Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
FINISHED — Mitchell Currie of Currie’s County Construction finishes the last touch — an outlet cover — to one of his latest projects at the Michaud residence in Houlton. Currie installed hardwood floors, sheetrock, tile and trim work.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
HODGDON — He may be young, but Mitchell Currie of Hodgdon takes pride in his craft and his workmanship.
“I started with my father (Brett Currie) when I was about 15,” said Currie. “He is the one who got me into this trade. He taught me a lot, which I am very thankful for.”
Currie, the owner of Currie’s County Construction, has been working on his own for about a year.
“I worked with my father until I went to college,” he said. “I switched through a couple of different trades from criminal justice to forestry.”
With neither of those fields really interesting Currie, he decided to go to Eastern Maine Community College for building construction and electrical technology. That is when he realized that carpentry was his true calling.
While in college, Currie participated in the Skills USA program for two years. The first year of the competition, he won first place in carpentry for the state. He advanced to the national competition in Kansas City where he came in fifth.
“That was big to me,” he said. “It really set me to this is what I am going to do. I ask my customers if they know about Skills USA, a lot of them don’t, which is too bad. It is a really good organization. It really opened my eyes.”
After all, Currie had been working with his father’s carpentry business since he was a youngster, so building was a natural fit. He graduated from EMCC with honors.
“The business is really going great,” he said. “I was pretty busy all winter. There were only a couple of weeks of a slow period. Now, I am getting calls every single day.”
Currie constructs new and restores the old as his motto says “is “Make old look new; new look better; and better look best.”
“I really love restoring old homes back to when they were built … their original state,” he said. “I have done quite a few of those.”
Currie recently worked on Sue Waite York’s property on Court Street, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places and the first home that caught Currie’s eye for restoring older homes, and he is at the former Pierce home on Military Street.
He also replaces windows, doors, roofs, while putting up sheetrock, installing floors, cabinets and trim work to building decks, garages and putting siding on homes. Currie is a versatile and skilled carpenter.
“I would like to do more new construction,” he said. “But, a lot of work around here is remodeling.”
For those who may not know Currie, he is engaged to be married to Amanda Ryan on Aug. 29. He is starting his business from the ground up. Though he doesn’t know to what extent or how his business will grow, Currie knows there is no job too small.
“If someone has just a one-day, five-hour job, I will do it for them,” he said. “There are people who cannot change out a door knob or something to that extent. I will do it. It is all about good customer service.”
Currie finds he likes to stay on a job until it is complete. But, he also knows, sometimes that is not the case.
“I love to stay right on a job,” he said. “But, for example, plumbers were working for a week where I was and I went to another job. Sometimes, you just have to. Mostly though, if I start, I stay there until it is done. I work at a fast pace. But, it is not like fast, get it done, do a sloppy job. I have my own pace and try my best to please the customer.”
Currie’s rates are reasonable and a customer pays per hour. He also offers free estimates.
“I charge per hour because I don’t want to overcharge a customer,” he said. “Ninety-five percent of the time, a job takes an extra day. You have to get more materials or the customer changes his/her mind along the way adding different things to the project.”
There are times when Currie finds there may be more of a problem than what is observed.
“I will be upfront with homeowners and tell them,” he said. “I want to be honest with my customers. I don’t want the job costing them more money than they anticipated. I want to make everything look good and be functional.”
Though Currie prefers his work in The County, he is not opposed to traveling for a job. When the weather is nice, he wants to be completing outside projects.
“That hardest part is trying to line up each job,” he said. “I try to push my inside work to a rainy day or to winter. Some people will wait. Some will not.”
Currie’s County Construction has a Facebook page. He can be reached by calling 694-1368.
