Unless you need Mark Gauvin’s services, it’s likely you have no idea what he does.

With his workshop set back from the road on North Street, the experienced carpenter recreates historic mouldings, doors, windows, gutters and any other wooden fixture that can’t be bought at big box stores.

“The only time people really need me is when they want something and they can’t buy it,” said Gauvin.

Eighty to 90 percent of Gauvin’s work at Mattapoisett Millwork consists of crafting replacement pieces for historic buildings, pieces that were hand turned and planed before the invention of electricity, before the American chestnut tree went extinct and before you could buy moulding that was prefinished, pre-sanded and primed.

Gauvin opened Mattapoisett Millwork in 1996 after working for 15 years at various carpentry shops.

“I picked up a bit of knowledge from each place I worked and put it all together,” he said.

Although he is passionate about his work, Gauvin said he stumbled into the profession.

“I actually flunked high school wood shop two years in a row,” said the Old Rochester Regional graduate.

But after high school, he got a job in the field and enjoyed it.

“I didn’t enter it purposefully. It just kind of unfolded over time,” said Gauvin, a father of four who lives in town with his kids and wife, Kathy.

After 15 years working for other people, Gauvin purchased his own workshop, where he has gradually amassed the necessary equipment for his trade – some of it as old as the 1800s, other the mid 1900s.

“Some of the old things are worth buying and rebuilding,” he said.

As his own boss, Gauvin keeps busy, replacing some or all of the elements found in old homes and buildings from the tri-town area to the Cape and Boston area.

Often, he will replace part of a rotted beam or moulding, perfectly matching it with his own fabrication.

“A lot of the classic mouldings I know and I can use some of them. A lot of times there’s no two alike,” said Gauvin.

That’s because so much was done by hand. A carpenter might repeat a design, but if his tools were duller on the second house than the first, it could cause enough of a difference that a prefabricated piece won’t line up.

Finished moulding pieces in Gauvin's workshop. Photo by: Georgia Sparling

“That’s good for me,” Gauvin joked.

As his own boss, Gauvin admits running his own business is tough going. Before the financial crisis, he employed five other carpenters and still had projects backed up for months. Now, he’s back to working on his own, and it’s Gauvin’s love of the work that keeps him passionate about it through the challenging times.

He lights up when he talks about one project he worked on for a house more than three centuries old. Gauvin replaced all of the original windows.

“It was such a great job,” he said. “When I duplicated the windows, I made them exactly like they were in 1639. You can’t get better than that. If I can get three hundred years out of something, I’ll be OK.”

He says no job, so far, has gotten the best of him, even a 24 foot long round crown moulding made of cherry.

Mark Gauvin will repair and replace ruined pieces of these columns to bring them to their original form and function. Photo by: Georgia Sparling

“It’s as easy as going straight, if you know what you’re doing,” said Gauvin.

Besides restoration pieces, he also creates the frames for custom made aquariums of all shapes and sizes that are then sent across the US, including Mystic Aquarium, and have gone as far as the United Arab Emirates. Once the frame is made, a local company creates the fiberglass structure. Unlike the fixtures he’s created for historic homes, when the aquariums are finished, Gauvin’s wooden frame is dismantled.

“At the end of three months of painstaking labor, all my work gets thrown in the dumpster,” he said.

Gauvin doesn’t mind. His work is built to last, regardless of the project, and after 30 years in woodworking, he’s open to try most jobs.

“I get to work on some fantastic projects,” he said. “I will build anything you want.”

Mattapoisett Millwork is located at 117 North St. Mark Gauvin can be reached at 508-989-2695.