Tenpenny Carpentry

Very professional with attention to detail. Extremely easy to work with, prompt, flexible with great suggestions. I'm a retired General contractor and if my subs were this good my life would had been so much easier.

It was professional and quick. the quality was great. I have lived in this house for a long time and Joel provided one of the best contractor experiences. He always answered his phone. Always answered questions. Always showed up on time when he said he would. This alone make his business stand out from the rest. The guy does what he says he is going to do. His estimate was dead on with three other bids that I got. But I liked him the most after meeting with him and talking with him. No BS, and a great work ethic. The job was finished on schedule and for the price quoted. It was a pleasure doing business with Joel.

He is a very detailed and deliberate craftsman and helpful with problem-solving, easy to work around and pleasant. We hope to hire him again for additional work that we need done and would highly recommend him to others.

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Our 1903 home had red fir floors (soft wood) in terrible condition. When we finally decided to replace them, and pay someone to do it, I remembered a friend who had really super-nice restoration/repair done on floors in his historic building, and tracked down his "floor guy" -- Joel Foner.
We knew right away we were in good hands. Joel supported our wish to save money by tearing out the old floors ourselves. The plank subfloor was kind of weird in places, but Joel is very familiar with working in old houses and was able to compensate. He gave us good advice and was wonderful to work with. I have asthma and was prepared to protect myself from dust as necessary (tearing out the old floor was really horrible!) -- but there wasn't any. Really. Joel has great equipment and leaves the house very clean each day.
He was also good at communicating about the floor (like when we could and could not walk on it) and also what his expectations were for us. We're not used to working with a contractor, as we have always done everything ourselves in the past, so that was important.
We're very happy with the floor; the joints are very tight and the finish is beautiful. We have baseboard heaters, and in a couple of places it was impossible to get that last bit of old flooring out from under there -- Joel made it look good. We chose natural (no stain) and the high-traffic finish which is very matte and really shows off the wood. The hardest part was waiting for the finish to cure (several days) before moving the furniture back in.
As far as cost, we were pleasantly surprised. Considering that we would have had to rent a sander and so forth, and pay retail for the materials, it didn't cost much more than doing the job ourselves -- and it's a much better job than we could possibly have done. My husband, who has spent his share of time on his knees painstakingly repairing wood floors, admired Joel's work tremendously. We are so glad we were smart enough to hire a competent professional!
I would recommend Tenpenny Carpentry without any reservation, and I brag on Joel every time someone admires our floors! I'd consult him on anything to do with woodwork of any sort. Also, if you are renovating a historic home or commercial building, you need someone like Joel who understands how to do things properly, respect the building, and give practical advice.

The TenPenny folks contacted us a week prior to assure that we would be ready with furniture removal. On the agreed date and 8am time, they arrived to begin work.  Joel and his assistant began with demo by very quickly removing the carpet, pad, and underlayment (after being generously courteous to help roll the ancient piano into the foyer.)  By 5:00 the ~400 sq ft of flooring was installed, the mess cleaned up, and tools were put in their trailer.  Wow! These guys rocked!
The second day was just as productive with Joel performing the dustless sanding operation for the adjacent room.  The process was indeed "dustless"!!! Nothing  more to say about the sanding- Excellent.  Again Joel's productivity and professionalism came through, with the area being cleaned up and ready for us to cross the floor and use our bedroom.
The third and fourth days involved filling imperfections, sanding, staining, and two coats of professional grade finish.  Joel's communication skills and courteous behavior was greatly appreciated.  The system he uses allowed us to remain sleeping in our bedroom each evening during the process.  Fumes from the waterborne finish were certainly not unbearable, although ventilation fans did have to run one night to assist drying and curing.  The quick dry time made it worth bearing the slight amount of fumes.  The night of  the day's finish application, we were able to cross in stocking feet.
Joel then skillfully reinstalled the base trim, cleaned up and gave us some instruction on how to keep the finish looking brand new.  The resulting floor is impeccable and the division between new and old is absolutely invisible.  Great job!
Overall, we have only rarely found such professional, courteous, conscientious, and punctual behavior in any of the contractors/installers in the many years of remodeling of our home.  The estimate/contract terms were fair and followed precisely.
TenPenny Carpentry is at the very top of that list and we very highly recommend engaging his services for anyone who is tired of the " independent carpenter syndrome"!  (ie. those that show up when they want to and do not perform what they say they will do.)
Bruce and Teresa

This was a big job because we had to move the furniture out of all of the common living spaces of the house including the kitchen at one time.  We were considering using another contractor but he wanted us to have all the furniture out before the wood was delivered so it could acclimate for a week.  Joel allowed us to clear only one room and store the wood there which shortened our down time by a week.  Both Joel and his assistant were a joy to be around and were very accommodating.  They did a total cleanup at the end of every day and kept the worksite clean.  We had hickory installed and if attention is not paid to a pattern of light or dark boards being laid together the floor can look very blotchy.  They were very conscientious of this and we have a beautiful floor.  The workmanship is impeccable.