Who We Are

We are craftspeople. Our business is serving people. We are brought together by common goals and mutual ideals, and about building and craftsmanship. We serve our community by using traditional carpentry in high quality timber buildings and structures.

As a small group we work together to satisfy our clients' needs and requirements, each team member contributing unique talents and abilities to the mix.  Our continuous effort to learn, grow and change for the better gives us strength to compete and offers our clients something they cannot get elsewhere; a job completed with care, passion and enthusiasm

Experience

Aside from the hand crafting of wooden timber buildings, joinery and traditional carpentry, our life experiences matter; they provide us guidance and wisdom to make choices consistent with the plan at hand.

We have crafted, assembled and installed many projects, large and small all over the nation, and even in South America. Our desire to learn leads us to new experiences.

Our experience includes:

• Hand raising of large structures
• Saw milling
• Working with new, reclaimed and recycled timbers
• Structural Insulating Panels
• Barn repairs
• Historic Restoration

As part of an international team, we went to South America to help raise and install the largest building ever built in the central Amazon rain forest.

Learn more here: Timber Framing, Jungle Style

Working with others to solve problems and explore ideas offers us greater respect for multiple approaches to complex problems. Working with the Timber Framers Guild on community based projects also broadens our experience.

Learn more here: Timber Framers Guild

Skills And Training

We participate in continuing education classes, workshops and seminars on a regular basis to keep ourselves sharp. We have received formal training in raising and rigging, descriptive geometry, wood science, architecture, historic restorations and preservation, and of course site and shop safety.

As members of the Timber Framers guild, we also regularly participate in community based projects.  In a typical guild project, hundreds of craftsmen from all over the world gather to pool their talents, skills and abilities to create or restore a timber framed building for a non-profit organization.

Learn more here: Timber Framers Guild

We’ve attended classes in Germany, Canada, and throughout the United States; at the school in Germany, we studied the traditional German roof framing which has been developed and practiced there for over 400 years.

Curious about the German school?  It was really quite an experience - you can learn more here:  Gewerbe-Akademie Rottweil

Philosophy

Our philosophy on building and construction stems from the basic values we hold about ourselves, our relationships and our desire to create the world in which we wish to live.

• We believe in the golden rule; we treat others as we wish to be treated.
• We believe that excellent craftsmanship and expertise is a journey, not a destination.
• We believe that we can enrich people’s lives by building together. We grow as our fellow man grows.
• We believe in doing the best we know, especially when no one is watching; our conscience is always watching.
• We believe our company and work environment are what we make it; not what someone else makes it.
• In our own small way, we believe we are stewards of the architecture of this nation; we believe that quality endures and disposable, throw-away buildings are not part of our permanent, interconnected community. We know that we won't be on this Earth 250 years from now, but we'd like to think that our buildings will.

Join Us

We are always seeking competent and dedicated people to work with. If you are a craftsperson looking for more, contact us.

As well, we are always looking for good contractor relationships to lend a hand on those larger projects and to recommend when we are asked for something we don’t usually provide.

Are you looking to join the team and want to find a place where you can come and be a part of a growing company? We'd like to hear from you. Skills and abilities are important, along with that intrinsic drive for excellence. It is our belief that attitude and knowledge compounded with effort will carry you far. All that are interested are encouraged to contact us as you may be just who we are looking for. We are an equal opportunity employer.

You may send us your resume for consideration, either by US Mail or as an attachment to an email:

Shop Location and Phone Numbers

Our shop is on Philadelphia Avenue in Gilbertsville PA, directly behind the Douglass Township offices - there's easy access from two major highways (Routes 73 and 100). If you would like to visit the shop, please call us for an appointment - we'll review driving directions and confirm that we won't all be out working at a client's location.

Phone: 610-754-7333      Fax: 610-754-7313

U.S. Mail

Methods & Materials Building Company
1314 E. Philadelphia Avenue
PO Box 493
Gilbertsville PA 19525

NOTE: For Overnight Delivery requiring a street address, please call in advance.

Send Us An Email

Need A Map To Methods & Materials?

Here are links to maps to our Methods & Materials shop - choose whichever on-line map is your personal preference for maps and driving directions:

Google

Yahoo

MapQuest

Rand McNally

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

We send 3 or 4 email newsletters each year to our clients, vendors, contractors, builders and architects, all of whom we consider to be friends of like awesome minds, at least in terms of appreciation of quality timber framing and traditional carpentry.

Our newsletters report trends in the timber framing industry, announce newly-completed projects that we have added to the Portfolio section of this website, report on current projects and activities of the Timber Framers Guild, and even announce the availability of high-quality timbers we have rescued.

If you're interested in timber framing and/or traditional carpentry and would like to receive our newsletters, just click on the link below and send us an email. You can unsubscribe at any time in the future, and of course there is no cost or obligation.

Resources

There are many resources for additional information. Below are some of our favorite books, links and portals for further learning:

Privacy Policy

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."    Fourth Amendment, U. S. Constitution

The information we share, obtain or possess about or with our clients and their projects is and shall always be private, between us and them. We do not offer it up in any way other than as required by law.

We are pleased to offer references upon request, but only with the permission of the client.