We are young entrepreneurs. We are raising families and investing in our community. We are working hard to create beautiful, high-performance, homes and buildings which enrich the lives of their occupants.
We are inspired and motivated by the innovators in our industry – those who are leading the way through environmental stewardship and adopting change early, driven by a desire to make better buildings.
We are skilled carpenters and motivated business people, with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to excel in our business. We are passionate about building sustainable homes and buildings for a future of declining cheap fossil fuel energy. We use progressive building designs and techniques. We will continue to innovate, to think outside the box, to challenge the standards, to ask questions, and to learn.
We pride ourselves in remaining unusually accessible to our clients, and welcome you to reach out directly to any of our team members at any time.
Rane Wardwell
CFO, Co-Owner, head of production and installation
Rane oversees our shop and install teams, and focuses on how to make the hands-on work easier and more efficient, while paying the bills, planning for future growth, and sometimes sweeping the floor and stoking the fire too.
Rane brings a competitive sports, fine woodworking, and timberframing background to his work at Collective Carpentry, believing strongly that Passive House is a great forum to collect like minded, ambitious people that like to push each other to build better. Oh, and the climate crisis, that global existential threat…
People know Rane as the middle aged guy that tries to ride his mountain bike as fast as possible.
Jan Pratschke
CEO, Co-Owner, head of design
Jan oversees the design process and the production of all 3D models, shop drawings, cut lists, and install drawings for the shop and install teams, and as such is often the go-to person for our architect, builder, and engineering partners.
Jan brings a timberframing and business background to his work at Collective Carpentry, and is equally at home in front of a computer or on the jobsite. He grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and currently lives in Invermere with partner Jennifer, and sons Charlie (7), and Leo (4). He enjoys sailing, climbing, skiing the backcountry, riding his bike, and playing his accordion.
Paul Tumason
US Install Team Lead
Paul leads our panel installations in the US, using his almost three decades of fine homebuilding, timber framing, engineering, and design experience to make all the pieces come together elegantly and efficiently on site.
Paul was present for some of Collective Carpentry’s earliest panel builds, and continues to this day to provide valuable input and leadership to our process from his home base in Santa Cruz and on projects across the western United States. You can usually find Paul running, climbing, biking, skiing, and enjoying time with his daughter Isis and son Rohnin.
People know Paul as particularly fanatic about well-made, well-designed things and mundane tasks like changing the oil on his truck and cleaning dust off the dashboard.
Andre Lodder
Carpenter (Invermere)
Andre works in the Invermere shop and aside from framing, insulating, airsealing, and quality control, also takes top notch photos of our work.
After studying photojournalism and getting a background in industrial concrete, Andre started carpentry work in 2012 and has been doing it ever since, realizing that he gets his affinity for precision from his dad, a finish carpenter. He lives in Radium with his dog and his wife Kelsey, where he enjoys rock climbing, disc golf and mountain biking.
People know Andre as a quirky, funny, positive team player who likes to get into the mountains and rocks some solid hairstyles, like his 2020 covid mullet and his annual Movember stash.
Jay Dubray
Carpenter (Invermere)
Jay does it all, from production in the shop building wall, roof, and floor panels, to install and other site work.
Hailing from Nova Scotia, Jay has been out west for 20+ years, where he’s lived in most of the big cities and many smaller ones, eventually getting his ticket from College of the Rockies in Cranbrook and building homes for a few years in Radium, before coming to Invermere where he enjoys spending time with his daughter and her dog. Jay’s hands-on and likes to build like it’s an obsession, but his obsessions don’t stop there – he’s a fanatic disc golf player who is signed up on the PDGA, and an avid skateboarder and snowboarder.
Craig Toohey
Marketing & Business Development
Craig is in charge of making sure the world knows about Collective Carpentry and that the shop stays busy. He focuses on the brand, partnerships, business planning, and sales from a remote office where he uses his phone and his computer to maintain contact with planet earth.
Craig studied entrepreneurship and business strategy at McGill University in Montreal, QC and gravitated towards high performance building after understanding that coffee is better kept hot in a thermos than on a hot plate. After admiring Collective Carpentry from afar during his time at 475 High Performance Building Supply, he knew when he left on an extended adventure to Mexico during a global pandemic that it was only a matter of time before he would inevitably get the chance to fulfill a dream of returning north to help take Collective Carpentry to new heights.
People know Craig as a saxophone playing, travel loving, bike riding, bread making, oven building madman with a passion for putting his mind and heart into existential challenges and good fun alike.
Debra Kotulak
Office Manager
Debra keeps our ship sailing, overseeing everything from human resources to accounting, legal issues, and more.
Debra was most recently the Housing Manager for the Kugluktuk Housing Society in Nunavut, and before that kept another ship sailing at Canadian Timberframes. Debra is a big fan of energy efficiency, which she counts as including proper floorplan design, questioning why so many designers put the kitchen as far away from the entrance as possible. She spends her time between Golden and Kimberley, enjoying knitting, walking and talking with her best friend, cooking dinner for her extended family, and looking after her granddaughter.
People know Debra as always being on the move, whether to Brazil, Italy, Trinadad & Tabaggo, or anywhere else her daughters go, while the daughters? They’d probably say people love her for her gravy.
Jason Simpson
Assistant Shop Manager
Jason’s focus is working diligently to make sure the shop crew has what they need to safely and efficiently get things done. He looks after purchasing, quality control, production optimization, and more.
Jason was previously the Mountain Sports Director at Panorama Mountain Resort, and before that was a realtor for Sotheby’s and the sales director at New Dawn Developments. He has a degree in English Literature, and is also a commercial pilot and a CSIA Level 4 senior examiner. He lives in Invermere with his wife Christine and has 2 daughters and 2 grandchildren in the area and a son in Vancouver. He’s a skier, a mountain biker, a chef, a guitarist, and an amateur oenephile. He likes being involved in homebuilding for its opportunity to create space that enhances the lives of people that dwell in it, while helping the planet through green building methods and efficient energy use.
People know Jason as the 50+ guy who is still pushing the young guys on their bikes and their skis.
Jeff Knievel
Panel Fabricator
Jeff is a super hard-working member of our shop crew who is working his way towards a carpentry apprenticeship. He brings his love for working with his hands and his enthusiasm for passive homes and other alternative construction techniques to the daily grind of all the work the shop produces.
Jeff grew up in Bienfait Sasketchewan and has an arts degree in religious studies and philosophy. Before joining Collective Carpentry he spent time as a ski patroller, landscaper, tree planter, youthcare worker, construction laborer, and several other work adventures, but came back to building because of the satisfaction he finds in it. He is an avid canoeist and kayaker, and enjoys canoe building (a single cedar strip canoe under his belt), wood carving, wine making, bread making, kombucha brewing, and maybe one day guitar playing.
People know Jeff for being a friendly, helpful, good listener in the neighborhood with a high shrill burst of laughter that can startle children and make dogs howl within a 3 block radius.
Nate Sweeters
Carpenter, US Install Team
Nate is quickly becoming a leader on our US install team, bringing his long experience in fine homebuilding to each and every install.
Nate and Paul have known each other for over 30 years, both coming from long family traditions of fine homebuilding in Santa Cruz. Nate has worked in general construction for over 20 years, and brings a level of attention to detail, experience, and enthusiasm that is essential to what we do best.
Nate loves camping, hiking, and surfing, and is an accomplished drummer and skateboarder, and all-around sweet guy.
People know Nate for his favorite drink which is hands down, iced tea.
Heather Mott
Designer & Passive House Consultant
Heather is our in-house designer and Certified Passive House Consultant. She creates pre-designed plans, runs energy modeling analyses, integrates the Collective Building System into custom designs, and occasionally brings her muscle to panel installs.
With a passion for buildings that promote the health of the occupant and the environment, Heather is a Passive House devotee. She believes that homes built with an understanding of thermodynamics are the most livable, durable, and beautiful.
Heather lives in Seattle with her partner, Penton, and their dog, Zoe. When not tinkering with floor plans, she can be found chasing Zoe out of garden beds and sailing the Puget Sound.
Mike Mitchell
Carpenter, US Install Team
Mikey is a key member of our US install team, having been on most of our US installs since September of 2021. He brings deep carpentry experience, a B.S. in Construction Management from Cal Poly in SLO, and an organized, detail-oriented approach to the complex work of installing panels and other structural parts.
Mikey is inspired by the ability to take an idea and bring it to life through architectural plans, 3D modeling, panel fabrication, and install. He believes that prefab is a truly incredible type of construction, which he is reminded of time and again when he helps these structures go up in just 5 days on site.
In his spare time, you’ll find Mikey playing soccer or rugby, or watching movies or reading a good book. When it comes to unicycles and reading a book in one sitting, Mikey’s got skills for both!
Dan Maddalena
Cadwork Modeler
