(with sincerest apologies to Lennon and McCartney)

June 6, 2010 –  Twenty years ago today, we were working on our very first timber frame.

Craig and I founded Cascade Joinery in 1990 with one computer, three Eagle Scouts, equal amounts of good luck, talent and persistence, a dash of knowledge, a few handfuls of experience and a triple helping of naiveté.  The Eagle Scouts were invaluable, but luck, persistence and naiveté rather have probably contributed most to our longevity.  Naiveté was (and continues to be) helpful, because if we had known what we were getting into, we probably would not have done it.

Persistence is what helps us plow through the enormous (and unending) learning curve required to grow a business.  Luck is a product of persistence, as I believe good luck happens, well, when you keep showing up.  By now, we have shown up often enough to have completed over 300 projects in 20 states as well as some in Canada and Japan.  And well over 150 people have worked with us, a fact that, for me, brought home the biggest amount of C-H-A-N-G-E we have seen throughout the years.

And I know change is a topic that’ll make your eyes roll into the back of your head.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve done it. Reams of former forests have been dedicated to the topic (remember that awful book Who Moved my Cheese?).  Cliché though it may be, change is inevitable and we all have to deal with it.  If any further proof is required, I started timber framing in my late 20′s, and now, in my mid-50′s, the evidence of change is dramatic.  Along with the obvious physical changes come changes in circumstance typical of maturing people and therefore of maturing companies.  So you gotta change and the ability to do so is the key to longevity.

On any given day, we can take a look around the company, and wonder who won’t be here next year.  Somebody’s going to be moving on.  Life happens.  Of course we don’t know who or why, but we can be certain that we are going to have to replace somebody.  From my perspective, maintaining the quality that our customers expect and ensuring the continuing function of the organization is of primary importance.

But also with maturity comes the pleasure (?) of looking back.  It’s not always pretty.  And since we built timber frame number one, we’ve hit some curious milestones . . . Like hiring people who were born after we started the company.  Or having employees whose parents are younger than me!  I hate that.  Longevity, though, beats the alternative.  And it has been a great ride.

Cascade Joinery timber frame number one was a pretty good effort.  Craig and I and the Eagle Scouts scribed a tree into a frame that overlooks the Nisqually River.  The 1500 +/- square foot home was conceived to be a living gallery for the owner’s sculpture (see photos).  Last we saw of the house, the surroundings were lavishly gardened, and we heard that the owner had married, had acquired a 13 year old step daughter and had added a new master suite.  And now we’ve lost touch.  The phone number is not in service; the post office box is closed–more evidence of inevitable change.

Now that we’re 20 years old (next year we’ll be old enough to buy a beer!), I’ve begun to think a lot about the M-word–Maturity. To achieve maturity, you have to live long enough, and . . . you have to live long enough to survive your mistakes.  Our friend George frequently says, Good judgment is gained by experience and experience is gained by bad judgment.   And so it is.

Notes from the hosts: We would like to thank Jeff Arvin for providing these reflections about his business.  Twenty years is certainly a huge milestone and congrats go to him from us. Please feel free to add yours below.

Cascade Joinery is a premier timber frame design/build company based out of Bellingham,Washington. Jeff was tagged for this project by Pam Hinton who was tagged for this project by Splintergirl Amy Good who was tagged for this project by emk_Architect Earl Mark Kaplan.