What's covered on a small-installs visit
Site-only wood work — the kind of half-hour-to-three-hour job that doesn't need the shop. We bring a tool roll, a stud finder, a sharp block plane, a tape, and the consumables the visit needs (screws, anchors, glue, finish oil). Two-hour minimum at $95 CAD/hr; billed in 30-minute blocks after.
- Two-hour minimum at $95 CAD — fits two to four small wood tasks
- Stud finder, block plane, chisels and a small grinder on the van
- Common consumables: wood screws, plug-style anchors, hot hide glue, mineral oil, beeswax
- Drop sheets, vacuum and dust extraction included
- Materials at receipt + 0% if we need to pick up timber or hardware
- One-year warranty on whatever we install or repair
Doors, trim & thresholds
About a third of small-install calls are doors. North Shore houses move a couple of millimetres a year as the seasons shift; doors that closed fine in 1995 now drag, swing on their own, or won't latch. The fix is usually a 15-minute plane on the right edge.
- Door planing & rehang (single door) — usually 60 to 90 minutes on site
- Hinge shim and re-screw (where the bottom screw has stripped out) — 30 minutes
- Threshold replacement (solid hardwood, fitted to the opening) — 90 minutes
- Trim repair / replacement on a single doorway — 90 minutes
- Cupboard-door re-alignment (cabinet hinges drifted, Euro-style adjustment) — 30 minutes per door
Solid-wood shelves & brackets
Floating-shelf installs where you've bought a solid-wood shelf and need it landed on studs, level, and not pulling away from the wall in a year. We bring the right anchors for your wall type (lath-and-plaster, gypsum, brick veneer behind drywall).
- Single floating shelf install (you supply the shelf) — 45 to 75 minutes
- Set of three floating shelves, aligned and levelled — 2 hours
- Mantelpiece install on a fireplace surround — 90 minutes to 2 hours
- Picture-rail installation, full room — 2 to 3 hours
Butcher-block oiling & counter care
A solid-wood butcher-block counter needs an annual mineral-oil and beeswax pass. Doing it yourself isn't hard, but on a 3-metre island it's a 90-minute job with proper saturation and we can knock it out while you're at work.
- Annual butcher-block oiling — 60 to 90 minutes
- Restorative oiling on a dry / cracked counter — 2 hours plus 24 hours cure (no second visit needed)
- Sand-and-re-oil after a deep scratch or burn — 90 minutes
- Maple cutting-board re-conditioning (multiple boards, one visit) — 60 minutes
Sticky drawers, dragging cupboards & loose joints
The smaller fixes that don't fit a "category". A built-in drawer that's started to bind on a slide, a cupboard door whose hinges have drifted, a chair that's started to wobble at one stretcher.
- Drawer-slide re-alignment (Blum or Salice) — 30 minutes per drawer
- Cabinet-door hinge audit, full kitchen — 90 minutes
- Single chair re-glue on site (better in shop, but feasible) — 60 minutes plus 24-hour cure
- Stair-tread squeak (where it's a wood-on-wood issue, not the structure) — 30 minutes per tread
- Wardrobe door re-hang — 60 minutes
What it costs
One hourly rate, posted, no platform fees, no fuel surcharges. Materials at receipt + 0%.
- Hourly rate: $95 CAD / hr, two-hour minimum
- Half-hour blocks after the first two hours: $50
- Squamish/Whistler trip fee: quoted on the call (we tend to bundle small installs with other Whistler-area work)
- Materials: receipt-priced, no markup
- GST 5% + PST 7% on labour and materials where applicable
Related services
- Restoration & Refinishing — for pieces that need shop time rather than a site visit
- Built-In Cabinetry — when the small install turns out to need a full pantry rebuild
- Custom Furniture — for new pieces rather than repairs