Thorner Building Corp

Company Profile

Thorner Building Corp. is a full service general contracting company that specializes in custom homes and renovations. We identify and provide sustainable, elegant solutions to your building needs through collaboration, craftsmanship and a meticulous attention to detail.

We tailor our crew size to best fit your specific job conditions and requirements running between 3 and 6 men as needed depending upon the project’s phase. The one constant is that owner Chip Thorner is onsite daily to oversee all aspects of your job.

Whether your project is in the napkin sketch phase or you have final architectural drawings, feel free to give us a call. We would love to hear about your ideas.

Owner’s History

Chip Thorner

After graduating from Bowdoin College in the Spring of 1987 I took a “summer job” working for a Maine custom home builder because his words: “Chip, once you get paid to play with blocks for a living, you won’t want to do anything else” struck a chord.

Thankfully, summertime for a young man is not conducive to serious analysis of existential thoughts which allowed me to fully immerse myself in the woodworking craft and, by Summer’s end, I was hooked. My new boss was right, I didn’t want to do anything else. There was immense satisfaction in seeing what I accomplished at the end of each day. My learning curve skyrocketed under the tutelage of his colorful crew. Carpentry became for me the dream job of hands-on creativity.

The need to fatten my cookbook of approaches to building and design led me in my twenties to a loose collaboration with fellow Bowdoin graduates to form Tent City Builders. We traveled from small renovations to new home projects going wherever the next job might be and leaving an extensive portfolio of work in our wake. My journeys led me from Maine, throughout New England then to Ohio, Colorado, California and finally abroad.

Then in my thirties, I spent years moving between Japan, Germany, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay wearing the dual hats of lead carpenter and project manager for Acorn Homes of Acton, MA. Along the way I built new homes, renovated old ones, managed projects and formed lasting friendships with fellow builders and clients alike. Each place offered me a wealth of experience and ideas and a chance to learn many different ways to approach residential homebuilding.

Now in my forties, I have settled down with my lovely wife and young son. I’m fortunate that my, “Summer Job” continues uninterrupted after 22 years. It remains as unconventional for me now as when I first picked up a hammer and, of course, working outside means that no two days are alike; some require SPF 40- others do not. But best of all, homebuilding has allowed me to meet the most interesting people while helping them create a place that is uniquely their own.