lands in spam, because it happens a lot), your budget (no judgment, just helps us know if it’s viable), and some info about the space you’re working with.

Try to include as much detail as you can — see Woodwork Projects below for what’s useful when planning Furniture or Built In projects. You won’t be able to attach photos in the form, but don’t worry, we’ll follow up shortly with a reply so you can send them to us.

Step 3 — Share more details & schedule a site visit

After reviewing your contact form, we’ll get back to you with follow-up questions. This is your chance to email us photos of your space, inspiration pics, or any rough sketches.

If your project needs it, this is often the stage where we schedule a site visit. We take measurements, talk about what makes the most sense in your space, and get a better feel for how your ideas will come to life. This is also when our design + build magic starts to happen — we help shape your ideas into a plan that actually works and looks amazing.

Between Steps 3 & 4, we start asking a lot of questions and sharing our expert opinion on key decisions, including:

  • Layout and functional flow

  • Material selection and characteristics of certain wood species

  • How you plan to use the space

  • Key pain points we’re hoping to alleviate

  • How your family moves through your home

  • Any other details that impact the design and build

This ensures we fully understand your needs before moving into the next stage.

Step 4 — Ballpark estimate & design refinement

Once we’ve reviewed all the info, photos, and site details, we’ll provide a preliminary estimate. To help you visualize your project, this can include basic sketches or renderings showing layouts, materials, and overall design. This initial design helps bring your project to life on paper.

From there, there are usually two ways to move forward:

  1. Approve the estimate and move into the final stages of design before the build — If the preliminary estimate feels right, you can approve it, and we’ll finalize any remaining design details as part of the build process. This keeps things simple and efficient while ensuring the design is solid before construction begins.

  2. Explore design options further — If you’d like to see more possibilities before committing, we offer paid design retainers at this stage. This lets us do fine-tuning, create detailed renderings, provide material samples, and refine all the little details until the design feels just right.

    This option is perfect if you aren’t ready to start your project right away, but want to have a solid plan in place and know your budget ahead of time — even if your project doesn’t begin for a year or more.

This second part of the design phase is where all of your final decisions are made regarding materials, layout, and any other details we need to purchase materials and start building.

This is design + build in action — the same team refining the design is the one that will actually build your project, making sure your vision carries through every step. Once the design is finalized, we send the official project estimate and book your project into our schedule.

Step 5 — Sit back (sort of) and watch it come to life

Then comes the fun part: your project gets built. Hopefully you wait patiently, but we get it — it’s hard! :) Once it’s installed, you pay the remaining amount and enjoy your new space or piece.

And of course, we’re always here if you have questions or need advice down the road — maintenance, tweaks, or just bragging rights about how amazing it looks.

Woodwork Projects

Design Decisions for Furniture and Built Ins

WOOD SPECIES SELECTION

If you are reaching out for a quote on custom furniture, interior finishes or choosing one of our existing designs, we’re going to need you to pick a wood species!

We will ask you to choose a fave or two to base your estimate off of. They are listed in order of least expensive to most expensive (current pricing). If you are looking for a specific species not listed here, please let us know. We also frequently use softwoods like cedar and douglas fir.

Hardwoods We Commonly Use

WOOD FINISHES

J-Man Carpentry primarily relies on eco friendly finishes for your wood projects. We also believe in choosing the right wood and using a clear finish to allow for the natural beauty to shine through. However, we do offer staining and painting as finish options as well.

For those interested: we primarily use Osmo Polyx Hardwax Oil, Walrus Oil, and sometimes polyurethane.

DIMENSIONS

Please include any possible measurements that will be helpful for us. If you use fractions or decimals in your measurements, we’re going to assume that you know how to properly read a tape measure haha. If you aren’t that confident with a tape measure, please use whole numbers (e.g. 54”) and the words about, approximate or “ish”. We’ll use these rough measurements to estimate with, however, we truly only trust our own measurements so if it requires it, we’ll come measure the space ourselves.