Grow Your Own WindowCraft Team
- Steve Quillian
- Feb 21
- 5 min read
A Six-Month Plan to Restore Your Home and Build Local Skill
There’s a bottleneck in historic window restoration.
Homeowners call around.
They get quotes that feel astronomical.
They’re told the waitlist is two or three years long.
And eventually someone says:
“Just replace them.”
But what if the problem isn’t the windows?
What if the problem is capacity?
A Different Way to Think About Restoration
Every time we run a Total Window Makeover workshop, we prove something simple:
One person can restore one complete double-hung window in five days.
Not after years.
Not after an apprenticeship.
Five days.
That means one trained person can restore roughly one window per week.
So instead of waiting years for a contractor, what if you trained someone you trust — and restored your house first?
That’s what this program is about.
Step 1 — Hands-On Training
You identify a motivated person (or people): a friend, family member, neighbor, carpenter, or someone looking for meaningful work.
You send them to hands-on training.
In five days, they learn to perform the three essential makeovers every historic window needs:
Mechanical Makeover — restoring how the window operates
Frame Makeover — repairing and preparing the frame attached to the house
Sash Makeover — restoring the operable window units
They also receive a light introduction to sequencing — how these elements fit together into a logical workflow.
That sequencing ultimately leads into the Five Pillars of Window Craft, which is the full system used for efficient, repeatable restoration.
By the end of the week, they have restored a complete window.
*Bonus: Intro to Sash Making (Included)
For homeowners who commit to the full six-month deployment (explained below), Intro to Sash Making is included at no additional cost.
This teaches your trainee how to:
build new sash when repair would take longer than replacement
execute mortise & tenon joinery
recreate traditional profiles
fabricate divided lights
At that point, they’re prepared to handle nearly anything your house presents.
Step 2 — Six Months of Guided Mentorship & Coaching
This is where the real success happens.
The workshop builds skill.
The six months that follow build momentum, structure, and completion.
This is both coaching and deployment oversight.
I work directly with the homeowner and the trainee to guide restoration on your actual house.
Your home becomes the classroom.
Why Six Months?
Because:
windows take time
skill develops through repetition
real houses introduce complexity
metrics must be tracked in real conditions
At roughly one window per week:
10 windows ≈ 10 weeks
20 windows ≈ 20 weeks
Six months provides enough runway to complete most homes properly while building real mastery.
What the Six Months Includes
1. Project Mapping of Your House
We start with structure.
I help you:
map your house
number every window
identify repair vs replacement
establish sequencing
set up a tracking spreadsheet
You don’t guess.
You follow a plan.
2. Metrics Monitoring (Mechanical + Sash Work)
We focus on the foundation:
Mechanical Makeover
Sash Makeover
These determine everything downstream.
You submit photos and progress updates.
We review.
We correct.
We refine.
This keeps the work aligned with real Window Craft standards.
3. Bi-Weekly Coaching Calls
Every two weeks we:
review progress
solve problems
adjust sequencing
remove bottlenecks
Momentum matters.
4. Ongoing Guidance
During the six months, you have structured access for:
technical questions
workflow decisions
material choices
sequencing challenges
This isn’t “watch a video and hope.”
It’s active guidance.
5. Skills Validation
Toward the end, we conduct:
video evaluations
photo documentation
virtual walkthroughs
performance checks
Completion Certification.
Demonstrated ability.
Tools & Production Setup
Training alone isn’t enough.
To execute Window Craft, your trainee needs a proper working setup.
Rather than forcing homeowners to purchase everything upfront, we offer a six-month production setup rental that includes the core tools required to do the work correctly.
This allows restoration to begin immediately after training.
The $20,000 Grow Your Own Window Craft Team Bundle
To keep things simple, we offer a single bundled option for homeowners who want to move forward:
$20,000 Deployment Bundle
This includes:
Total Window Makeover training
Six months of guided mentorship & coaching
Six-month Window Craft production setup rental
Intro to Sash Making (included at no extra cost)
Instead of paying for each piece separately, this bundle covers everything on our side needed to train, equip, and guide your person through restoring your house.
Where the Money Actually Goes
It’s important to understand this:
Most of your investment does not disappear into a contractor’s pocket.
It goes into:
Training a real person
Paying local labor (via stipend)
Providing professional tools
Creating long-term capacity
You also provide a weekly stipend to your trainee (typically around $600/week).
That money goes directly to the person doing the work on your home.
You’re not just restoring windows.
You’re funding skill.
Shared Cost Option (Neighborhood Model)
Some homeowners choose not to do this alone.
Two neighbors can split the deployment bundle.
Both benefit from the same trained person.
Projects are sequenced.
Costs are shared.
Instead of each homeowner paying full restoration prices independently, you collaborate — and everyone wins.
This is often how local restoration capacity begins organically.
What Happens After Six Months?
You finish with:
restored windows
a trained window restorer
a documented workflow
a system you understand
From there, you may:
continue into deeper apprenticeship
restore additional properties
help neighbors
or simply enjoy your completed home
That decision comes later.
The six months are designed to get your house substantially complete and your trainee competent.
Who This Is For
This is for homeowners who:
want their original windows restored
value traditional craft
are tired of waiting years
are willing to invest in people
see restoration as both practical and civic
This is not cosmetic renovation.
This is preservation through skill.
Stop Waiting. Start Building.
Historic windows lasted a century because someone knew how to make and maintain them.
That knowledge doesn’t have to disappear.
In five days, one person can restore one window.
In six months, you can restore your house.
In a year, your neighborhood might not have to wait on anyone.
If you’re interested in mapping your home and building your own Window Craft team, the next step is a conversation.
Let’s look at your house.
Let’s number the windows.
Let’s build a plan.
Email Steve directly at steve@woodwindowmakeover.com to discuss how this could work for you.
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