Carpentry and Joinery in Kent

AGC is a carpentry business first. I have 30 years in carpentry, joinery and building behind me, and before starting AGC I spent 12 years as a project manager for a carpentry company, running multimillion pound contracts.

That covers both halves of the trade. The structural carpentry that holds a building together, which is floor joists, stud walls, roof timbers and first fix, and the joinery you see and use every day, which is staircases, balustrades, doors and fitted furniture made to suit the room rather than the catalogue.

Because the same person does the building work as well, a carpentry job never waits on another trade. A new staircase in a renovation or a wardrobe in a loft conversion is planned in from the start, not squeezed in at the end.

Get a quote Our work

How I work

01
Consultation
We start with a chat about what you have in mind, then a visit to see the space, because joinery is only as good as the measurements behind it.
02
Measuring and planning
I measure properly and talk you through the options, the timber, the finish and how it will be fixed, with honest advice on what suits the room and the budget.
03
Making and fitting
The work is made and fitted with care, and I manage it personally, so the person who measured it is the person who fits it.
04
Finishing touches
Before I call it finished I check every joint, door and fixing, so it works properly and keeps looking right for years.

Bespoke joinery

Bespoke joinery is anything made to measure for one particular space. Fitted wardrobes, alcove shelving, understairs storage and window seats are the usual ones, and they earn their keep in older houses where nothing is square and nothing off the shelf fits properly. On the walk in wardrobe in our work, the stud walls went up first and the wardrobe was then built into the room they made.

What bespoke joinery is, and when it is worth it

Staircases and balustrades

A staircase is joinery and structure at once, and it is usually the first thing anyone sees when they come through the front door. I fit new staircases, replace tired balustrades and rebuild external steps. One job swapped an old boarded pine balustrade for an oak handrail and twisted oak spindles, on the stairs and along the landing. Another rebuilt a rotten external staircase and landing in treated timber.

See the balustrade before and after

Oak framing, doors and porches

Oak framed porches, door frames and doors are traditional carpentry, and they last when they are made properly. The porch in our work is green oak, built onto the front of a brick house. The garden office door is hardwood, hung in an oak frame made for the opening it sits in.

See the oak framed porch

First and second fix carpentry

On extensions, conversions and new builds the carpentry runs through the whole job. First fix is the structural timber that goes in before the plasterer, such as floor joists, stud walls, roof timbers, door linings and the staircase itself. Second fix is everything after, such as doors, skirting, architraves, the balustrade and handrail, and fitted furniture.

First fix and second fix carpentry explained What to expect when hiring a carpenter The difference between a builder and a carpenter

“I am delighted with the 3 projects undertaken by AGC joinery. The renovation of crumbling windows was sympathetic and skillful as was the replacement of the barge boards of 4 gables of our period farmhouse. Similarly, the joinery work to make and fit 3 doors for our old brick stables was of a high standard and exactly what I had asked for.”

sarah stevenson, Google review