Albuquerque Joinery is a small design-build company that specializes in new home construction using traditional adobe building techniques and fine carpentry.

Kenny DeLapp and Esther Fredrickson launched the business in February 2020 after building their own adobe home in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Built under an owner-builder permit, their 1,600 square foot home is a showcase of modern construction and traditional materials with brick floors, exposed vigas, adobe mud plaster walls, and site-built solid wood doors.

DeLapp, who is skilled in masonry and fine carpentry, learned traditional building techniques while working with his uncle Win, a long-time adobe builder known for custom furniture, cabinets, and museum exhibits.

“It’s the idea to combine the two different worlds in adobe construction, which are more masonry and heavy timber, with finer woodworking – that was the vision to be able to create unique woodwork, and have the ability to create something in-house to have that handmade feel,” DeLapp said about the new business.

DeLapp’s unconventional approach allows him and the company’s team of two employees to create bathroom vanities, cabinets, molding, and doors on-site.

Frederickson manages the business.

A referral by their credit union put the couple in touch with The Loan Fund, a nonprofit lender that works with startups and small businesses that often don’t fit the criteria of a traditional bank.

“All we needed was a line of credit and that wasn’t what a traditional bank was going to give us,” said DeLapp.

Frederickson said the line of credit offered by The Loan Fund was an essential part of their first project and has helped them move forward through subsequent projects, which have included an adobe workshop/studio building and multiple fine-carpentry projects.

“We feel so much better equipped for the next house in terms of our tools and employees, but also in our knowledge of our business overhead and the time involved in our particular handmade way of building,” she said.

Albuquerque Joinery designs and builds in an esthetic that is simple, carefully executed, and distinctly New Mexican using local and natural materials when feasible. Learn more about the company’s projects and skills.

To learn more about business loans offered by The Loan Fund, visit the website.

Photo and article (adapted) courtesy of The Loan Fund. Finance New Mexico Number 781.