The Birth of Arrow Timber Framing
BY BERT SARKKINEN

The official story starts when a customer asked me to do some authentic Timber Framing on his “shome”(shop and home combo)

Old history

But the actual roots go much deeper than that. The love and fascination for the aspects of building, of creating structures, started with forts and carving projects as a youngster.

When I was 16 I quit my job as a farm hand and began to work for my father, the owner of Scandia Construction, as a framing apprentice. I remember being quite concerned about how much work would be available to me if I started working as a carpenter.

I wondered if I should give up the steady income source I had for 3 years, shoveling sheep manure, digging fence holes, hauling grain and hay etc. In hindsight, my narrow, narrow perspective was very laughable, but that job had given me a $1,000 over 3 years and allowed me to purchase my first car.

I had to make a decision

In addition, my father was very much hands off in influencing my decision. He didn’t, for example, tell me what a dead-end job I had or that he would make sure I always had work.

When I had asked him how much work he had for me he responded that he had “x” amount of jobs in front of him and couldn’t promise any more than that. He told me to think about it and that he would gladly put me to work… but that it was a decision I would have to make.

Golden Opportunity to Learn How To make Judgment Calls

I have to say, that it was a golden opportunity to learn about the building industry from the skeleton up. For 6 years I learned all the nuances of real quality framing over other "good-enough" methods. (I was “thrown to the wolves.” my father’s philosophy was that, mistakes while they should be minimized, can be fixed. And he was going to teach me how to turn out a building of fine quality without taking forever!)

Granted, some of the training was painful and perhaps a bit too fast, but I was not going to quit…I wanted to learn, and to request taking it slower felt like quitting, so I kept on learning logistics, quality control, visualization ,roof math, and all the requirements needed to make the subcontractors and general contractors life easy.

And perhaps the single most important aspect…That I was responsible for the functionality of the house… Door swings hitting toilets, code clearance for egress, room for cabinets, refrigerators, stairway room, (he always said to add an extra riser when possible because the stairway would be so much more comfortable) roof valleys hips, and tons of framing details. The list just never quit.

But the plans said...!

He would not accept the response “the print said__________” Whenever there was a mistake or a problem.” You’ve got think son…the prints will never be perfect” (that was a tough concept to get as an apprentice, to make judgment calls and overrule the almighty blueprint, aka the instruction sheets.)

If there was a problem with the trusses, I was reminded that it was my job to communicate and understand just what we were going to be getting.

All in all they were great years. The fun and challenges far outweighed the pain and stress of making judgment calls and mistakes. It also taught me how to get up and to continue after big disappointments.

About the time that I got married, I went to work for a boss who had a pretty loose philosophy about life. When asked about the direction of his business, (He was a General contractor who did anything and everything) he responded” whatever the flip of the phone brings”

The time spent doing foundation, trim, painting, roofing, siding, decks, flatwork etc., was a lot of fun and that experience gave me much stronger data base of knowledge to make judgment calls and decisions.

New Start Up, Arrow Construction

I worked at that job for about 2 years before starting Arrow Construction that specialized in framing complicated High and Homes.

I really had the most fun when I had the challenge of complicated math and angles, modifications which improved the functionality and beauty of a home, and in the relationships which were established as I worked and served different people.

So with the background of quality and responsibility oriented training, the love for angles and math, plus an eye for balance and functionality, the step from conventional framing to Timber Framing was relatively easy(falling in love with the beauty and lore of the old world craftsmanship made it even easier)