About Us

photo of quality control officer winston the dog in dog bath
Winston, Chief Quality Control Officer

Our business philosophy is pretty simple:

  • If we say we’re going to do it, we will.
  • If you call, we’ll call you back.
  • If we make a mess, we clean it up.
  • If something goes wrong, we make it right.

Origin of company

selfie photo of chris shawley, owner
Chris Shawley, Owner

After a short career as a commercial hard hat diver, I decided to go into carpentry so I could stay local and be with my amazing wife and 2 wonderful boys.  Being home every night and seeing my children grow up was more important than working in at my dream job. 

I’ve never regretted it.  Not once. 

Carpentry in my blood

My Pepe’ was a full time Carpenter, my Dad a part time Carpenter, and I have many uncles that are very skilled in the trade. 

I guess I always had an interest in building things. I’ve never been scared to get dirty and work with my hands. When I buy a new shirt it’s usually about 3 weeks and I’ve ruined it doing some sort of project. 

I always try to find alternative ways of doing things, sometimes the old way is the best, sometimes a better way is waiting to be found. I enjoy finding it! 

So in 2000 with my new bride (now over 20 years  ❤️) and first child (now over 20 years 😳) at home, I started a company. It went quite well, using some skills I’d learned working for my Dad growing up and soaking up every bit of knowledge I could, I got by.

After a few years, 2003, I remember being on a roof, I think 15th st in Bangor, I had built a dustpan dormer on a friend of a friends house. (Who knew that this client would turn out to be a long term client and friend 😉) When I got a call that my second son was about to be born. 

Business kept getting better, client list kept growing so I brought in a partner to help keep up. We worked together many years.

After being in business for myself under my first company name for the first decade of 2000, I decided to give it up thinking, The grass was greener on the other side.  I tried project management, inside contractor sales and outside contractor sales.  

Then after about 3 years in sales I realized something….if I have to show my contractor clients how to build stairs or put a railing together, I probably should go back to being on the other side. So I did… 

15 North, Carpenters and Associates was formed. 

It seems as though I was constantly on Rt 15 to some degree (it does go from Stonington to Jackman) and we are definitely in the north.  So. 15 North would be the name. 

I have been fortunate enough to meet so many great people in the industry, that our word of mouth advertising has been all I have needed for 6 years. We have grown from a single person to at times more than a dozen employees. Sometimes we will have multiple crews working multiple jobs but we never want to lose touch with our control of quality . We will build our staff to accommodate the work load. 

A 1500 sqft workshop allows us to do the interior build outs and cabinetry we love to make .  We have a lumber storage for custom pieces, Oak, Maple, Birch, Cherry if we don’t have it we can get it 

We work with the best trades people in the area. Plumbers, heating techs, electricians, concrete, groundwork you name it we have found the best ones to help with our projects.

I think what I enjoy most about being a carpenter in this area is bumping into folks around town and having them tell me how happy they are with the project we had done for them.  I love when they tell me they recommended us to a friend or family member. 

When Clients turn into friends and long term customers it is the best feeling. 

I take great pride in a customer saying they will wait for us because they know we are busy but worth the wait. 

Those are good feelings 
Chris