We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Blaine LaFrance a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Blaine, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My wife and I lived in a studio apartment with two 100 pound dogs when our daughter was born. Our budget was tight so I used the few tools I had to build us as much storage as possible. When we moved out to more land in the middle of the woods our daughter started walking, exploring and climbing. With the budget still pretty tight I starting using scrap wood to build her some indoor and outdoor climbers.
When my wife saw that I was, in fact handy, my To Build list got much longer.
I have some formal training in carpentry, and a whole bunch of experience. I fell in love with the craft again when it was time to build for my family. I decided starting my own carpentry business was worth a shot so I upgraded some tools and picked a logo…then picked a new one. I decided since our Daughter, EB, was the inspiration for the company, I’d name it after her.
My wife booked us our first job with a friend of hers who had recently moved and we’ve been booking jobs ever since. Our first client may have been a close friend but she sure spread the word and referred us all around town. We would not be where we are today without those first few jobs.
While the Lowcountry is in no shortage of carpenters, we figured we would see how the first year goes and assess from there. I’m August of 2022 we celebrated our 1 year anniversary and have no intentions of stopping. This business provides extra funds for my family, the ability to teach my daughter some tangible skills, and an opportunity to be part of our community.
Our mission was the start out building some small custom pieces but we quickly expanded into fences, furniture, and home repair. I look forward to seeing what this next year of EB Custom Carpentry brings us.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have experience working with many different types of wood. When we started out we started out, we started out small and on a small budget. I started working with found wood, pallet wood, and recycled wood. I am always willing to work with a client and their budget to get them their dream piece at a reasonable rate.

Some jobs like building fences, may not be the most glamorous or creative jobs I’ve ever worked on but I enjoy knowing a family/child /pet is going to stay safe because of what I built. Other jobs I get to be as creative as possible and those are always a lot of fun. But at the end of the day it comes down to what the client wants and we strive to make them as happy as possible.

I would say that building furniture is my favorite. I like watching everything come together as a build it and being able to solve small problems to make it work.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We attend a few artisan markets through the year. Some of these markets bring in no money and others bring in a few dollars here and there. But at every single market we make a connection. Typically it is someone who grabs our card and calls us later for a job. Other times it is a fellow creator who we can collaborate with. Other times it is a family passing by who stops and chats for a little bit. But no matter what we make sure that we stay in contact with everyone we meet whether it’s through social media, email, or an in person check in. We know that we are not going to be the next big carpentry business in Charleston but we also know that without our clients we wouldn’t be a carpentry business at all. So we want to make sure that we leave a good impression with everyone we meet.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Marketing our business has probably been the biggest challenge. My wife does our social media and she is the first to tell you that she has no technological knowledge at all. She had to learn, sometimes begrudgingly, the art of social media and marketing in 2022. She used a few different resources, including Internet guides and tutorials, signing up for classes, and countless YouTube videos.
She also will be the first to tell you that she had to stop herself from giving up on multiple occasions. This is what she has to say about her experience.

“ I get so frustrated with new technology which is pretty embarrassing since I’m in my early 30s. But at the same time I knew if we didn’t have any clients we couldn’t make any money and the whole point of starting a business was to make additional income for our family. I had it stuck in my mind that sitting on the computer or sitting on your phone for hours and hours and hours was not in fact working but it was just a waste of time. So I had to re-trained myself into understanding that creating content not only takes a long time but it is in fact work. There have been times I’ve taken a short hiatus there’s been times I’ve taken a longer hiatus but what keeps me going is knowing that Blaine is willing to build and overcome some pretty tricky woodworking challenges so I am willing to overcome my technology challenges. Working together and playing together is not always fun in a relationship but overall the amount of collaboration that we get to do together has made it worthwhile”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: EBCustomCarpentry