06 August 2024
Landscape Carpenter
Position Description:
Apiary Studio is seeking an individual experienced in carpentry and construction to join our field team. This opening is at the junior carpenter level, working closely with our lead carpenter and construction manager on new landscape installation projects. This is a full time position to begin immediately with work guaranteed through the remainder of the calendar year, and likely to result in a permanent, year-round role.
Our projects typically involve some combination of grading, hardscaping, carpentry, planting and irrigation. The majority of the carpenter’s work would be comprised of fabrication, production and finish carpentry tasks, performed almost entirely in the field at respective outdoor job sites. On occasion, this individual may be asked to pitch in and assist with horticulture scope including planting, mulching, and irrigation.
Please note that this is not a design position.
Education Requirement:
No degree required but apprenticeship, certificates, and training is noted and encouraged.
Experience:
Minimum 1 year experience working in carpentry, construction, landscape contracting or a related trade.
About Apiary Studio:
Apiary Studio is a landscape architecture, design/build, and experimental horticulture practice. We work to achieve thoughtful design solutions that maximize opportunities, mitigate challenges, and concede a habitable future in an increasingly distress and disturbance affected world. By way of citizen research, in-house trialing, and playful curiosity, we have come to specialize in novel building materials and conventions, adaptive reuse of urban decay, and unusual hardy plants to create gardens and outdoor spaces that are dynamic, responsive, and break from the mold. Collaboration with socially and environmentally minded colleagues, clients, and constituents is the underpinning of our practice, from private to public sites, wherein it’s our core belief that all living things are stakeholders in landscape, and that no gesture is too small to have value and impact. Our work is mostly, but not exclusively urban, within the Philadelphia and New Jersey metro area.
Required Skills:
The following list of skills represent the core activities that the carpenter will be tasked with performing. Not all of these skills will be utilized on every project, and our scope of work is often much broader, but these represent the most common and fundamental skills a carpenter will utilize towards Apiary’s projects:
-Drivers License – the Applicant must possess a driver’s license. We have several work vehicles that we use for projects, as well as small equipment.
-Carpentry – Some carpentry experience and aptitude is required: we build fences, gates, pergolas, benches and other outdoor furnishings in many of our projects. Basic tool literacy, solid safety practices, and an understanding of work flow that comes with experience is non-negotiable.
-Equipment Operation – We own landscape equipment like chainsaws, a stand-on track loader, a rototiller and plate compactor. We also frequently rent equipment like compact excavators in order to build the landscapes we design. Candidates should have some experience and level of comfort with basic equipment operation.
Personality:
We think we have a great team at Apiary Studio, full of creative and ambitious talent. We are a small, young firm in the process of growing and expanding our design and construction services. All employees are expected to be pleasant, polite and friendly towards one another in order to foster as collaborative and fun an environment as possible. Additional personality traits we all. Possess include:
-Work Ethic & Physical Capacity – We make every effort to assure that heavy and/or dangerous tasks are completed safely and with appropriate degree of assistance and personal protective equipment. However, we also have no illusions that the work itself very physically demanding. The best candidate for this position has a natural disposition for hustling and hard work, which includes morale and endurance across a variety of tasks and weather conditions.
-Attention to Detail – Our obsession with craft and attention to detail is what sets our firm apart from other companies. A big part of the reason that we undertake both design and build services is because we believe that we can do it better than just about anyone else.
-Creativity – While we work out designs thoroughly on paper before putting a shovel in the ground, field conditions always present surprises and many details need to be worked out in the field.
-Collaborative – We work well because we work as a team. It is critical that all staff feel comfortable working together and sharing ideas fluidly during the design process as well as during construction.
-Passion for Sustainability – At the end of the day, we feel strongly that it is our responsibility to create landscapes that manage stormwater, protect and reintroduce plants and wildlife, and consume the least amount of resources possible. The field crew is in a unique position to help protect the physical environment and employ resource conservation throughout the construction process. All team members must participate in waste minimization and resource conservation on site.
Skills nice to have but not necessary:
-Welding & Metalwork – We regularly perform relatively simple metalwork, including installing and welding steel edging and other outdoor furnishings. The degree of experience that this skill requires can be taught on the job if the candidate does not already possess metalwork experienceMasonry & Concrete – Some experience working with installing pavers and pouring concrete is ideal for this position.
-Horticulture – Basic planting, pruning and plant care are involved in almost any of our projects. We also take particular pride in our planting design and maintenance work.
-Electrical – We sometimes wire simple circuitry and low-voltage lighting. These rudimentary electrical skills can also be picked up on the job pretty quickly.
-Plumbing & Irrigation – Many projects involve installing basic drainage plumbing, as well as simple drip irrigation systems. Experience in these aspects of landscaping can be taught on the job if not already possessed.
Compensation:
Negotiable based on experience. Paid holidays and vacation. Health insurance after onboarding period. Continuing education stipends. Access to company tools and resources for personal projects after hours.
Contact:
Apiary Studio is located in the Germantown-Mt Airy neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia. More information about the practice can be found at: www.Apiary-Studio.com
Candidates are asked to please include a cover letter and resume with the subject line: ATTN Landscape Carpenter Position to
Work samples and employee references may be requested after interviewing.