Nicole Collins, JW Carpenter + Consult, Founder

Determined to increase our collaboration with building stewards and other building professionals, Nic brought together the Firmitas Team. A lover of listening and strategic planning, she oversees the creation of phased plans and scopes of work for our most complex restorations as well as  sculptural timber projects. 

Nicole’s background is as a Journey Worker Carpenter, specializing in restoration. A vocal advocate of preservation, she brings a holistic understanding of carpentry, wood finishes, and traditional lime/earth-based plaster and masonry to our work. Over the course of the last 25 years, Nicole has served in many capacities– she currently focuses on consulting, historic analysis, and internal development. 

Nic enjoys traveling extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe to both teach and learn about traditional building technology, timber framing– and pushes for advancement in multidisciplinary collaboration among building professionals– practitioners, researchers, and specialists. She is a contributing writer in trade journals, and an active member of industry organizations in North America and Europe. She holds a BFA from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.