JCS Woodwork

I asked Mark Smoker of Greenwich Joinery to recommend someone to repair the dilapidated floor boards in our 140-year-old Victorian terraced house. Mark immediately gave me the contact details of Joshua Small of JCS Woodwork, together with fulsome praise for Joshua's craftsmanship. I was initially reluctant to contact Joshua, believing it to be almost an insult to ask such a skilled artisan to carry out what I considered to be a menial repair job. I thought that the work would involve removing and replacing those boards which were beyond repair, then nailing down and securing the remaining, still serviceable boards. However, Joshua called round, inspected the job, then sent a very detailed account of the materials and work involved, basically a complete renovation of the floors in the dining and sitting room, the upper and lower hallways and a large bedroom. Joshua provided reclaimed Victorian pine boards to replace those which it was necessary to discard, he cut these boards to an exact size to match the remaining serviceable boards; he sourced from the US cut clasp nails made with the Sheffield steel which would have been used in the original construction of the house, removing all the old, mismatched inferior nails used in previous repairs during various eras. Joshua inspected all the joists and found a number of instances where the joists had been too severely cut into by central heating installers so that the boards were resting on inadequate supports which Joshua reinforced; he called in a plumber to re-position pipes which were directly in contact with the wooden floor boards and an electrician to assess the safety of loose wires found lying under the boards. He treated the boards with woodworm killer to ensure there was no undetected infestation lurking in the old timbers. Once there basic structural aspects had been achieved to Joshua's rigorous standards he set about working on the aesthetics: filling in all the gaps between the boards with pine slivers, then sanding repeatedly with increasingly fine grained sandpapers until, to his satisfaction, they were sufficiently smooth and even. The finished appearance of the boards is perfect - a work of art blending seamlessly with other period features of our house and much admired by every member of our family, our neighbours and fellow tradesmen. Joshua is an outstanding craftsman and consummate perfection whom I cannot recommend highly enough.

Joshua of JCS Woodwork hung 16 doors throughout my house. The quality of his workmanship was excellent as was his attention to detail even when confronted with some challenging issue not of his making, I would have no hesitation in recommending JCS and Joshua.

I asked JCS Woodwork to make me two sturdy window shelves for my bedroom, capable of holding large heavy plants. I thought this might be too small a job for serious carpenters but Josh designed and built two beautiful pieces of furniture which would complement any room. He has an artist’s eye and a craftsman’s attention to detail. I’m delighted with the results and would recommend JCS to anyone. Josh is also a pleasure to work with

It took us a long time to decide to replace all our internal doors and, even then, we hesitated for a couple of years because we wanted to find "a proper craftsman who would do a good job". We didn't want to invest in the doors only to spend years being irritated by the fit and finish. Josh has hugely exceeded our expectations as regards the fit and finish of our doors. He advised on the doors, door furniture and finishes from the start... all good calls. As a 1930s semi, our house doesn't have a single 'true' doorway. There are tapering frames and at least one non-standard opening. Josh evened out all the discrepancies and fitted the door stops and hinges with a precision which created an almost 'engineering' fit. More generally he has a real focus on detail, and always checked in with us about his proposed solutions and sequence of work. One final point to note is the respect with which he treated the house - in set-up every morning and cleaning down every evening. We had zero mess to contend with. Suffice it to say, we wouldn't hesitate to use him again for similar work. The doors are going to be an asset for many years to come.

Joshua installed a couple of windows for me. He was great, very precise and contentious. I will happily use him again.