Josh Gedenberg

I worked for Mickelson Construction already, from 1990 to 2000. However, when Andy called me in the summer of 2025, and he asked if I would consider coming back to work, I was in between jobs, and I felt a responsibility to help him out. He was in his late 60's and he had many employees, who still depend on him for work. I have worked for Andy for the last year, helping him bid work, run jobs as well as general contracting work on site. Giving back to Andy has been rewarding in it's own way, however, financially it has been a step back. It has felt very good to give back to the man who helped me be the man that I am.

My job description at Parr was to encourage the Parr lumber sales representatives to sell trusses as well as lumber. My clients were actually the Parr lumber salesmen themselves. This position was a new position at Parr and it was created due to poor conversion of existing lumber clients into truss clients. This position, company wide, was eliminated after one year.

• My wife had a magnet on the refrigerator that said “If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always be what you’ve always been”. While working at Trus-way had been great, I was starting to feel stagnant. Everything was the same. I wasn’t learning enough to keep my attention. Arrow Timber Framing offered learning and potential opportunity in an ownership stake. At this point, I was all in. I put everything I had into making ATF a good place to work and a profitable company for the owner. We went from “clean dirt floors” to purchasing a building along I-5 in Kalama, WA and moving into the building while offering a welcome place to “stop in” for our clients. Eventually, all good things must end, and Bert showed up one day in late 2023 and he said that he wants to be the general manager. With Bert as the general manager, this left me a sales job but no management and that didn't really work with how I had set the business is up. We decided to split ways amicably, with me staying on to help with the transition when he finds a new salesman. I also agreed to stay on until April 5th to help with the transition.

• I spent many years working in the rain but really enjoying the work. When this opportunity came knocking, I was very open to it. Sales came naturally, and the technical drawing (with pencil and paper) all came back from my drafting days in high school. In 2004 Trus-way decided to switch from hand drawn Roof Framing Plans to computerized RFP’s, and it was up to us to make the switch in mid-stream. This meant that we now had computers on our desks and we were learning to draw in the Alpine drawing program. In 2008, while the country was facing hard times, Trus-way decided to change over to Mitek for their engineering. This meant a whole new drawing program, but it also meant the opportunity for a potentially time-saving program. It was at this time that I learned that sales could be fun. We learned to chase work, and getting work that was chased could be likened to the high one could get from illicit drugs. I was hooked.

• I finished up my framing under the tutelage of Andy Mickelson. It was here that I was sent out with tools and with guys to build projects that were bid. These projects included many houses, a school, a hotel, a couple of small office buildings, along with just about anything else we needed to take on in order to keep busy. I moved on from this position after being recruited by Trus-way.

• I worked under Walt in NH and I moved out to Washington to continue work under his tutelage here in Washington State. I moved on due to a lack of work in the early 1990’s.

• This was a great position to get my hands dirty and to learn how to work. We built some homes but mostly multi-family buildings.