Want to talk Shop? Looking for some ‘plane’ talk about the business of ‘carving’ out a niche in the millwork industry? Okay, puns aside, the person you’ll want to approach is Trumbull-Nelson Millwork Shop Manager Donald E. “Don” Merchant, Jr. Since joining the Company in late 2002, Don has been key to restructuring the Shop area to better accommodate project and retail trade requirements involving all aspects of Millwork and Carpentry Services. His organizational expertise and planning skill is key to the Company’s expansion plans for the Shop, and for hiring additional personnel to handle an increased workload.

With a sharp eye for opportunity, Don is evaluating the merits of increasing production capabilities to create unique millwork products, such as an “easy-to-assemble” bunk bed kit marketed to dorm-bound students, and a portable work station unit for both woodworkers and mechanics. Having completed a 6000-hour toolmaker apprenticeship training program with General Electric, and performing project-related structural and mechanical design work throughout his career, Don is in the unique position of understanding the job needs of both woodworkers and mechanics.

Don is no newcomer to the commercial and residential construction business. As a business owner, his work included municipal water, sewer, electrical and site infrastructure for numerous developments. He was involved in such diverse renovation project types as schools and bowling alleys. Don’s interest in energy efficiency won him an award in 1989 for having built the highest number of energy rated homes in the State of Vermont (31 homes in 10 months!). Other career challenges included overall responsibility for operation and maintenance of a fleet of construction equipment, and teaching. Don served as Construction Trainer for Youthbuild Burlington, a non-profit organization that educates kids that can no longer be in the public school system. He proudly suggests that, of his 28 students in this Program, 25 eventually graduated from high school, or received their G.E.D.! He also served as building trades instructor for at the Barre Vocational Technical Center for two years.

Don’s interest in energy efficiency won him an award in 1989 for having built the highest number of energy rated homes in the State of Vermont (31 homes in 10 months!).

Beyond T-N Millwork Shop administration, Don is involved with job scheduling, inventory control, project estimation, customer relations, safety, and client outreach. Where does Don see the Shop going in the future? “I’d like to get to the point where we can get into computer-aided machining,” he says. “This would allow us to make more precision cuts and contours and broaden market opportunities.”

Don, and his wife, Viki, live on Mascoma Lake, in Enfield, NH, where they stay very busy renovating their home. Viki, who will soon become a licensed Nurse Practitioner, helped create the IV Team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and is a published contributor to the second edition of Core Curriculum for Intravenous Nursing.

Trumbull-Nelson is proud of Don and the Millwork Shops crew’s accomplishments. Their work is creating a ‘shaper’ environment.