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Workshop DescriptionsBusiness Panel (Hilda Dent, Jackson Hoggard, Mo Karnage, Daniel Sidler) — This session is all business. It’s a great place to bring your most burning questions about anything and everything related to the business side of window restoration. Hiring, finances, selling, dealing with employees. You bring the questions to our panel of experts who have window businesses of varying sizes and styles and they’ll give you their thoughts. The value of this session can’t be understated. Conservation of Stained Glass (Brianne Van Vorst) — Stained glass is a hallmark of American art history, but its proper care is often misunderstood. We will discuss the means and methods of historic stained glass fabrication, what causes stained glass to degrade, and conservation philosophy to ensure its longevity. Financial Forecasting (Val Vides) — Do you know what your business should make this year? Three years from now? Five years from now? Is your pricing aligned to meet your expenses and pay you a living wage? This session will focus on steps to create a 5-year forecast for your business. Financial forecasting is critical when planning growth, equipment purchases, growing into a new space, getting bank financing, or figuring out if you are charging enough to stay in business over the long term. You'll learn about financial ratios and what story they tell for your business. A template for creating a 5-year forecast will be published to the WPA Members Only Resources after the conference. Historic Windows & Energy Codes (Scott Sidler) — How can you explain the benefits of restoring a window when it comes to energy costs versus a replacement window? Learn how historic windows stack up and options to improve their efficiency so you can provide an educated response to clients about what they are really getting with a historic window. Jamb Building (Austin Historical Staff) — Learn how to measure and build a window jamb from start to finish in Austin Historical’s wood shop. From wood selection to milling to measuring to assembly you’ll learn it all including tool setup and short cuts. Get ready to add window replication to your skill set and company’s offerings. Pricing Window Work (Scott Sidler) — How much does it cost your business to restore a window? That depends on a lot of factors that you need to account for. There are direct costs like labor and materials and then indirect costs like overhead. There is travel and all kinds of things you need to think about before you can put on a price tag and sell that window restoration job. This session will show you what you’re missing and teach you how to price window restoration properly. Sash Building (Austin Historical Staff) — Learn how to create and use a dedicated sash building setup in your shop. You don’t need massive tools either. There are budget friendly ways to get the job done too. Learn the proper setup for success so you can do everything from mill replacement parts to make a full sash. Scheduling (Jackson Hoggard) — An overview and project specific example of how to approach large scale project planning. Introduction to the five levels of scheduling and how each one works together to help the project stay on track and align all key perspectives. Shop Talk Q&A: I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know (Adam Butler, Alison Hardy, Joe Hayes, Justin Smith) is a forum to discuss the joys and woes of running or working in a window restoration business. This is your chance to ask questions, offer helpful insight, share your vision, and give others the advice you wish you’d been given when you started. Stain & Finish Methods (Marla Mirabal) — Get an overview of the steps to take and materials to use when restoring previously stained wood windows and doors. In this session we will discuss color matching, adding pigments to Abatron and glazing putty, and troubleshooting tips. Stop Estimating and Start Consulting (Ty McBride) — Explore Old Home Rescue's successful shift from offering free estimates to charging for consultations, a move that not only boosts client experience but also guarantees fair payment for your skills and time. This session is perfect for small business owners in the preservation field, providing a step-by-step guide on implementing this strategy while nurturing your passion and steering towards more sustainable business practices. Tools of the Trade (John Rodgers) will be an opportunity for attendees to view and use a variety of different tools and materials—some that everyone will be familiar with, and others that you may not have been seen in person before. A variety of tools for stripping, cutting glass, and glazing will be discussed briefly before attendees will have the opportunity to try them out. Different styles of putty knives, glazing compounds, glass cutters, infrared strippers, scrapers, etc. will all be available for use. Window Balance Systems (Kevin Elzinga) will include a high-level review of the different types of balance systems used for double hung windows from the late 1800s to the 1930s. This includes clock or tape balances, weights and pulleys, window pins, tube balances, etc. Also included will be a demonstration of the "X" roping process for sash cord replacement. Speaker BiosAdam Butler is the owner and President of Iconic Windows. His passion for historic preservation and carpentry started when he was a child. He looked forward to the weekends to watch TV, like many kids. But instead of cartoons, he sought out episodes of This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop! Adam is a native of suburban Philadelphia and earned a BA from College of Charleston in beautifully historic Charleston, SC. It was during the summer break in 2003, at his family home in Pennsylvania, that his passion for restoring historic windows was kindled. He fumbled his way through the restoration of his family's windows and realized how surprisingly rewarding window restoration could be. It was not long after graduation and a short stint as an accountant that Adam started Iconic Windows. Over a decade later, his company restores hundreds of windows a year as well as manufactures custom windows and wood storm windows. After 25 years running Old House Specialists LLC in Montgomery, AL, which evolved into primarily a window restoration business doing a wide range of projects, last summer Hilda Dent was fortunate to find another business—MAK Environmental LLC in Tuscaloosa, AL—to take on and continue the work in this area. She has spent time training and working with their crew. A.J. Johnston joined her at the WPSC Summit V in October. Kevin Elzinga grew up on a dairy farm in Jarvis, Ontario where he learned creativity, tenacity, and skills to fix anything. After working for Verizon Wireless for 19+ years, tired of retail life, Kevin searched for a new career. He had lived in homes older than 100 years, and owned two houses in Heritage Hill in Grand Rapids, MI and needed help restoring their 110+ windows. But he could not find anyone skilled to do the work. In 2014, he took precious vacation time to attend a two-week training held by Michigan Historic Preservation Network, and a new interest emerged: historic window restoration. Kevin set to work planning, dreaming, and visioning. In 2015, he started Heritage Window Restoration (HWR), specializing in late 1800s to early 1900s windows. HWR installs aluminum storm windows, wood storm windows, and refinishes doors.
Alison Hardy is owner of Window Woman of New England, Inc. Her company restores windows in the North of Boston/Merrimac Valley region. Alison has a BA from Denison University and an MBA from Boston University, only some of which is useful when scraping paint. When not restoring windows for other people she works on restoring her 1846 Greek Revival house and caring for her very handsome dog Guy Noir. Joe Hayes first began working on old windows in 2009 when he bought a house built in 1916. The house had original windows but no storms, the glazing putty was virtually nonexistent, and most of the cords were broken. His first priority for the house was to get the windows performing better—also his first introduction into the care and maintenance of historic wood windows. At the time, Joe was working as a Montessori elementary teacher. Every summer he would pull out his tools to tackle ever-larger house projects. He kept coming back to the windows as he learned more about how best to address the issues he was seeing. In time, Joe decided to step away from a career in education to follow his passion for working with his hands. He quickly found out that the Twin Cities was thirsty for window restoration services. Since 2017, he has been operating and growing Hayes Window Restoration. When not working on windows, Joe enjoys spending time with his wife and two young daughters, canoeing, gardening, and playing music. Mo Karnage, they/them, is a local rabble rouser and entrepreneur in Richmond Virginia. Since 2014 Mo has owned and run Karnage Construction, a Class A Licensed contractor specializing in historic preservation work especially historic windows, but also providing home renovations, butch for hire small jobs, and new construction projects. Mo's great grandpa started Caravati's architectural salvage, and Mo's dad and grandpa were in the millwork and cabinetry business. Sawdust runs in the blood, as do old Richmond houses. Mo is a parent to a rambunctious 7 year old, and has 3 dogs and 2 cats. Mo splits their time between Cuckoo in Louisa County and Highland Park on Richmond's northside. Mo is a vegan and into punk, zines, diy, and generally always has 14,000 projects going on. Mo loves thrift stores, free stuff, running, and hoarding building materials (its genetic). When they aren't building or painting, Mo is probably reading a trashy romance or murder book, but can be coaxed to get their nose out of the book to hangout at a local dive bar, coffee shop, or swimming hole. Ty McBride, co-founder of Old Home Rescue and founder of Preservan Wood Rot Repair, is a leader in sustainable home service. Joining the Window Preservation Alliance in 2016 and serving on its board since 2020, Ty's commitment to responsible business ownership is unwavering. Residing in a century-old American Foursquare in Oklahoma City's Heritage Hills, he champions the idea that preservation principles transcend a home's age. Tyler McEachern was born and raised in Central Florida. Growing up on a farm, Tyler became comfortable using heavy machinery at a young age. He started his working career in landscaping and eventually worked for a painting company, where he honed his skills in craftsmanship and started working in carpentry. Tyler has always found true satisfaction from taking a raw piece of wood and creating something remarkable. Austin Historical was thrilled when Tyler found his way to the company in 2022, starting first as a craftsman on an installation crew and then using his vast experience becoming one of their trusted carpenters. Some of Tyler's favorite projects have been Tyler Perry's house in Atlanta, Tom Brady's vacation home in the Bahamas, and Stephen King's swimming pool in Siesta Key—making a cameo on a Travel Channel show about the construction. Marla Mirabal has extensive experience in decorative painting. She received a BFA in Art from UCF in 2000. She began her career as a scenic artist working on many projects for the theme park and entertainment industry. She traveled the country painting murals, which led her to gain a deep appreciation for all things historic. She then altered her career from painting new murals to restoring historic ones. Marla has worked nationwide on numerous "historical" theaters, churches, and large scale projects such as the “New Room” at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Marla returned to Orlando and accepted a position at Austin Historical. Seven years later, she serves proudly as the quality control manager. During her free time, she enjoys painting for several yearly art shows and adventuring with her partner, two dogs and two tortoises. Melo Montalvo began his career in the steel industry as a machine operator and assistant plant manager outside his home in Philadelphia. For 10 years, he worked to develop his technical expertise as well as his leadership skills managing a team of 25+ employees. He moved to Central Florida in 2020 to be closer to family and to begin his career with Austin Historical. Starting on the carpentry team, Melo quickly honed his skills and became promoted to Lead Carpenter where he is responsible for purchasing building materials, designing and developing new products, and stewarding his team on some exciting projects, including: the Terrace Hotel windows in Lakeland, custom built doors for Coca Cola plant in Ft. Lauderdale, and restoring and replicating the historic doors of the Sanctuary Building at the University of Miami. In his spare time, Melo enjoys hiking, fishing and spending time with his family. Daniel Sidler is the co-owner/operator of Barron Restorations in Austin, TX. Coming from bartending and always being on his feet, Dan knew a desk job wasn't for him. With a bit of background (in child labor, he says) of helping to restore his family's 1700s home, he started doing small remodels and updates to newer style homes. After getting extremely bored installing the same fixtures and flooring from Home Depot and Lowe's, Daniel decided he needed a change. Now his days are filled with problem-solving wood and steel windows in one of a kind buildings—which couldn't make him happier. Justin Smith is a 1985 graduate of The North Bennet St. School Furniture Making Dept. A five-year stint working for Philip Lowe in Beverly, MA as a journeyman period furniture maker was followed by six years at a custom traditional wooden window making shop in Vermont. In 2001, Justin opened Smith Restoration Sash in Providence, RI. While operating this custom shop, Justin and his wife Melanie founded SRS Hardware to produce high-quality brass window hardware. Two years ago, under the rubric SRS Builds, Justin's focus turned towards assisting others to set up their own small- to medium-sized production shops specializing in custom window and door making. He is currently consulting in Austin, TX. You can see a bit of Justin's past window work here. Brianne Van Vorst is the principal of the consulting firm Liberty Stained Glass Conservation. She started her stained glass journey at the University of York, where she received an MA in Stained Glass Conservation and Cultural Heritage Management (Historic Preservation). Brianne worked as part of one of Britain’s oldest stained glass firms—the York Glaziers Trust, where she had the privilege to work as part of the team conserving York Minster’s Great East Window (1405-1408). After returning to the U.S., she worked in a private studio, Northeast Stained Glass. Working in both the US and UK created a unique vantage point that highlighted the differences in materials, technique, approach, and industry standards. This motivated the creation of Liberty in 2016. The conservation philosophy is to have a positive impact on our nation’s stained glass heritage by advocating for a measured approach and requiring high-quality treatment. Valerie Vides is CEO of NOLA Wood Windows and adjunct professor for the School of Architecture's Historic Preservation Masters Program at Tulane University in New Orleans. A long time lover of old homes, the purchase of a double shotgun led Val and her husband Gus on the path to restoring traditional wood windows. Over five years later, they have seven employees and restore and build traditional wood windows. When not working or teaching, she is the WPA Board President, a float lieutenant in a Mardi Gras parade krewe focused on social justice causes, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program Ambassador, and an HR consultant for small businesses. Valerie, Gus, and their dog Winnie call New Orleans home. |
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