Membership

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Membership in the Guild is open to all. While most of the members are actively involved in designing and building timber frame structures, the Guild also includes architects, designers, and other professional builders, suppliers of tools and materials to the timber frame trade, owner-builders, timber frame home owners, and pure aficionados of the craft.

The Guild includes some 1,700 individuals representing most of the 50 states, Canada, and various other countries around the world. More than 200 companies belong to the Timber Frame Business Council, organized in 1996 to address specific concerns of running a timber framing business.

Whether you are a practicing timber framer, a woodworker, a student, or someone who is simply interested in learning about the craft, we invite you to become a full, participating Guild member. That’s the best way to learn about this enduring and appealing building style.

Membership Categories

If you join, you can become part of an organization of individuals who share a common interest and love of the craft of timber framing. We also offer student memberships, international memberships for those living outside the U.S. and Canada, and Family Memberships. For only an additional $25, family members receive individual member benefits, directory listings and member rates at Guild events even if the principal family member cannot attend. The second member receives voting privileges; only one set of Guild publications is sent to the address listed. In order to qualify for this special rate, family members must all reside at the same household.

A Guild Scholarship Fund allows us to sponsor apprentices in timber framing. Please consider adding $10 or more to your membership dues.

Lifetime memberships

Now we are offering Lifetime memberships for all levels except Student Memberships. Click here to sign up.

Benefits

Subscriptions to the Guild's publications:

Timber Framing, the Guild’s acclaimed quarterly journal, carries in-depth articles on the history and lore of timber framing, reports on the theory and practice of timber framing, and the work of the Guild and its members.

Our newsletter, Scantlings, announces upcoming conferences and workshops and provides information on employment opportunities, material and equipment availability, and a calendar of Guild activities. As a member, you are entitled to free classified ads for two consecutive issues.

Numerous ways to learn about traditional joinery at regional and national conferences and workshops, where you can meet with like-minded individuals.

Opportunities to participate in projects that meet a social responsibility, whether it be the construction of a house for people in need, building a covered bridge for a community, or working with other organizations to support sound, sustainable forestry practices.

You could also join the Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG), whose members actively pursue a better understanding of historic timber frame structures and techniques. This group surveys old historic buildings before they are changed or razed to have the information available to future scholars and builders.

Member directories provide easy access to a worldwide network of professionals, practitioners, and others allied to the trade. Guild members are generous with their knowledge, and this network is a resource found nowhere else in the world. It is the best place to turn for information and troubleshooting help with the complex issues surrounding the contemporary building process.

If you want to join or receive information about membership or any of our publications, please let us know.