When Jake Gilbert moved to Mudgee in 2021 looking for a sea change, he never thought he'd end up where he is today, as the owner and face of sustainable carpentry business Timber Two.
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Jake grew up in Sydney's Northern Beaches and did his carpentry apprenticeship in the area, often working on high-end contracts, but he was looking for a change. Spurred on by COVID restrictions and looking for an escape from the city, in August 2021 Jake, his partner and their six-week-old daughter, moved to Mudgee.
His dream was to build a business from the ground up and make his mark in the community. Jake got to work, and using some contacts he'd made in town, he was soon taking on jobs and making a name for himself.
This week, Timber Two was announced as a finalist for the Business NSW excellence in sustainability award and in 2023 was crowned the winner of the Magnificent Mudgee Business Award for trades and construction.
"I built a really good relationship with most of the builders around town. There's probably not many that I haven't worked with... I guess that's where I started," Jake said, reflecting on his early days.
"It's just been that slow growth, really trying to deliver every time. If I get it perfect every time, it's one more reference that might be made at a coffee shop or a bar or something when people are talking. And it's that word of mouth that Mudgee is awesome for because it's such a tight-knit community."
Timber Two centres on sustainability. Even the sawdust is sold onto horse owners and local mechanics, almost nothing is wasted. Using exclusively recycled timber, Jake is able to create pieces that will stand the test of time, something he calls 'raw sustainability'.
"The lifespan added to one stick of timber that may already be a hundred years old is actually incredible," he said.
"Someone may buy a table from me and I know it's good for the next 30, 40 years. It'll get handed down to the next generation.
"I just don't think in the consumer world these days, you get anything that has a lifespan of - could be up to 150 years. Maybe people don't like it anymore or it goes out of fashion, but for the most part, it's going to be there.
"It's the sort of thing that you'll see in an antique shop in 50 years time... We're taking something that was otherwise going in the bin and we're giving it a second chance."
Jake said being recognised with awards like the 2023 Magnificent Mudgee award can give a small business like his the prestige it needs to flourish.
"I was really surprised and quite proud of that [award] because at the time I was a one-man band and there's a lot of really great builders, a lot of great tradies in the area. And even to be nominated was huge. But to win it, it was like a bit of a pat on the back for me," he said.
"Something like that... put a bit of wind in my sail - put me in a position where I thought: 'I need to get someone here because this has got to grow. This has got some legs.'"
That someone was Ruby Redfern, a young first-year apprentice carpenter who is in her first year studying at TAFE. At the heart of Timber Two is attention to detail, and Ruby was the perfect fit.
"She's really great in here. Her attention to detail is second to none," Jake said.
"I can teach all the other skills, but you can't teach that real, focus in attention to detail and care, high care."
"Jake's the nicest person I've ever worked with," Ruby said.
"It's good because it's just us two. So he just teaches me like pretty much all of it. Yeah. Like, yeah, like sometimes at a big company, you get stuck doing the one thing.
"It's something special. I enjoy it. It doesn't really feel like I'm at work."
