Damon

Developing a business focused on sustainable building now means Damon spends most of his time at the timber frame shop - running the site, reviewing construction plans, overseeing the sawmill operation and collaborating with the rest of the gang on product development.

Damon has a Master’s degree in Development Economics from Dalhousie University where his research in value-addedwood products and rural economic development took him to Latvia, Estonia & Lithuania.  He is passionate about sustainable building, using local materials and wood by-products. “Nirvana” for Damon is creating an all-wood house that meets our criteria for a sustainable building. He thrives on working alongside his co-workers who are talented and passionate about what they do.

Damon lives on the family ranch - right next door to the site - with his wife Cherie Lynn, two-year old daughter Julia and two-month old son Benjamin. When not at work, Damon can be found exploring and camping with his family, occasionally traipsing around with brother Sam (and hopefully brother Robin) in the back country, and dreaming about finally flying his ultralight airplane.

Sam

Sam and his wife Jill live on one end of the family ranch in one of ZTF’s first homes, a cozy 850 square foot timber frame with solid square log pine walls nestled among some of the original log buildings dating back to 1918.  Our home site is the sunniest place on the ranch so Jill and Sam are happy to grow corn, pumpkins and tomatoes in the summer and spend the winter collecting potatoes and beets from Susan and David’s cellar (on the cold side of the valley).

Sam has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Northern BC and a Masters degree in Forestry from the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand).  Sam’s interest in sustainable forestry dates back to childhood days of skidding logs for fences and forts with his prize pony Mazie (now 28 yrs old and enjoying her retirement).  In addition to his work with Zirnhelt Timber Frames Sam works closely with local First Nations in natural resource management and economic development.  Sam and Damon built some of their first buildings with Tsi del del First Nation as part of a training program to add value to their sawmilling business.  Damon and Sam see an ongoing need for application of sustainable building systems in First Nation communities.

In addition to his primary role in marketing and sales, Sam works closely with our clients, architects and builders throughout the design process and with the rest of the ZTF crew to complete our homes.

When not at work or chasing cows, Sam spends as much time as possible skiing, hiking or horse packing in the vast back country areas we are blessed with in this region.

Ruedi

Ruedi’s passion for wood and building started at an early age on the dairy farm in Degersheim, Switzerland where he grew up.  He was constantly surrounded by various building projects on the farm, and was inspired to pursue a career in carpentry from his older brother, Rolf, who was the first to become a carpenter in the Baumann family.  He worked as a timber framer in Switzerland for 6 years, and spent  9 months studying master carpentry at a vocational school in Biel, before he and his buddy, Stefan, cooked up a plan one night to head to Canada to become log home builders.

During his 18 month stay in Williams Lake (2004-2005), working for Pioneer Log Homes, Ruedi fell in love with the Cariboo, and met a few significant people that would greatly influence his decision to make his home in Williams Lake:  his future wife, Dena, and The Zirnhelt Brothers.  Since his permanant move to Canada in January 2007, Ruedi has thoroughly enjoyed working with the crew at Zirnhelt’s.  His passion for building quality homes to last generations has only grown, and he appreciates how much he learns from his colleagues... about timber framing, and the “Canadian way” of doing things.  Ruedi has recently been spending countless hours at 150 Mile House, building his own  timber frame home for his family.  During his free time, he can be found taking in the Cariboo snow and sunshine, on the slopes or around a campfire, and chasing around his 18 month old son, Tobias.

Brock

Brock is a Journeyman Carpenter and a crew lead at Zirnhelt Timber Frames. Timber framing has been  central to Brock's career, although he is occasionally set free to build a set of stairs, hang doors or pour some concrete.   Brock is a whole house thinker, and has the ability to integrate timber frames with a variety of other building systems.  He likes lifting strangely shaped timber assemblies with cranes, and is the newly self-appointed director of safety at the Zirnhelt's site. 

Brock, his wife Meghan, their 18 month old daughter Elora, and trusty spaniel Wallace live in the town of Williams Lake.  They have aspirations to build their own timber home on a property they own in the country.  When Brock isn't busy with family and timbers, he may be building a piece of furniture with recycled products, or chasing steelhead and trout with a fly rod on the waterways of British Columbia.

Tino

Tino and his wife Marita and their border collie, Kaethe, moved to Canada in 2008 from Germany.

Tino successfully completed his training as a building joiner in1988 and has worked at different timber frame construction enterprises over the years, each of which have increased his knowledge and abilities in the construction field. Tino also completed his studies as an architectural technican in 1999 and then worked as a construction supervisor in a building enterprise for above ground construction. In 2002, Tino once again furthered his education by completing his master's degree in carpentry.   From 2002 to 2007, he was a self-employed architectural technician and owned his own small business.

Tino came to Canada to get to know the people and explore this country.  He is very interested in Canada’s history and hopes to have some extra time this year to go fishing and hunting with his friends.

Raphael

Raphael Roosli born in Oberkirch, Switzerland, made his apprenticeship as a Bricklayer and House builder. While working as a bricklayer he always missed something. It took him years to figure out what it was. During his search he traveled allover Europe on his motorcycle. No way was too long to get some excitement. He went 4 Kilometers up in the air to jump out of airplanes, got in the deep waters of the red sea and the Mediterranean ocean, straight up icy waterfalls, down from snowcapped mountains and finally on a long canoe trip in the Yukon and Alaska.

2004-2005 studies full-time to become a photographer. During his study he figured; he doesn’t want to take pictures of people doing cool things with exciting lives,  he wanted a life like that for himself as well. So in 2008 he and girlfriend Janet made their biggest dream come true and moved to Canada.

He has worked for the Zirnhelts since June 09. As a Timber Framer he finally gets to build houses with his favorite building material and in a style he really likes. He could never identify himself with the houses he built back in Switzerland but now he sure can, he is proud of the end results when he steps back and looks at a beautiful timberframe house,  which he was part of.

Although his experiences in building houses “the swiss way” helped him a lot to get in to timber framing. He is still using his skills from back home to work on foundations and doing rockwork. Raphael and Janet live outside of 150 Mile House, where they just bought their own property, with lots of space for their four horses, four dogs and the cat. If not at the shop or on a site, he spends his free time at home, renovating, fixing and adding on. There will be work for probably 30 more years, he figures! The search for his perfect way of live ended here in the cariboo!...............but having his biggest dream became true, doesn’t mean there are no others: exploring the Chilcotin on his horse, is next on the list!

Le Roy

Le Roy grew up in 100 Mile House and was active in sports where he earned a gold and silver medal in fastball at the B.C. Summer Games in 1986 & 1987.  After graduation, Le Roy studied Business Management at Kwantlen College in Richmond B.C.  He soon realized that his real passion was creating with wood which brought him to Salmon Arm B.C.  where he learned the trade of log home building and during the slow winter months he also learned how to drywall along with many other construction trades.  After 16 years of building log homes and doing renovations, he started building log furniture, log stairs and railings where his creative side could really shine.  He has just recently moved back to the Cariboo where he grew up and joined the Zirnhelt Timber Frames team.  His passion for working with wood and creating things out of log made this step a perfect fit for him.  He is excited about the direction towards eco friendly building technology that Zirnhelt Timber Frames is taking and looks forward to good things to come.

Le Roy currently lives in Williams Lake and enjoys camping and fishing with his family.