Heights Woodworking

History

• Founded in 1946 as Heights Carpenter and Paint Shop by Amor Villar.
• Originally established to serve the Brooklyn neighborhood with fabrication of doors, windows, cabinets and stairs.
• The business has expanded over the years to serve clients across the five boroughs of New York City.

Current leadership

• Now under the management and leadership of Jonas Sigle, a contractor and designer with over three decades of experience in construction and renovation in New York.
• Jonas brings a design-driven approach, blending functionality with aesthetics and coordinating closely with clients, architects and engineers.
• The company focuses on efficient project delivery, high standards of quality and craftsmanship, and long-term client relationships.

Clients

• Homeowners
• Designers
• Architects
• Contractors

Approach

• Custom work tailored to each project.
• Emphasis on matching existing architecture, especially in historic brownstones.
• Reputation built one customer at a time.

Service area

• Serves homeowners, designers, architects and contractors throughout the New York City area, including the five boroughs.

Shop and capabilities

• 14,000 square foot shop located next to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.
• Handles projects large and small, from cutting Ikea shelves to high-end Manhattan storefronts.
• Everything is custom designed to the client's specifications and made by hand by artisans with decades of woodworking experience.

Lists White Oak, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New York City as a location. Names New York City as a service area. Areas beyond these are not published.

Shelving and plywood (from FAQs)

• Shelves are often made from plywood rather than solid wood.
• Reasons given:
• Solid wood is more expensive and tends to crack over time.
• Plywood is available in wider widths than solid lumber, which would otherwise need to be joined.
• A set of shelves made from solid wood would typically cost about 2–3 times more than similar shelves in plywood.
• Plywood is available in many wood species and grades and is a practical material for applications such as shelves.

Typical exterior door woods (from FAQs)

• Sapele mahogany (used for most exterior doors).
• White oak.
• Other suitable exterior woods such as cypress and black locust, depending on design requirements.

Craftsmanship

• Doors are custom designed to the client's specifications.
• Built by hand from start to finish in the Brooklyn shop.
• Glass options can include tempered, laminated or insulated glass to meet strength, safety and energy-efficiency needs (see the windows and glass document for details).

Cost of mahogany

• Mahogany used for general-purpose exterior work is not described as unusually expensive at the wholesale level.
• Wholesale mahogany prices are similar to, and sometimes lower than, other hardwoods such as cherry or maple, and even some grades of pine.

Installation

• Heights Woodworking can install anything built in the shop.
• Installation is often a significant, and sometimes larger, portion of the total project cost because it is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Repairs

• Repairs are performed both on site and at the shop, depending on what is needed.

Painting and finishing

• A full commercial spray booth is available for:
• Lacquers
• Varnishes
• Paints
• Color matching and restoration finishing work are available.

New designs

• Creates new molding designs for more modern looks.

Brownstone and NYC architectural work

• Extensive experience working on brownstones and other historic New York City buildings.
• Ability to integrate new woodwork with existing architectural details.

Stair parts

• Fabrication of stair components such as:
• Bannister rods
• Handrails
• Newel posts

Repairs

• Stair repairs performed on site or at the shop, depending on what is needed.

Glass types (from FAQs)

• Plate (annealed) glass
• Standard, non-treated glass.
• Not very strong and tends to shatter into large, dangerous pieces.
• Does not meet building code for doors or for windows less than 24 inches from the ground.
• Tempered glass
• Heat-treated and roughly four times stronger than regular plate glass.
• Breaks into small shards that are less dangerous.
• Laminated glass
• Two pieces of glass bonded with a plastic interlayer.
• When broken, the glass adheres to the plastic and retains most of its integrity.
• Insulated glass
• Two pieces of glass separated by a spacer to reduce heat transfer.
• Can be made with tempered glass for a stronger and more energy-efficient window or door.

Ask anyway — the agent will say plainly that it is not published rather than guess.