As our 14th year of providing service in New England gets started, I’ve been reflecting on the qualities making Red House unique and special. Common threads connect our original work from 2006 to our current work in 2019. These are values that attract our clients and our team, particular qualities that tie us together in a common purpose, and unique propositions that make us Red House.

Enhancing lives. Yes, it sounds cheesy — my wife tells me that — but our work as a company has the incredible ability to bring a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to our team and our clients. For myself, coming up as a carpenter, and eventually a Lead Carpenter, I’d have the opportunity to clean up at the end of the day and look over our work. A sense of purpose swept over us as we saw the reflection of our effort through our imprint on a home’s space. That sense of creative accomplishment carried me through and affected my outlook on life. It’s contagious, and it’s fun.

The same feeling of satisfaction occurs for our clients. Their pride in the work we create for them — and their involvement in the process of dreaming and creating — bonds them to their home and changes their everyday relationship with that space. I recently was able to see this from both sides as I worked on a small project at home.

Over the holiday break, I replaced the flooring and some trim in our finished basement. My three sons helped with the project. The 8 year old used the vacuum and the two 12 year olds (with a lot of supervision) laid the floor with me, cut and installed baseboard, filled nail holes, and painted.

Although there was some initial complaining about doing “work” over the break, their perspective changed as the project came together. It warmed my heart to see how proud they were of the finished product. I think they were surprised at how much they appreciated the change in their own space. They were both the craftsperson and the client. New colors, handsome floors, quality joints… They knew what effort went into the work, and they took pride in pointing out how much better it looked than before we started.

My interest in building and design has always revolved around the understanding that space is a part of what creates the narrative of our lives, and in that way, it informs who we are. My boys will carry this with them until the next project. For me, this is the reflection of my life at Red House — the reason I do this, and the reason our team comes to work.