Lead Carpenter in Princeton, New Jersey at Rowe Carpentry LLC

Demo day on a gut renovation. The wall comes down and the second floor is riding on a beam that isn't in any drawing, notched half through by some plumber decades ago. The homeowner is at work and David is across town on another job. Whoever is running that site has to make the call. Right there, with the crew waiting on it.

That's the person we're hiring.

Rowe Carpentry runs a three-month waitlist and has never bought an ad. The reputation comes from the jobs other crews turn down: additions tied into century-old framing, gut renovations where the plans stop matching the house the day demo starts. Every client who watches us pull one off refers us to the next one. For you, that waitlist means one thing... steady work. You're not sitting home between jobs waiting for the phone to ring.

The Job

You run the job the way David would. When he's not on site, nobody should be able to tell.

The houses are old. The framing was never level the day it went up, and the flooring hasn't been made in eighty years. Somewhere behind the plaster is a problem the drawings didn't account for, and it's waiting on a decision. Nobody hands you the answer. You make the call and keep the job moving.

You run the crew. Set the pace, hand out the work. Nothing gets called done until it would pass David's own walkthrough, and no one is checking behind you every hour to make sure it does. That's the point of the role.

The site gets squared away before anyone's truck leaves. Tools put away, materials accounted for. The client owns the house you're standing in and drops by whenever they feel like it. The crew they find should be one they'd brag about to the neighbors.

The best people we've hired never waited to be told what came next. If you need tomorrow's list handed to you, this job will wear you out. If you're the one everyone looks at when the drawings stop making sense, send us the ugliest structural problem you've ever solved and what you did about it. That tells us more than a résumé ever will.

$32 - $48 hourly

• Lead the on-site crew through daily execution — assign tasks, set pace, and keep work moving from setup to final sweep.
• Own quality control at the trade level — walk through every detail before the PM, or the client sees it.
• Execute high-level carpentry work on complex additions and custom renovations, including old-home challenges.
• Manage materials and flag needs before the site runs short — no crew stands around waiting.
• Maintain a clean, organized job site at the end of every day — tools put away, materials sorted, rig squared away.
• Communicate proactively — surface problems, unexpected discoveries, or schedule risks before they become client issues.

Required:

• 5+ years of hands-on carpentry experience.
• Valid driver's license and reliable transportation.
• Ability to pass a background check.
• US work authorization.

You do NOT need:

• No college degree or formal certifications required.
• No prior experience with Rowe's specific project types — if you can build at a high level, we can align on methods.

Rowe Carpentry LLC takes the jobs most companies won't touch — complex additions and custom renovations in the Philadelphia metro area, where the drawings don't always match the house, and getting it wrong means getting it done twice. We specialize in old homes, precision work, and clients who want it done right the first time. The work requires real judgment, not just labor. Our reputation has built a three-month waitlist without a single ad. If you want to build things worth building, with a crew that actually thinks, this is where you work.