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We welcome you to read through this page for a whole-picture perspective on our Four-Month Carpenter Training School. If you’re looking for specific information, you can use the following links to skip around:
Become a confident carpenter in our carpentry school for adults.
Our hands-on carpenter training is a four-month immersion that takes place at the beautiful Wild Abundance campus, located near Asheville, NC. It’s appropriate for beginning to intermediate level builders; no experience is necessary—just enthusiasm, a willingness to learn by doing, and the desire to work hard. If you do have some experience, there will be plenty of depth and advanced skills to dive into—you’ll definitely learn a ton too.
This is a non-residential program. Some participants already live in the Asheville area, and many move here specifically to take part. If you live a little too far to commute, but not far enough to move, you are welcome to camp on campus the night before and during program days each week.
Join a small group carpentry program with lots of personalized guidance and support.
Experience a hands-on carpenter training led by experienced instructors! For two days each week, you and your fellow carpentry program participants will work directly with a mentor on framing and finishing a tiny home. Together with a small group of other participants, you’ll get clear, hands-on guidance for each step of this process – you’ll learn the practice (not just theory) of how to do each step. At times you will be encouraged to work on your own without the guidance of mentors—this is an important part of your skill-building training and we’ve found our students really thrive.
As part of this program, we’ve included a 10-day tiny house building immersion to the regular 4 month program. During this intensive, you will learn (and actually complete) the framing and sheathing of a tiny house, along with the other content in our Tiny House Building Course.
Bonus! You’ll get lifetime access to our comprehensive online building program.
The hands-on carpentry program includes access to our comprehensive Online Tiny House Academy. We’ll give you regular assignments to watch specific video lessons in preparation for, or as follow-up to, the work at hand. This way, you get to learn the concepts intellectually and also put them into action in a flexible online/in-person setting.
What Our Carpentry School Students Say
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Hayden
Asheville
Composer
“When I came to Wild Abundance, I had no experience with power tools other than a drill. I didn’t even know what an impact driver was. And now I’m using one multiple times a week, plus saws and other power tools. My goal is to eventually build a house and I know this is doable now. The apprenticeship has been a jumping off point for being able to do pretty much whatever I want.”
Justine
Asheville
Home Rennovator
“Since my time at Wild Abundance as a carpentry apprentice, my skill level and confidence has increased tenfold, as well as my ability to problem solve and come up with solutions. I am so grateful to have found a woman-led organization in my community where I can learn building skills in an empowering and supportive environment. Don’t think twice—sign up for that class you keep checking out. You won’t regret it!”
Beryl
Vagabond and Traveler
“As a woman, I was really scared to enter spaces like this because I had very little knowledge, but Wild Abundance is so woman-centric and welcoming, I decided I was going to drive across the country and come here. I feel so excited to learn and express myself here.”
Roy
Asheville
SEO Strategist
“I came here to gain confidence and knowledge and the ability to be safe with these things, and I got a lot more than that. I have this sense of autonomous-ness now where I can take an idea in the mental space and turn it into something physical. That’s been really cool to be able to create.. It’s been pretty transformational.”
Emmanuel
Finance
“ I know some people recommend watching and learning these things on YouTube, but I learn best by hands-on experience and wanted experienced mentors. So I signed up for the Wild Abundance carpenter training, and I’m very impressed. I look forward to building my own tiny house one day (now a reality, not just a dream) and I’m even excited to potentially do carpentry as a career.”
Glen
Swannanoa
“Anybody can do this– you just have to take the time to learn. When we did the tiny home I realized It’s not as hard as you think, once you have the knowledge. I’m going to build a small deck for our backyard and I know I can do it. Wild Abundance is a very supportive place to be. Everybody was so nice and so welcoming and it was just a really good crew to work with.”
Keep Me in the Loop…
Join the waitlist and be the first to know when new classes open up for registration!
Our carpenter training is built on the needs and feedback of our students.
Our carpenter training is built on the needs and feedback of our students.
Building and carpentry is a life-long pursuit. There’s a reason tradespeople spend years perfecting their craft. Our four-month carpenter training will be an important step in your journey and skill development. Students who’ve taken the program repeatedly say that it provides them with an incredibly solid foundation in the most essential skills:
- Tool safety & use
- Problem solving – how to THINK like a builder
- Carpentry confidence
Problem-solving really is the ONE constant in building. And this is what participant after participant has highlighted to us as invaluable about our program. The more ‘roadblocks’ you encounter and work through in this mentorship setting, the more you’ll understand how to THINK like a carpenter, and how to approach and find solutions for the unprecedented problems you’ll inevitably encounter as you continue your own building journey.
What to Expect: A Four-Month Carpenter Training & Tiny House Building Workshop
The primary project of our 2026 program will be dedicated to building and finishing the exterior and interior of a tiny house! This exciting group project may be interspersed with other campus maintenance or development projects, field trips, sessions with experts on particular topics, and a personal or small-group design-build project.
Learn what it takes to build your own home.
We designed our carpenter training to teach you all the skills you need to build your own small home and so many other carpentry-based projects. These skills include designing buildings, building floor systems, framing and sheathing walls, installing roof systems, installing siding, trim, flooring, and more. You’ll also receive training on making materials & purchase lists for projects, and negotiating trips to the hardware store.
Our hands-on carpentry school is all about learning by doing; it will grow your skills and confidence.
Expect to devote two days per week to the hands-on learning of these skills over a four-month period.
You’ll also complete our 10-day Tiny House Intensive Workshop, covering everything in our tiny house program, which includes:
- Pier foundations
- Floor framing
- Wall framing
- Roof framing
- Sheathing
- Window installation
- Reading building plans
Following the tiny house intensive (which gives a serious boost to your building skills), we’ll resume the two days per week schedule. During this time we’ll work toward finishing out the tiny house you framed and sheathed during the intensive! We’ll get into:
- Proper use of carpentry tools
- Lumber stacking & storage
- Metal roofing
- Exterior Siding
- Door installation
- Trim
- Interior Panelling
- Flooring
- Talking through Project Management, Electrical, Plumbing, & Insulation considerations
- Design
- Field Trips!
Depending on flow and timing, we MAY also cover:
- Insulation
- Painting or staining
- Cabinetry installation
- Appliance and/or fixture installation
- Simple electrical (running wire, wiring outlets)
Our carpentry school is project-focused so you get maximum hands-on training experience.
It’s one thing to just ‘do what you’re told’ on a build. It’s another thing to actually think through a project, from creating a simple design to making a cut list, determining the necessary materials, and putting the project into action. So in addition to the tiny house framing and finishing, as part of this program, you’ll be asked to do just that – either for a small project on your own (think a bookshelf or birdhouse) or a small group project (think firewood hutch, deck, etc).
Get the best blend of in-person and online learning in our carpentry training school.
During and leading up to this immersive carpenter training, you’ll be required to complete 2-4 hours of online learning each week.
In order to accomplish this prep work, you’ll get unlimited access to our Online Tiny House Academy, where you will find engaging teachers giving lectures and demonstrations on carpentry and tiny house building skills. This program includes all the steps you need to learn how to build a tiny house.
Building is learned best by doing.
During our in-person time each week, there will be some straight-up class time focused on design and learning specific skills, but the vast majority of your time will be spent on project-based learning by DOING.
Engaging muscle memory is super important in the trades. Indeed, learning the theory of something is very different from getting practice actually doing it. That’s why we give the theory portion of the program in a searchable, online format, and we reserve in-person time for repeated, hands-on experience.
We’ve found that when you actually do a thing, many times, you’ll be much more likely to remember the ins and outs of it, and how to do it well years from now. You will learn the skills in your body and carry them with you after this carpentry training.
Who is the carpenter training for?
The carpentry school is designed for beginner and intermediate folks excited about developing their carpentry skills. This takes a real commitment! No experience whatsoever is necessary (although we often have students of all skill levels), we just ask that you bring a desire to learn and work hard.
You will need to be available for two days each week to work with your fellow carpentry program participants and mentors. At times you will be encouraged to work on your own without guidance—this is an important part of your skill-building training and we’ve found it really helps our students thrive.
Learn and work as an important member of a carpentry team.
The nature of this program is also that, in order to get to the next step of a project, we’ll need to finish the previous step. For example, we can’t move on to interior trim until all the interior panelling is complete. While tedious at times, we stick to this rhythm of finishing what we start because repetition and completion is essential for ingraining the work in your mind and body. This requires your commitment (and the commitment of each participant). If folks stop showing up for day-to-day tasks, each step will take longer to complete, the overall progress on the project may be impacted, and ultimately the things you get to learn will be affected. It takes a team!
This program includes real work.
Throughout the carpenter training, your body will get into the work of building and carpentry! You’ll be bending, stooping, using tools, carrying heavy loads, climbing ladders, and working in varied weather. Some of this work will be glamorous, and a lot of it won’t be. Nobody will be pushed beyond their own physical abilities, but everyone will be expected to work hard. We like to have a lot of fun together, and we also need to make real progress on projects.
Before you apply, be sure that you’re up to the physical and mental challenge of working hard outside for two full days each week. If you have physical limitations, please make sure to mention them in the registration form so that we can discuss whether this program will be a good fit for you. If we find that it is not a fit, you’ll be issued a full refund.
Schedule and Timing of the Carpentry School
Spring Session: March 10 – July 1, 2026 (tiny house intensive dates are March 23-April 1)
Fall Session: July 21 – November 18, 2026 (tiny house intensive dates are July 31- August 9, 2026)
We meet each Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00am-4:00 or 5:00pm with some breaks and flexibility around weather. If you have obligations that prevent you from coming to a few of the class days, don’t worry about it. Most students will miss some days, but we expect you to attend at least six out of the eight program days per month.
In addition to the regular 2-day a week program, you’ll also get to participate in a 10-day tiny house building intensive. Depending on registration for both programs, you may be joining a session of our Tiny House Building Workshop, or participating in a private intensive with just the other carpentry program participants.
Dates for the spring tiny house intensive will be March 23 – April 1, 2026. The fall dates will be July 31- August 9, 2026.
Please expect the following:
- Choose from our spring or fall carpentry training dates (see above)
- 2 days/week of mentored hands-on learning
- A 10-day intensive tiny house workshop
- 2-4 hours/week online learning and solo activities
Note: the Carpenter Training Program is a non-residential program. If you are coming from out of town, you will need to find accommodations during your class sessions. You are welcome to camp onsite the evenings before and during class sessions.
What about the weather? If there is a serious deluge, we will either move to an indoor project or take a rain-day; however, we will gather and work in gentle rain, wind, and hot sun.
Carpentry School Class Size: An Intimate Immersion
We will be welcoming a maximum of eight participants into this program. If you are interested, please get on the waitlist and register as soon as we open up registration, as this program fills very quickly. After you do this, we’ll schedule a 20-minute online interview so we can confirm that the program is a good fit both ways. If it doesn’t seem like a match from the interview, we’ll issue a full refund. If the class is full, standby is a great option, as spots will likely open up.
We welcome folks of all genders and racial identities in this carpentry school training! The building trades in the U.S. are often dominated by a small segment of the population; let’s disrupt this trend!
Wild Abundance Building Classes—Is Teaching for You?
One of the best ways to learn deeply is by sharing and teaching. Wild Abundance offers a variety of building classes, including Women’s Basic Carpentry Classes, Adult Beginner Woodworking Courses, Advanced Women’s Carpentry, and our Tiny House Building Workshop.
If participants in the four month hands-on carpentry school demonstrate interest and seem up to the challenge, we may invite them to test themselves by assisting as helpers in some of these classes. This can be an amazing opportunity to deepen your learning and to connect with more folks who are enthusiastic about carpentry and building. This doesn’t work for everyone’s schedule or personality, but some participants have found this to be an extremely valuable opportunity.
Our carpenter training creates new opportunities for you to enter the world of building.
Throughout our years of teaching women’s carpentry classes, beginner adult woodworking classes, and inclusive tiny house workshops, we’ve seen people from many different backgrounds learn to build for themselves and feel great about it.
All too often, building can feel like a world that isn’t accessible to everyone; we’re here to break down those barriers. Whether you’ve got some experience, or just a strong desire and willingness to work at it, you can learn how to build for yourself.
This hands-on carpentry school is an opportunity to transform that passionate interest into a bevy of real skills that will serve you throughout your life.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Carpenter Training Program
The hands-on carpentry program is for you if you’re ready to commit significant time and energy toward learning how to build. During the course of the program, you will level-up your competence and confidence with building. If you apply yourself to the online material and in-person practice, you’ll likely come away with a much deeper understanding of the process of building, including different techniques, what kinds of projects you’d like to do on your own vs. hire out, and much more. We can’t wait to work with you!
Our carpentry training program is a unique immersion into real-life carpentry projects, tiny house building, and homestead maintenance. There may be a carpentry training closer to where you live, but our program is so valuable we have students travel from around the country to join us!
Learning to build a tiny house is a microcosm of everything you’ll experience when you tackle larger projects, but at a scale that’s reasonable to accomplish within the timeframe of the program. The skills you’ll learn can be applied to building homes of any size, saunas, sheds, studios, and more.
We hope to donate the tiny house you build to folks in need of housing. We’ve recently started a non-profit and are working on acquiring the grants and sponsorships needed to make this possible. The timeline for all of this is currently up in the air. If we’re not able to donate this year’s tiny house, we will still offer it at an affordable price to someone in need of affordable housing.
Instructors
Natalie Bogwalker
Nadi Udros
Keenan Phillips
Sean Rice
Pete McKelvey
The 4-Month Carpentry Training School is held near Asheville, NC, at the Wild Abundance Paint Fork Campus
Our Paint Fork campus is a bustling creekside landscape with gorgeous mountain views, a breathtaking timber-framed pavilion classroom, and covered open-air wood shops for learning in all weather, plus other lovely features like a beautiful outdoor kitchen and newly completed bath house.
Our campus is both a peaceful place and a site for community learning. At times, two or more classes may overlap. This means you’ll have more opportunities to connect with a wider community of students and teachers and you may also notice some additional background noise and activity.
Many of our classes utilize power tools, so please keep this in mind. On occasion, we may need to bring in maintenance folks to keep our structures and systems operating smoothly. We’ll always do our best to make sure your class time is as focused and limited in distractions as possible. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Please note: our campuses are all unconventional, with rustic amenities and uneven ground. Read more about planning your trip and about our campuses for additional information.
The Paint Fork campus is 30 minutes north of Asheville. You’ll receive detailed directions on how to get here upon registration.
You’ve got several options of where to stay during your class. Some students camp, some locals commute, and others choose to rent accommodations with more creature comforts.
Onsite camping (with your own warm bedding and rainproof tent or hammock) is available for free to all students (including locals) during class. Some set-up-for-you tents are available with cots and cozy bedding for a flat fee.
Campers and all students have access to a lovely outdoor kitchen equipped with a stove and hot and cold water, plus pots and pans, knives and cutting boards, bowls, plates, and utensils, along with an outdoor shower with hot and cold running water and an outhouse. If you’d rather rent a hotel, house or cottage, there are many available. We’ll share a curated list of nearby options once you’ve registered.
So you can better plan your trip to come learn with us, here’s some info on accommodations we offer, or that we link to in the student handbook you’ll receive upon registration. Below it you’ll find info on transportation.
- Camping with your own gear: free
- Staying in a large tent with a cozy cot and bedding that we set up for you: $200 flat fee; you can stay there anytime from 5pm before the first day of your class, to 12pm the day after your class ends.
- Hyper-local off-campus single rentals: $40-$2000/night + fees
- Hyper-local off-campus couples rentals: $20-100/person/night + fees
- Hyper-local off-campus group rentals: $25-$86/person/night + fees
Wild Abundance students are given awesome discounts at a local hotel, and a hyper-local inn. More information given in the student handbook upon registration.
Getting a place or renting a car with a group of fellow students and carpooling are great ways to make connections and reduce costs! We share contact info for each class so you can get in touch and make plans together. Everyone has a chance to keep their info private if they choose.
You won’t need a car during your class. There’s a chance you may want to run an errand or go out to dinner with fellow students, and if this happens, it’s highly likely that another student with a car will be happy to give you a lift.
We’ve also got a list of folks who will do airport and grocery shuttle runs for $50-$80 each way. We share this information in the student handbook when you register. If you’d rather rent a car, those run anywhere from $45-$200/day. Just like with lodging, teaming up with a group of fellow students to share a car rental can help build connections and reduce costs.
Pricing for our 4-Month Carpenter Training Program
Regular Pricing: $6,200 – $12,400
*Please pay what you can within this range. The median price helps cover the class costs. Choose the low end if you’re low income, or the maximum fee if your household earns over $115,000/year. Place yourself within this range based on your income.
After you register, we’ll set up a 20 minute Zoom call so we can both see if the program is a good fit for you. If we decide it isn’t, you’ll get a full refund.
2026 Class Dates
Spring Session: March 10 – July 1, 2026 (tiny house intensive dates: March 23 – April 1, 2026)
Fall Session: July 21 – November 18, 2026 (tiny house intensive dates: July 31- August 9, 2026)
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Join the waitlist and be the first to know when new classes open up for registration!
We’ll let you know when classes open for registration, and send you our fun and informative newsletters.