Directory of Craftsmen and Trade Shops

Machine sheds, insulated work shops, and horse barns in the 30 by 40 to 60 by 120 range. Known in the county for setting laminated columns on precast footings rather than burying a treated post, which is what keeps a building standing straight on heavy clay. Two crews run March through December, and Amos walks every site before he quotes it.

Serves about 60 miles from Richmond.

The oldest post frame outfit in Jay County and the one other builders send the hard jobs to. They do clear span equipment buildings up to 80 feet wide and will take on a commercial shell with an engineer stamp, which most shops this size will not. Trusses come off their own jigs.

Serves about 75 miles from Portland.

Dairy and hog buildings, heifer barns, and commodity sheds for working farms around Berne. They understand ventilation and manure handling in a way a general builder does not, and they will lay out a barn around your equipment rather than hand you a standard plan. Concrete crew is in house.

Serves about 45 miles from Berne.

Horse and livestock barns with monitor roofs, dutch doors, and stall work they build themselves out of oak. They also do a steady business straightening and re roofing older barns that other builders have written off. Smaller crew, so the schedule runs tight.

Serves about 50 miles from Winchester.

Garages, hobby shops, and detached buildings in the 24 by 32 to 40 by 60 range, which is the size most homeowners actually want and most farm builders would rather skip. Fair on small jobs and quick to return a call. Two man crew plus help in the summer.

Serves about 35 miles from Rushville.

Garages, storage buildings, and lean to additions. Ervin takes the calls himself.

Serves about 30 miles from Berne.

Standing seam and ribbed steel on houses, barns, and shops.

Serves about 50 miles from Winchester.

Storage sheds, run in barns, and chicken coops built on the lot and delivered on their own trailer. They set the building level on blocks and haul the old one away if you ask.

Serves about 60 miles from Middletown.

Trestle tables, chairs, and bedroom sets in oak, cherry, and walnut.

Serves about 40 miles from Berne.

Built to measure kitchens in cherry, hickory, oak, and painted maple. Doors and drawer boxes are made in the shop, not ordered in, and they will template an old farmhouse where nothing is square.

Serves about 45 miles from Centerville.

Welded gates, stair and porch railing, trailer repair, and custom steel brackets. Bring a sketch on a napkin and he will tell you what it costs.

Serves about 40 miles from Cambridge City.

Bedding plants, vegetable starts, and hanging baskets grown on site from seed. Open April through June and again for mums in the fall.

Serves about 30 miles from New Castle.