We are pleased to share that Hudson Valley Preservation is featured in the October 2026 issue of Fine Homebuilding. Written by HVP partner Dave Seegers, the article, Saving a Sagging Roof, offers an inside look at the structural restoration of a 200-year-old Gothic Revival farmhouse in Dutchess County, New York.

The project involved transforming an unfinished third-floor attic into a spacious bunkhouse-style bedroom while addressing significant structural challenges within the home’s original timber frame.

Working alongside an engineer and skilled trade partners, the HVP team developed a thoughtful approach to stabilizing the roof, reinforcing its structural components, and integrating modern improvements without compromising the home’s historic character.

The project reflects an important part of our approach to historic preservation: finding practical, lasting solutions that respect the craftsmanship and character of the original building.

In the article, Dave shares insights into the challenges, planning, and craftsmanship behind the renovation, demonstrating how careful collaboration can bring new life to historic spaces.

Read the full article, Saving a Sagging Roof, here.

What began as an initiative of Hudson Valley Preservation and Mason Lord in 2022 has grown into an annual celebration of the skilled trades, bringing hundreds of visitors together each fall.

On Saturday, October 24, 2026, SPARK Kent returns for its fifth year at the Eric Sloane Museum and Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA) in Kent, Connecticut. Organized by TradesUp in partnership with Hudson Valley Preservation, this free, family-friendly event introduces visitors of all ages to the skilled trades through interactive experiences, live demonstrations, and meaningful connections with tradespeople.

SPARK Kent was first established in 2022 by Hudson Valley Preservation and its founder, Mason Lord, with a vision to introduce young people to the skilled trades and create opportunities for the community to engage with the people and skills behind them. What began as a local initiative has since grown into a signature event for TradesUp, welcoming approximately 500 visitors annually.

Now celebrating its fifth year, SPARK Kent continues to bring together skilled professionals, craftspeople, families, and community organizations for a day dedicated to curiosity, creativity, and craftsmanship.

This year’s event will feature approximately 30 hands-on experiences spanning a wide variety of trades, including carpentry, woodworking, blacksmithing, electrical work, masonry, metalworking, and traditional crafts. Visitors will have the opportunity to work alongside experienced tradespeople, use real tools, and explore skills they may never have encountered before.

For Hudson Valley Preservation, supporting SPARK Kent reflects a longstanding commitment to craftsmanship and the future of the skilled trades. By connecting experienced professionals with the next generation, the event helps foster an appreciation for the knowledge, creativity, and practical skills essential to both historic preservation and modern construction.

Join Us for SPARK Kent 2026

SPARK Kent takes place on Saturday, October 24, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Eric Sloane Museum and Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent, Connecticut.

The event is free and open to all ages. Attendees are encouraged to register in advance, including all children and accompanying adults.

We look forward to celebrating five years of SPARK Kent alongside the presenters, volunteers, community partners, and visitors who continue to make this event possible.

Visit tradesup.org to register and learn more.

How It Started

June of 2026 marks the 35th anniversary of the incorporation of Hudson Valley Preservation. Becoming a corporation was a maturing step. Before that, we were carpenters for hire.

Craig Marchessault and I met in 1984 at the Restoration Apprenticeship program run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, at the Lyndhurst mansion in Tarrytown. As is often the origin story of contracting businesses, Craig and I were friends first. I admired Craig’s skills, and we worked well together, so we started what could loosely be called a business. We considered ourselves craftsmen.

Our first project of substance was salvaging an old farmhouse in Old Chatham, New York — rumored to have once been home to a family with a live-in pig. We built a tent platform and lived through the summer of 1985 working on that old timber frame.

The projects that followed were historic structures in Brewster and Millbrook, for good clients who respected the care and execution behind Craig’s and my carpentry. That work carried us through the economic downturn following Black Monday in October of 1987.

The economy was still struggling in the fall of 1990 when a large project — the renovation and restoration of the Putnam County Courthouse — went out to bid. Craig and I put in bids alongside several general contractors for the municipal project. It’s a long story, but the lessons we learned after being cut out of the project by the winning bidder led us to see the need to grow from a couple of caring carpenters into the formal structure of a corporation.

 

Projects That Shaped Us

On a cold, snowy day in February of 1993, I was in my basement, feeling despondent over the lack of good work, when I made several cold calls to local historical societies. I struck gold when I reached the president of the Quaker Hill and Pawling Historical Society. The 1762 Oblong Meeting House on Quaker Hill was in desperate need of repair, and HVP was asked to evaluate the building, design solutions, and estimate the cost of the project. In June of 1993, we started a year-long project to stabilize and restore the foundation and timber frame structure, while also installing a new wide-plank pine floor milled from sawmill lumber salvaged from the Cathedral Pines, laid down by a tornado in Cornwall, Connecticut.

That project solidified the way we’ve designed and built ever since. Collaboration with a client and knowledgeable professionals produces results without the blame games that too often follow. We had a good client who respected our decisions when we brought in consultants to help develop the scope of work. The project also expanded our crew beyond Craig and me: stonemason Darryl Corsi and another carpenter, Dave Seegers, joined HVP to help with the Oblong Meeting House. Dave became my business partner in 2001. Craig left the company in 2003.

As the ’90s progressed, we ventured again into the architect’s competitive-bidding world. Along with building the Milbank House in ’95–’96 with architect Amie Rennolds, it didn’t take long to discover that this type of project delivery wasn’t for us. That realization, combined with the Dotcom Bubble crash in 1999, steered HVP toward finding more control over where our projects came from.

By 2002, as the economy recovered, we began marketing HVP as a design-build firm. We worked with a designer and a draftsperson as subcontractors. Our design process incorporated 3D modeling and client meetings where changes could be made in real time — no more going back to the drawing board for three weeks to make a change.

Our business model had evolved. We weren’t just executing good, finished products through craft and responsible management — we were now providing architectural design, too. HVP had become a one-stop shop.

HVP survived the Great Recession through the relationships and diversity of projects we’d nurtured over our first seventeen years. We took on a few design-build projects but mainly executed restoration and preservation work.

In 2020, we diversified further, building our first new home since the mid-’90s. This new home was a factory-built, panelized, high-performance home by Bensonwood (BWC), located in Walpole and Keene, New Hampshire. HVP handles the site work, BWC raises the shell of the house — typically in two to three weeks — and HVP finishes the construction. Bensonwood has been a great design and build partner for HVP, and we’ve completed several more projects together since.

The People Behind the Work

The architects, designers, and engineers who collaborate with us during the design and execution of a project are a pleasure to work with, always going the extra mile to provide solutions in a timely way.

We count on our trade partners and vendors — electricians, plumbers, material suppliers, and others — to bring the knowledge and skill needed to execute projects that grow more complex every year.

None of that would matter without the clients who come to us with problems in their homes they want solved. Working with and for good people is what makes solving these challenging puzzles worth the effort. We’re eternally grateful for their support, friendship, and continued trust in new projects.

Our current staff is skilled and smart, but most importantly, they care — about the client experience, not just the finished product. And we have fun. Not all day, every day — the work is physically and mentally demanding — but our team, in the office and in the field, works well together. We pull in the same direction, we count on each other, and when it’s time to relax, there’s good humor all around.

HVP doesn’t have ex-employees. HVP has alumni. Most people who’ve left the company have moved on to other ventures that were a better fit for them, and we’ve stayed in touch and supported their new paths — whether as a trade partner or as a trusted friend to call with a question.

 

Looking Ahead

Dave and I are in our mid-sixties. We aren’t going anywhere soon, but we have a plan to carry HVP’s mission into the future. More on that plan to come shortly.

– Mason Lord, Founder

Have you been thinking about adding an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) to your property? For many homeowners, the idea comes up when they need additional space for aging parents, adult children, or want to create a source of rental income.

In Connecticut, a proposed update to state zoning law, a substitute version of H.B. No. 5507, could change how ADUs are regulated if it moves forward.

According to the Connecticut General Assembly’s bill analysis, the proposal would update statutory language from “accessory apartments” to “accessory dwelling units,” apply more uniform statewide standards for ADUs, limit certain local zoning restrictions, and establish a program for preapproved ADU designs. (cga.ct.gov)

Right now, ADUs are permitted in many Connecticut towns, but the rules vary significantly from one municipality to another. Some towns allow them with a relatively straightforward approval process, while others impose stricter zoning requirements or additional review steps that can make projects more difficult to move forward.

If enacted, the intent of the bill is to create more consistency statewide. Municipalities would be required to allow ADUs on residential lots, including those that previously opted out. The legislation would also limit certain zoning restrictions that can act as barriers to development, such as strict occupancy requirements, parking mandates, and other procedural hurdles that vary by town.

Detached ADUs would be more clearly recognized as well, including backyard cottages and garage conversions, which in many cases are currently subject to more restrictive local interpretation.

For homeowners, the broader takeaway is that ADUs are becoming a more central part of Connecticut’s housing conversation, and the regulatory landscape is likely to continue evolving.

At Hudson Valley Preservation, we help clients evaluate what is possible on their property and how design decisions align with both existing zoning and potential changes in regulation. If you are considering an ADU project and would like to discuss feasibility or design direction, we would be glad to connect.

In the trades, learning is built over time through repetition, observation, and experience. These reflections from Ian Schwandt come from years spent on job sites, working alongside crews, and learning the craft the long way. They are lessons that continue to hold true—we still remember and apply these principles today.

1. Nothing is learned from constant success. Try it, mess it up, think about it, repeat. After 30 or 40 years of this, retire.
2. Ask every silly question you think of. But never ask more questions than you can give considerate thought to the answers.
3. Show up early. Learn how to set the job up. Better yet, ask at the end of the day how to set the job for tomorrow.
4. Watch how the experienced people in your trade set up their work. How they store their tools, set up their workstation, and arrange their material. If you cannot figure out why, ask. Most people would love to tell you.
5. Understand that you will likely be seeing and experiencing things out of sequence. Until proven otherwise, you are viewed as cheap labor and will get bounced around. Reading, watching videos, and helping someone from the crew on a weekend project will begin to fill in much of the rest.
6. Make peace with the following. If you learn how to build a shed, then you know how to build a shed. If you learn how to cut straight and square, read a tape measure and a level, use a square, make accurate marks, and apply right triangle trigonometry (easier than it sounds), then you will possess the foundation needed to build anything.
7. The correct answer to “how much lumber can you carry?” is “two more sticks than the boss.”
8. If an employer or a crew is not giving you what you need to learn, find one that will. It is okay to move around when you are learning this business (IMHO).

These reflections highlight something that is often overlooked in the trades. Progress is not immediate, and it is not linear. It is built slowly through repetition, curiosity, and a willingness to stay engaged even when things are difficult.

At Hudson Valley Preservation, this kind of thinking continues to shape our work. The people we work with on job sites and through programs like TradesUp still carry these lessons forward, passing knowledge on in ways that leave a lasting impact and help ensure the next generation has the opportunity to learn, grow, and build with confidence.

By Mason, Founder of HVP

Hudson Valley Preservation’s path toward better building was reinforced in an unexpected place, not on a jobsite, but sitting in a lecture hall.

In 2018, Tedd Benson spoke at the Timber Framers Guild conference that I attended. Tedd is a timber framer, builder, and educator, and the founder of Bensonwood. For decades, his work has focused on advancing high performance residential construction by combining traditional craft with factory based design, engineering, and fabrication.

Bensonwood is a design and build company specializing in energy efficient and sustainable homes. Based in New Hampshire, the company uses a manufacturing driven approach to resolve complex building systems early, allowing projects to be executed with a high level of precision in the field. Bensonwood works on both fully custom homes and standardized models, with a focus on durability, energy performance, and long term building quality.

During that talk, Tedd described how LEAN thinking could be applied to building. At its core, LEAN is about reducing waste, improving flow, and making critical decisions earlier so problems are solved upstream rather than on the jobsite. That way of thinking stayed with me, not because it was entirely new, but because it clarified and strengthened how we already approached our work at HVP.

Later that year, in November of 2018, I bought a piece of land with the intention of building my own home. I knew what I wanted to avoid. Endless design decisions. Uncertainty during construction. Risk concentrated in the wrong places. In residential building, the highest risk is in the shell, especially the frame and water management. Those are the hardest problems to fix once construction is underway.

I decided to build a Unity Zum. Unity is a brand of Bensonwood that focuses on standardized, high performance homes. The Unity system allowed the most critical decisions to be made early and executed in a controlled factory environment, reducing uncertainty in the field.

Because I had committed to building a Unity Zum, I visited Bensonwood in December of 2019 to better understand how the system was designed, engineered, and produced. Seeing the operation in person made it clear how tightly coordinated the process was between design, engineering, and manufacturing. The work was precise, repeatable, and clearly informed by years of refinement.

My house was raised in August of 2020. Tedd came shortly after to the site to see the project. During that visit, he asked if HVP might consider becoming a building partner with Bensonwood. He explained that if so, they had a client nearby who would soon be building a new home.

What stood out to me was not just the opportunity, but the way it was framed. It was not about installing a product or simply executing a set of drawings. It was about shared responsibility for the outcome.

At the time, HVP was not building new homes, and I was not sure what that path would look like. After further discussion, HVP agreed to work with Bensonwood on that nearby project. In this partnership, Bensonwood supplies the shell of the house, including the structural frame and enclosure system. As the general contractor, HVP is responsible for the site work, foundation, mechanical systems, and interior and exterior finishes. This division of work allows each team to focus on what they do best, while maintaining clear accountability for performance and quality.

Sitework began in early spring of 2021, and by early summer of 2022, the process felt clear and workable.

​​For context, Bensonwood has long been known for its custom timber frame homes, work that’s careful, deliberate, and rooted in a deep understanding of how buildings perform over time. More recently, they’ve taken what they’ve learned over decades of one-off projects and built systems around it. Through their Unity and OpenHome programs, they’re applying the same thinking, attention to detail, and performance standards to homes that are more repeatable, predictable, and attainable, without giving up the qualities that matter most.

In the winter of 2025, Bensonwood formally invited HVP into a partnership.

As we continue to build more sustainable homes, our work with Bensonwood remains focused on the same priorities that guided my own project. Making decisions early. Reducing risk where it matters most. Using systems that support consistent outcomes. We recently completed an OpenHome together and currently have two Unity projects moving through our upfront pre construction services phase. We look forward to continuing to partner with Bensonwood as we take on future projects together.

Looking back, I am glad I took the time to attend Tedd’s lecture all those years ago.