I think Dennis has hit an importand point. Timberframes are big bucks, even if you are pricing reasonably, so finding clients is a constant task....
Word of mouth is hard to beat.

I agree about that but sometimes...and maybe in hardest of times..is the time...to start thinking out of the box we get caught up when everything's rolling along in abundance.
Necessity's the mother of invention and all a dat'.
It's a good time to think about possibly mixing and matching all kinda things. Offering up what a lot of other's don't or have no knowledge of. Time for new ideas!

Just a thought.
BTW..off topic..is there a spell check feature hiding somewhere?

Actually, what I meant was that it's very difficult to build the trust with your very first timberframe customer. Convincing a customer to go with a newbie timberframer is no easy task. Luckily you only have to do it once, or maybe twice.

I found that you'll have to bend over backwards to land that first job and be prepared to spend a lot of non-billable hours with several customers before you even have a chance to bid on a project. It's not a bad deal though because even if you don't get the job, at least you get to talk about timberframing with people who love it just as much as you do.

Best of luck....

gotcha...right. I suppose thats one good reason to build a spectacular home first for yourself as your show piece.
Seems to always be so many different equations that lead/take us where we want to go. I just can never get John Lennon's words out of my head for so many different situations that happen in my own life.
"Life's what happens to you when you're busy making other plans".

I suspect that's how a lot of people get their start.

Andy:
After you get your first couple of books you could get some timbers and start making a small yard shed, for example.
This will teach you the basics and get you some experience.
Making mistakes in a small shed project is not great problem. Learning how to overcome this mistakes and moving on will be a real learning experience...

Jim Rogers

Thanks Jim
That- along with a Wood Mizer down the road a bit was certainly my intention along with a slew of other thoughts I have.
and let me also add this Jim-
I do have to say I spent quite a while reading some of your posts especially the ones where you included all those sequences of photos like you had in post such as:
Tools for Timber Framing List
General Rules for Joinery Design
Standard Procedures for Timber Framing
Glossary of Timber Framing Terms Link
ETC ETC.
You really are an inspiration not just as a craftsman but also as a person that selflessly reaches out to others in offering your knowledge in such a well thought out and executed fashion.
This site as well as a cpl of others has quite a few people that are willing to share in a friendly brotherly (and sisterly too I see : ))fraternal way.
It's refreshing to hang out at a site where politics don't have to stain the atmosphere like so many other sites do. I can't even begin to imagine a flame war in any Timber forum..maybe there's something to be said about that...hmmm.
Thanks my brothaman-
and have a great new year
Namaste'
andy

Thanks Andy...

Andy;

Do you have any photos of when the house was a "wreck". How was it built? Was it added on to? Does anyone know the history?

Jim

Jim,
As a matter of fact this past Dec 3rd the Hysterical Society had an event to raise money for themselves and used my house as one of five to have people walk through on a tour of houses through the centuries. they had three tour guides through out my house speaking about each room. They sold THREE HUNDRED tickets (@$30 each). YIKES!! All walking through my house...and it just snowed that day..ugh.
http://www.huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org/house_tour_2007.htm
The house was built in 1680 and obviously everything used to build it came from right here on the property... I don't think Home Depot was here yet..lol. It was all oak timber framed. It was owned by Andrus Titus and his wife and 15 kids. They were farmers.
Later it was sold to the Valentine family.
I actually have the original deed here... framed.
I do have a photo of the house that maybe was taken about 100 or more years ago but I don't know how to post it. I have the original picture thats a lot older somewhere.

The original house didn't have the dormers. I can see up in the attic that they raised the ridge maybe just under a foot which allowed them to put the two dormers in.
I'm guessing you're looking at the pictures in my web site.
The original house was just the basic square and in the "before" picture with the pool in the back... that small addition was added on maybe 50-75 years ago as was the pool. I ripped down the addition. It was a mess and nothing at all was worth salvaging.
I added the rest on which actually now keeps the original house from falling down which it was on it's way real soon. Seriously lopsided b/c some idiot somewhere down the line added four big windows in the rear of the house. Took out about 15' of wall and added the windows which look original but they're not...and they added NO studs to brace the plate up. When I took that windows out (I reused them) I found the plate which was something like a 10x10 timber cracked clear through just past the windows. I added 4 massive lam beams.

I wish I knew timber framing when I did this house but even still...with what it costs to live here I just wouldn't have had the time $$$ to get it all done that way and living here is outragously expensive (taxes are almost $20,000 a year). My intention was always to sell it. At least what I did do will keep this house alive another 300+ years I'm "sure". The basement is as dry as a bone now unlike when I first moved here. There was a sump pump built in.
I also "hand dug" a trench around the perimeter of the house...power washed the rubble rock foundation wall and poured another wall right up against it allowing the cement to ooze through al the rocks and become one. Thats a whole other story..
I told the truck operator to "slowly" open the cement chute...real slowly..so what does the idiot do?.. Yep...full blast... and what happens? Yep...blows out a huge section of wall...long story but the house is still here and so am I..whewwwwwwww. Oh yeh, What was once a dirt floor is now cement. Turned a lemon into lemonade...lol.
Unfortunatly...REAL unfortunatly my puter crashed a few years ago and I had nothing backed up and lost all my early stage pictures..ugh
Here's a link to the VIRTUAL TOUR from my real estate listing. Works nice in full screen mode..even has music..lol.
Obviously these pictures focused more on the new for resale reasons. Who'd have thought that the word OLD would scare people away? We actually took the age out of the listing after we figured that out.
http://www.vifp.com/p/panorama.php?Branded=0&agent=8628&mls=1987084&r=1