Pete Stecher

Master Craftsman

Since all I got was a grumble and a waving hand gesture when I asked if I could take his picture, I figured the next best thing was to catch him in action. If it wasn’t for the work Pete does around here, we wouldn’t do NEARLY as much cool shit. Generally speaking we hand him ideas and he brings them to life. Unless it’s patina or paint. Then it’s another grunt and he’s onto something else, leaving the rest of us to figure out finishing.

Pete reminds me a lot of the people who I worked with growing up in the Midwest. True craftsman that could tackle just about any scope of work with a resolute determination to do things the right way. There’s none of this “I don’t know how.” He’ll engage the creative problem solving skills of a craftsman and figure out the task at hand. Unfortunately those skills seem to be diminishing in our industry.

When Pete’s not creating a racket in the shop, you probably won’t find him. He’ll be out in nature biking, hiking or camping. And always with his Idaho Shag, Zoey. If the weather is crappy, he’s in his shop practicing what I like to think of as heritage craft; forging steel, carving stone, building something from scratch… just because. Never a dull moment.

So if you happen to see some of our architectural metal or really any of our custom, one-off pieces, it’s likely the handiwork of this man. I’m thankful to have him around, even if he’s grumpy. He’s a big part of who we are as builders.