Matt Wiley has 20+ years of experrience building historic homes and large scale commercial restoration projects. Matthew’s father taught and trained him in the carpentry and building trades from 12 years old and on. As his father was a general foreman builing residential homes Matt was trained in lumber calculation for project management in his early teens. Time saving job order, and the use of custom made ‘jigs’ to speed repetitive tasks was taught and practiced from Matt’s formative years. Matt moved from the rural hills of western virginia to Richmond’s most historic district – Church Hill before it was popular. Building the late 90’s and early 2000’s in Church Hill Matthew found a severe shortage in historically accurate building materials that caused a project management problem in restoring the row houses of the 19th century. From balusters to windows, historically correct materials where nearly unavailailable and using vinyl windows in a beautiful 3 story six digit home just did not keep the aestetic alive.
And in a beautiful turn of fate Matthew had the opportunity to buy “Beckstoffer’s Millwork” at 1207 N 28th Street in the early 2000’s. At that point the facility was 100 years old and many of the tools and records were still in tact. The formative experience of a lifelong craftsman was now turned to the speciaty that provides a lifetime of challenge and project variety. Throughout the real estate boom and urban return of the 2000’s Matthew ran a shop of 20+ employees supplying everything from basic kitchens to historic retrofits of much of Tobacco Row warehouse conversions. In the full market stop of the financial crisis of 09; Matthew’s operation had to re-size with the rest of the industry and it was the demand for historically accurate building supplies that carried Matthew’s interest, as well as cashflow.
Regulations provide a federal income-tax credit for owners of historic buildings that undergo substantial rehabilitations into income-producing uses. A credit equal to 20% of a rehabilitation’s qualified rehabilitation expenditures may be subtracted directly from the owner’s federal income taxes. A program of the National Park Service (NPS), the federal tax credits are administered by the State.
Historic Building Tax Credit Benefits
Helps close the financing gap between the cost of a rehabilitation project and its return on investment
Gepetto Millworks of Richmond VA is proud to have supplied many of the museum quality restoration woodworking pieces for instalation at the historic estate of George Washington.
Restoration Builders of Virginia’s History
As both the birthplace of the American Colony, and the capital of the much disputed Confederate states Virginia’s counties, cities and towns hold the richest living history of any state in the Union. Gepetto craftsmen fashion historically accurate windows for private homes in historic neighborhoods like Church Hill, or The Fan in Richmond, as well as historic communities like the
One of these is not like the other
Can you see the difference?
PREAPPROVED hand crafted details
To finish the fences in an historically authentic look and feel, Gepetto Craftsmen used hand cut templates emulating the mistakes a 1700’s carpenter might have made in the process of fashioning hundreds of newell posts. The post tops are cut from solid pieces just like 200 years ago. However, our craftsmen are accustomed to 21st century levels of detail and repeatability and work with some of the highest quality machine tools – to produce the same result craftsmen working with steel that had only been tempered by a blacksmith 200+ years ago. The post tops were cut with varying templates to give a pre-approved – hand fashined look and feel allowing the museum historians as much input as possible in their final product.
Historic Restoration and Building projects require specified wood products build using historic methods and our Richmond shop has years of experience producing hand made wood building products.
The history of America beats from the heart of VA, particularly during the pre-Colonial period. Jamestown Virginia was founded in 1607 and was credited as the first permanent English settlement in North America while Henricus was even earlier, but was moved due to flooding. The surrenders ending both the American Revolution (Yorktown) and the Civil War (Appomattox) occurred in Virginia. The state is called the “Mother of Presidents” because eight U.S. presidents were born there. The colony nearly failed until tobacco emerged as a profitable export. It was grown on plantations, using primarily indentured servants for the intensive hand labor involved. The Virginia Colony became the wealthiest and most populated British colony in North America, with an elected General Assembly. The colony was dominated by rich planters who were also in control of the established Anglican Church. Baptist and Methodist preachers brought the Great Awakening, welcoming black members and leading to many evangelical and racially integrated churches. Virginia planters had a major role in gaining independence and in the development of democratic-republican ideals of the United States. They were important in the Declaration of Independence, writing the Constitutional Convention (and preserving protection for the slave trade), and establishing the Bill of Rights. The state of Kentucky separated from Virginia in 1792. [source: WikiPedia]
Wooden Window Restoration VA
Is our specialty because there are so many rich layers of history that can be preserved in architecture. Gepetto builds to order or repairs existing window frames, casings and sashes so that you can receive historic tax credits for your renovation or building budget.
