Serving Holden and nearby WV communities
Holden's houses were built to a plan, set into a hillside, with drainage laid out for the coal operation rather than for the buildings. A century later that combination has produced structural failure that is remarkably consistent from one house to the next.
We'll reach out to schedule a look.
Google Reviews
100%
Licensed & Insured
15 Years
Experience
Quality
Materials
Framing Repair work we've completed around Williamson — photos going up as jobs are finished.
Sample reviews — placeholder copy, replace before launch
Jack Smith
4 months ago
Had them out after the back steps started going soft underfoot. He came and looked properly before quoting anything, and told me the structure underneath was still sound — so it ended up a smaller job than I had braced myself for. Turned up when he said he would, cleaned up after himself, and the price at the end was the price we agreed. Not much more you can ask for.
Owner replied
Skyler White
9 months ago
Called on a Tuesday and had someone out the same week. What I appreciated most was being told straight what needed doing now and what could safely wait until spring. No pressure and no trying to talk me into the bigger version of the job. It has held up fine through the winter since.
Trevor Alford
2 months ago
The quote came through itemised and the final bill matched it, which has honestly not been my experience with everyone around here. They worked around an awkward driveway without once making it my problem, and left the place tidier than they found it. Would have them back.
Kaleb Withrow
3 weeks ago
Fair price, showed up on time, tidy work. No complaints.
Send a few photos and we'll tell you what it'll take — free written quote, no pressure.
These houses are dug into the slope, and water coming off the hill behind them is the constant. The framing on that side has been taking it since the camps were built, and it is where the structural damage concentrates — sill plates, joist bearings, and the posts and piers under the back of the house.
Sill plates and joist bearings on the uphill and low sides
Piers and posts reset with bearing below disturbed ground
Runoff kept clear of new supports rather than routed past
Original structural detail matched where it is visible
Shoring staged on a site with limited room
What you get when Mackwood does your framing repairs — and what we won't do.
Video placeholder — why-choose-video.jpg
From first call to finished work — no surprises in between.
Step 1
Call, text, or send a message with what you're looking to build or repair. No form to fill in and no call centre — it comes straight to us, and you'll get a real answer about whether it's something we do.
Step 2
A few photos are often enough to tell us what we're dealing with. Where it isn't — anything structural, anything hidden underneath — we'll come out and look properly before quoting rather than guessing from the kerb.
Step 3
You get a written quote that itemises the work, so you can see what you're paying for and what you aren't. If we think part of it isn't worth doing, we'll say so. No pressure and no surprises at the end.
Step 4
We turn up when we said we would, work clean, and haul the offcuts away with us. The job gets built to last in this climate — and we'll walk it with you before we call it finished.
We'll come and look, then tell you straight — including if it isn't worth doing.
Straight answers to what we get asked most.
Because that is the low side, dug into the slope, and the drainage here was laid out for the coal operation rather than the houses. Water comes off the hill and sits against that side, and the framing there has been taking it since the camps were built.
It tells us the movement is one-sided, which is the normal pattern here — the back settles while the front does not. It points straight at the supports on that side rather than at the floor structure generally.
It helps a lot. These houses were built to standard patterns, so the same members fail in the same positions. We still get underneath and check, but we can price with more confidence here than almost anywhere else.
Only if the new bearing goes past the disturbed ground and the water is kept off it. Where the durable answer involves drainage we will tell you, even though that is not our trade — structural work undone by the same water is money wasted.
Usually, and Holden is the best case for it. The houses were built to standard patterns, so the profile you need is generally still visible on the same street. Where something genuinely can't be sourced we'll show you the nearest option rather than substituting quietly.
Quite possibly. These houses were built the same way at the same time on the same ground, so they tend to reach the same failures together. It's worth a look underneath before it becomes urgent.
It's the normal situation in the camps and it's usually the side the work is on. It affects access and how long material handling takes, not whether the repair can be done properly.
We handle framing repairs across Williamson and the surrounding West Virginia communities.
The full picture
Most people are buying a result, not a list of tasks. Pick a topic to see what we look at before quoting in Holden.
Because the houses were built to standard patterns, that damage repeats. The same members fail in the same positions on house after house, which means we know what we are looking for before we get underneath and can price it with more confidence than usual.
It also means the movement is one-sided. The back settles while the front does not, so floors fall consistently in one direction rather than dipping, and doors on that side bind while the others stay fine.
Resetting a pier onto the same ground that moved is a repair with a countdown on it. Where runoff has been undermining a support for decades, the correction has to take bearing past the disturbed soil and keep the water off it going forward.
The second half of that is not carpentry, and we will say so. Where the durable answer involves drainage, we would rather tell you than take money for structural work that is going to be undone by the same water.
Bringing a settled side back happens gradually rather than in one lift. On houses this age, a fast correction cracks plaster and opens joints that were perfectly sound.
About forty-five minutes from Williamson, US-119 to WV-44. The camps sit on narrow streets laid out for the era, so there is limited room to stage timber and jacks, and the approach is tighter than the drive suggests.
Houses set into the hillside also mean the working side is usually the awkward side — which on structural work is precisely where the job is. It affects how the day runs and how the shoring is staged rather than what the repair requires.
Holden is a planned coal town rather than a town that grew, and it shows in the housing more clearly than anywhere else we work. Island Creek Coal built these houses to a small number of standard patterns across the numbered camps, which means whole streets share a floor plan, a porch detail, and a foundation type. For carpentry that is genuinely useful: once we have seen the failure on one of them we know where to look on the next, and matching original trim and porch detail is realistic because the pattern is documented by the houses around it.
These houses are approaching a century old and were built with untreated framing on block and stone piers, set into hillside sites where drainage was designed for the coal operation rather than for the houses. Water coming off the slope behind a house is the constant, and the damage concentrates at the back and the low side — sill plates, joist bearings, and the porch structure where it steps down the grade. The uniformity that helps us diagnose also means the whole street tends to arrive at the problem together.
About forty-five minutes from Williamson, US-119 to WV-44. The camps sit up off the main road on narrow streets that were laid out for the era, so the approach is tighter than the drive suggests and there is limited room to stage material. Houses set into the hillside also mean the working side is often the awkward side, which affects the day rather than the price of the carpentry.
Tell us what you're building or repairing and get a clear, no-pressure quote. Free quotes, honest answers, and craftsmanship built to last.
