Get your company crew walling at higher level! These workshops can be highly customized to your employees needs. Generally the target audience is employees with some stonework experience but little or no formal training in building dry stone walls. Custom workshop goals can be spcific to what you need, but the focus is typically on:
- Mastering the basic structural principals of building dry stone wall
- Learning to work more efficiently, building faster and working smarter
- Safe working practices
- Stone shaping
- Building common features (cheek ends etc)
Key Information:
- For most walling workshops 1 instructor can teach up to 8 participants.
- Workshops hosted at a Stone Trust Training Site cost $1375 per instructor, per day.
- Workshops hosted at your site cost $1800 per instructor, per day. Additional travel travel and set up charges may also apply
Workshops at a The Stone Trust site:
If you choose to bring your crew to one of our training sites they will get to see a wide range of dry stone walls and features. They will get to experience learning in a well set up workshop environment, and depending on the site, get to work with a range of stone types. For early spring or late fall workshops can even be held in our indoor training center.
Workshops hosted at our training sites are typically 1 or 2 days. Any of our standard course curriculum can be taught (see course catalog), from introductory walling to flagging/patios, steps, retaining walls, stone shaping and more. Curriculums can be modified and combined so your employees can get the most out of the training experience. Custom Dry Stone Certification days are also available at our training sites.
Our training sites are in Dummerston VT, Mont Vernon NH, and Springfield VT.
Workshops at Your Location:
Have our instructors come to you! This has the advantage of your employees learning with the stone they would normally work with, and you don’t have to pay for your employees travel time and expenses. You may have some set up to do, but over all learning on local materials can have big advantages. To host a workshop you will need a suitable site and stone to work with.
The site suitability check list below is a good place to start if you are thinking about hosting a workshop. Note that for workshops set up for your employees, there is considerably more latitude in terms of the site requirements. So long as the site is safe, we can generally work with the location you have, and provide a lot of good training. However the best learning, and therefore your return on investment, comes when site is ideally suited for learning.
Site Suitability Check List:
Stone (for all sites):
- Are the majority of the stones of a size that can be lifted by a person? (The majority of the stones should weigh under 50lbs, with many 10-20lb stones).
- Is there a suitable volume of stone? (2 tons per workshop participant minimum)
- Is there a suitable volume of all sizes needed (foundation stones, hearting, building stone, through stones and copes)? The Stone Trust can advise on this.
For all Outdoor workshop sites (rebuilding an old wall and new walls)
- Is there a minimum of 12′ clear space either side of the wall that is relatively flat, and has few obstructions (trees etc).
- Is there any machinery on site for moving stone? (skid steer, tractor, loader, etc) It is helpful if there is.
- Is there any poison ivy (or similar) on site? Workshop sites need to be completely free of poison ivy.
- Is there loud traffic or other noise? There should not be noise that keeps workshop participants from hearing the instructors.
- Is the wall close to a busy road? Workshop sites should not be where a car going off the road could hit participants?
For sites rebuilding an existing wall:
- Is the wall free standing? Retaining walls are usually only good for advanced workshops.
- Is the wall straight? Curved walls are only for advanced workshops.
- Is the wall a double stack wall (separate stones on each side)? Single stack walls, and other variations are generally not good for workshops.
- Is the wall on level ground? The workshop site should not be on slopes over 5% or so.
- Is there any brush or debris that needs to be cleared? Workshop sites should be ready for the stonework to begin.
- Is a finished height of 42″ to 66″ suitable for the site? That is the reasonable height range for a workshop wall.
- Is there enough stone in the existing wall, or a plan for getting additional needed stone?
Hospitality Requirements:
- Bathroom (portable toilet suffices)
- Parking
- On site electricity, potable water, and seating or a classroom space are nice bonuses, but not requirements.
Indoor Training Sites:
- A minimum open space of 26′ x 44′ for an 8 participant workshop. 2x that for a 16 participant workshop.
- Easy garage door access for stone to brought in
- Heated for winter use
- Good lighting
- A floor that can support the weight. A gravel floor is ideal. A concrete floor will work.