Question 1

What is Dunn Trim Co.?

Accepted Answer

Dunn Trim Co. is a finish carpentry installation crew based in Knoxville, serving builders and general contractors across East Tennessee. Finish work is all we do — cabinets, built-ins, moulding, beams and ceilings, stairs, paneling, doors, and custom accents. We've spent years setting finish in custom homes for East-TN builders, and it's the only trade we work in.

Question 2

Do you work for homeowners, or only builders?

Accepted Answer

We work with builders, general contractors, remodelers, and designers. If you're a homeowner on a custom build or remodel, we'll usually come in through your builder or GC rather than direct, so the finish package stays coordinated with the rest of the job.

Question 3

Where are you based, and what areas do you serve?

Accepted Answer

We're based in Knoxville and cover the surrounding East-TN market: Knox, Blount, Loudon, Anderson, and Sevier counties, including Maryville, Farragut, Alcoa, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, and Clinton. If your job sits just past that line, ask us. For the right builder and project we'll stretch the radius.

Question 4

Are you licensed and insured?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Licensed and insured, and we'll send a certificate of insurance on request before we start on your job.

Question 5

Who's behind the work?

Accepted Answer

Dunn Trim Co. is founder-led by Nicholas Dunn, who's spent the better part of a decade installing finish carpentry in East Tennessee homes. Every job runs to the same standard, so the work holds up the same across a builder's whole pipeline.

Question 6

What services do you offer?

Accepted Answer

The whole finish package — cabinet installation, built-ins, moulding and trim, beams and ceilings, staircases, shiplap and tongue-and-groove, interior doors and hardware, wainscoting and wall paneling, and custom accents like mantels and range hoods.

Question 7

Will you take the whole finish package, or just one service?

Accepted Answer

Either. Most builders give us the whole finish scope so it's one crew on one schedule instead of coordinating several trades, but we'll bid a single piece like just the stairs or just the cabinets too.

Question 8

Do you supply materials, or install only?

Accepted Answer

Install only. You or your supplier furnish the material and we install it — we don't supply product ourselves. Tell us how the material's coming and we'll bid the labor to it.

Question 9

Do you do new construction, remodels, or both?

Accepted Answer

Both. New custom and high-end spec homes are most of what we do, and on remodels a good part of the job is matching new finish to the existing trim so it blends in.

Question 10

Do you handle commercial work, or residential only?

Accepted Answer

Most of our work is high-end residential, but we take on light-commercial finish, casework, and architectural millwork when the scope fits. Ask about your project.

Question 11

How do we get started?

Accepted Answer

Send the plans and finish schedule through our contact page, or just the scope if that's what you've got, and we'll put together a number. The more detail we have up front, the tighter we can price it.

Question 12

How do you bid a job?

Accepted Answer

Itemized against the scope and broken out by area, grade, and package, so you can see line by line what the number covers. Pricing's modular on our end, which is how we turn bids around quickly, and we'll bid the whole package or any single piece of it.

Question 13

Can I attach plans to a bid request?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The bid form on our contact page takes file attachments — PDFs, images, plan sets — so you can send drawings right with the request. For very large plan sets, email them over instead.

Question 14

How do you handle scheduling?

Accepted Answer

We commit to a window and keep you posted as the date gets close, so you can put us on the calendar and get back to the rest of the job. Finish sits on the critical path to the walkthrough, so we treat the schedule as part of the work.

Question 15

How do you handle change orders?

Accepted Answer

They come up on every job. We price them before the work starts and keep moving so the schedule holds.

Question 16

What makes your finish different?

Accepted Answer

The joinery. We cope the inside corners instead of mitering them so they stay tight when the house moves, glue and fasten the returns and outside miters so they don't open up down the road, and lay cabinets and paneling out balanced to the room. We do it that way on every linear foot.

Question 17

How do you keep joints from opening up over time?

Accepted Answer

We cope the inside corners so they stay tight when the framing moves, glue and pin the outside miters so they don't open up a season later, and leave room for the wood to move with the seasons, which matters with Tennessee's humidity swings. Done that way, the joints hold through a winter and don't come back on your punch list.

Question 18

Do you build to code?

Accepted Answer

Yes, especially on stairs, where baluster spacing, rail height, and tread and riser dimensions are the first things an inspector checks. We build it to code the first time and confirm whatever amendments your local jurisdiction enforces.

Question 19

How do you leave the job site?

Accepted Answer

Broom-clean, with a short punch list, ready for the client walkthrough and the next trade behind us.

Question 20

What if something needs a callback?

Accepted Answer

We stand behind the work. The way we build is meant to keep callbacks off your list to begin with, but if something needs attention after we're gone, we come back and make it right.

Question 21

Can you handle multiple jobs or a whole pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Running us across a whole pipeline is a lot of what we do. You get the same crew and the same standard on every house, so adding us to more jobs doesn't turn into a gamble on how each one comes out.

Question 22

Do you provide references?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We'll put you in touch with builders we already work for, on request, and there's a portfolio of installed work on the site you can go through.

Question 23

What do you need from us to bid a job?

Accepted Answer

Plans and a finish schedule if you have them, the scope you want covered, the project location, and your timeline. The more of that we have up front, the tighter the number comes back.

Question 24

How much does finish carpentry cost?

Accepted Answer

That depends on several things — the scope, the grade, the specific profiles and pieces in the house — a lot more than the square footage. The way to get a real number is to send the plans and let us put together a bid. Our cost guide in Field Notes walks through what drives the price and gives general East-TN ranges you can check a bid against.

Question 25

Do you charge by the linear foot?

Accepted Answer

For running trim like base, casing, and crown, often yes. Doors get priced per opening, cabinets per run or box, and stairs and built-ins per piece, because those don't measure out by the foot. The bid uses whichever unit actually fits the piece and adds up to one number at the bottom.

Frequently asked questions.

About Dunn Trim Co.

What we install

How we work

Our standards

Working with builders

Pricing

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