There's a sense of resignation in the voice of Garrett Trotter as he observes: "We live in a world of Wayfair quality and Amazon Prime pricing," a reference to those giant e-commerce companies that sell just about anything one can think of. He and business partner Henry Briggs are offering an alternative to cost-first, craftsmanship-second shopping with their Broader Custom Woodworks business, which they operate out of Briggs' renovated garage in Cheney.
Trotter and Briggs met at Spokane Christian Church and developed a friendship when Briggs offered to help Trotter with a basement remodeling project at the home Garrett and his wife, Sarah, had just bought.
"I had been prying boards off the walls of this 1930s house," Trotter recalls, "and I remember saying, 'I don't know what I'm going to do with these.' And Henry says, 'Why don't you make something out of them?' That was the first time it clicked with me: You can do that?"
You can, and they did. The boards were transformed at Briggs' workshop into an entertainment center.
"It was a really cool project that started this passion for woodworking for me," Trotter says, adding that when he looks at the unit today, he thinks, "We've come a long way."
Briggs is less diplomatic when he says, "It's a little painful to look at some of the projects we did for family and friends when we were first starting. Now, nothing goes out of here unless we're 100 percent happy with it — and that includes the stuff we do as a hobby for our families.
"Sometimes the work and the hobby will blur a little bit," he adds, "but that's what happens when you're doing what you love. Thankfully, my wife [Paige] has put up with me for this long."
Briggs followed his wife as her career path in pediatric care led them from their native Illinois to Washington, via Minnesota. Trotter is a Washington native who met his wife while attending Eastern Washington University.
Briggs' love for woodworking came from his grandfather, Dean Briggs, whom he describes as "a true craftsman. He could make pretty much anything with his hands. Then I guess it skipped a generation — my dad does not have the patience for sanding or finishing — but at least I ended up with a lot of my grandpa's tools."
Patience is a critical quality for a woodworker because it contributes to the ultimate quality of the item being crafted. It also contributes to the cost.
"Early on," recalls Trotter, "I can remember people reacting to our estimates: 'Oh... you're a little out of our price range.' But with custom woodworking, you're talking about nice lumber and a lot of time to make sure the quality is great."
Blending the skill sets of Briggs and Trotter with the technology provided by a CNC (computer numerical control) machine and a LaserPecker engraver, Broader Custom Woodworks has developed an extensive portfolio of projects since debuting in 2019, ranging from home and business furniture to signs, wall art and home goods such as game boards. The company also provided golf bag stands for the driving range at Walla Walla Country Club.
The partners agree that their "coolest project so far" has been the installation of a wine barrel stave wall at The Gallery at Spokane Assisted & Senior Living on Spokane's South Hill. Briggs says the project, called "the wine nook" involved attaching about 160 barrel staves, provided by Barrister Winery, to a 29-foot segment of wall.
An "in-progress" project involves a pair of Adirondack chairs that have already been assembled and are being weather tested. They'll be used for a Teen & Kid Closet fundraiser, part of the duo's commitment to giving back. "We don't want to be just a woodworking company; we are trying to become part of the community," Briggs says.
With that in mind, a project that is in the queue could end up being the company's most significant yet. The fire department at the new public safety campus in Airway Heights will include a mess hall for which Briggs and Garrett have been commissioned to build a 10-foot-long solid cherry table with two inlaid axes (with epoxy on top) and an engraved badge at each place setting.
"That's the kind of work we love doing," Briggs says. "It's different. It's unique. It's the kind of thing that a craftsman hopes will outlive himself."
