Industry
Preservation contractors: nineteen trades and how to find them
The nineteen preservation trades an old house owner may need, what each does, and how to find practitioners through state, local, and craft sources.
What to take away
- Preservation contractors split into about nineteen trades. Hiring the right trade matters more than hiring the largest firm.
- The firms named below have public track records. We have not inspected their work, and a name here is not an endorsement.
- Preservation trades are regional and thinly spread. Expect to travel or to wait.
- Your state preservation office and local historic district commission keep the referral lists that reflect who works in your area.
Old-house work is not one trade. It is roughly nineteen, and asking one general contractor to cover all of them is how projects go wrong. Here is the map.
The structural and envelope trades
- Restoration carpenterrepairs and replicates sills, framing, porches and exterior joinery.
- Timber framerworks on hewn and pegged frames, barns, and early houses.
- Historic masonrepointing, unit replacement, brick and stone repair.
- Stone cutter or carverreplacement and repair of dressed and carved stone.
- Slate and tile rooferrepair, reattachment and unit replacement on long-life roofs.
- Sheet metal workergutters, cornices, standing seam roofing, flashing.
- Foundation and drainage contractor: grading, footing drains, waterproofing.
Boston Valley Terra Cotta in Orchard Park, New York, makes architectural terra cotta and matches historic glaze and profiles. Vertical Access, based in Ithaca, New York, inspects steeples, facades and towers by rope. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, diagnoses structural and envelope failures in old buildings.
The Christman Company in Lansing, Michigan, runs a preservation group that takes on whole-building restorations. Durable Restoration, an Ohio firm, handles masonry, slate roofing and window work on historic buildings.
The finish and interior trades
- Sash restorerrepair, reglazing and weatherstripping of historic windows.
- Plastererflat plaster repair, reattachment, three-coat work.
- Ornamental plastererrun cornices, cast enrichments, medallions.
- Decorative paintergraining, marbling, stencil and finish replication.
- Paint conservator or analystlayer analysis and color evidence.
- Wood flooring specialist: repair, patching and refinishing of historic floors.
- Hardware restorerlocks, latches, hinges, plating and mechanisms.
- Stained and leaded glass conservatorreleading, repair, protective glazing.
EverGreene Architectural Arts, based in New York, conserves decorative painting, murals and ornamental plaster. John Canning & Co. in Cheshire, Connecticut, restores decorative finishes, plaster and murals in churches, theaters and civic buildings. Conrad Schmitt Studios in New Berlin, Wisconsin, covers stained glass, decorative painting and historic interiors.
Hayles and Howe in Baltimore, Maryland, specializes in ornamental plaster and scagliola. The Window Preservation Alliance keeps a directory of independent restorers who repair original wood windows instead of replacing them.
The specialist and advisory roles
- Preservation architect: design, drawings, specification, review submissions.
- Structural engineer with old-building experienceload paths, movement, seismic.
- Preservation consultantdocumentation, nominations, applications, advice.
- Hazardous materials contractorlicensed lead and asbestos abatement.
Silman, a structural engineering firm with offices in several cities, works on existing and historic buildings. Beyer Blinder Belle in New York and Quinn Evans in Ann Arbor, Michigan, both run preservation architecture practices that produce drawings and specifications for old buildings.
Some of these overlap. Many small firms cover three or four. Very few cover all of one column.
Why the specialization is real
These trades exist because the procedures differ. The federal buildings service publishes a separate written specification for each one. Its procedure for terra cotta patching and glaze repair is a good example: material compatibility, glaze matching, surface preparation and acceptance criteria that have nothing in common with plaster repair.
The skills are also taught. The Park Service keeps an overview of preservation education and professional training, including its Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Maryland, which runs workshops for practitioners. Asking a contractor where they learned a technique is fair and has a real answer.
Two schools train people full time. North Bennet Street School in Boston runs a two-year preservation carpentry program. The American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, South Carolina, awards bachelor's degrees in traditional trades.
It pairs with the six questions whose wrong answers are easy to recognize, which target method over habit.
How to find people without a list
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| State historic preservation office | Referrals and program contacts |
| Local historic district commission | Who has worked successfully on approved projects |
| Neighborhood preservation groups | Recent, honest local experience |
| Trade associations for the specific craft | Practitioners by discipline |
| Preservation Trades Network | Working tradespeople and the International Preservation Trades Workshop |
| Window Preservation Alliance | Independent sash and window restorers |
| National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center | Hands-on workshops in Frederick, Maryland |
| Nearby house museums and institutions | Who they use for their own repairs |
That last row is underrated. Institutions with historic buildings hire carefully and will usually tell you who they use.
The questions to ask once you have names are in our restoration hiring questions, and the verification steps are in our contractor vetting walkthrough.
Common questions
Are the named firms checked?
Do I need all nineteen?
What if my area has none of these?
Is a general contractor ever enough?
In this guide
- Contractor licensing for preservation work: who is on the hookWhich credentials preservation contractors actually need, who pulls the permit, how liability follows the permit holder, and what certified work means.
- How to get a preservation contractor interested in a small jobHow to get specialist help for small repairs: batching work, off-season timing, shop jobs, day rates, and doing the preparation a specialist should not.
- Preservation Contractors Lessons for Avoiding RegretPreservation contractors lessons for homeowners: match the trade to the work, name the site lead, and verify federal tax-credit review experience before hiring.
- Preservation Contractors Timeline: When to CallA preservation contractors timeline for seasonal trades, matching materials, weather delays, review queues, and written schedules for old-house work.
- A preservation contractor's finished work tells you more than a pitchHow to read a preservation contractor's past work in 2027: how to judge a contractor by their finished projects, what to look for on site, which references tell you.
