Red Seal Carpenter, 1997
"I want students to see Carpentry as the challlenging, rewarding craft that it is, but also as a route to other visions they might have for their lives as travellers, entrepreneurs or managers."
Sandy brings a long career's experience to the Carpentry program.
Starting in Victoria, where he built architect-designed showpiece homes and unique renovations, Sandy learned the full process of building. These projests were extensive, some taking years to complete, and required a wide scope of carpentry skills from site preparation and excavation layout through the foundation and framing to installing the very last cabinet knob.
Once in the interior, Sandy joined a team of builders working in land development and speculative housing. This company also built projects from the ground up, but with more emphasis on teamwork, production and consistency. In all, Sandy has been part of the building of more than 200 homes, most in the Nelson area.
The importance of the Carpenter in the building process is what Sandy wants to share with his students. More than framers or form builders or installers of doors, carpenters are often site managers, supervisors and designers as well. Most other construction trades have strict limitations on their scope of work that carpenters do not. As the site generalist, the carpenter is more often the best source of information about the job.