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An Ancient Idea Whose Time Has Come
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Business New Haven
3/5/2001
By: Priscilla Searles
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Networking isn't exactly a new concept. People in business know it's an excellent tool for making contacts, potential sales, future business. But the Guild of Fine Craftsmen & Artisans has a mission that goes beyond just meeting another craftsmen.
Founded in 1995 by Leland Torrence, a “historic artisan” based in New Haven, the guild's function is to recognize, support and perpetuate the highest possible standards in the building, assembly, preservation and restoration trades. The non-profit organization's mission is to preserve the craft technology and the career fields that make restoration and preservation of significant buildings possible.
The guild was informally started around 1986 in New Haven. In 1992 Torrence spent about a year investigating and researching guilds historically from the earliest times through Industrial Revolution and dawn of the union movement.
“The first guilds,” explains Torrence, “were probably stone workers in Egypt. The next big change in guilds that became popular occurred in the Middle Ages with merchants and craftsmen.”
Torrence makes it clear that the group is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but attempting to refine something that has been done for centuries. “We are basically a complement to unions,” he says. “We represent specialty trades and artisans, while labor unions represent large numbers of people that form a workforce. The guild represent mom-and-pop craftsmen who own their own business.”
One of the main purposes of the organization is to train, educate and provide small businesses administrative support. Part of that support is to make resources available to group members that are not normally or easily obtained by individuals.
One function is just disseminating news in the construction industry, both regulatory and safety requirements or legal representation and contractual information. “We would like to implement an insurance package - everything, medical, bonding, liability, workers comp - all of which will be available only to guild members,” explains Torrence.
Membership in the organization is three-tiered. Members gain access to the Restoration Trades Exchange, a Web site that lists projects, resources and other information. In addition, members receive Traditional Building magazine, which is aimed at commercial, institutional and public projects, and Period Home, a residential project publication. The guild's own Web site is also a rich source of information.
Torrence makes it clear that it is a struggle to build an organization from the ground up. “We want to provide a certain level of credibility so people know when they go to a guild member they are getting what they pay for,” he says. “A great deal of what the guild is about is standards - returning phone calls, leaving your job site clean, writing clear contracts, invoicing on time - doing the basics.
People who want to become guild members can't just send in a check and automatically become a member. To become a full member, one must serve as an affiliate for one year then be reviewed by a group of peers and voted in. Once accepted, members must sign an agreement to uphold the standards of the group.
According to Torrence, guilds formed historically in down market periods when craftsmen and artisans needed work and had time to volunteer and help with organization.
The goals of the this group are broad. Encouraging younger members to join, for example, provides support that might make the difference between a person staying with his craft or giving up after a few years because they don't know how to sell themselves or handle the administrative work.
“We don't take money out of your pay or require ten percent of your income to keep the guild alive, but we do ask that members uphold our standards, pay their dues and work for the organization to become stronger,” says Torrence.
One of the organization's most valuable benefits is getting current job listings. “The idea with the resources we provide is to allow people to get a job before the job is listed with other job listing services,” says Torrence.
Sharing ideas, methods and techniques seems to be the real benefit of the guild, and if it works the way Torrence hopes, it may encourage others to go into trades that might otherwise decline. BNH
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