Ivan and Carl Crowe of Advance Joinery Services restoring a sash window: The brothers are selling up after four decades in business. Photograph: Dara Mac DónaillOne of Dublin’s leading specialists in period joinery, Advance Joinery based in the Ballymun Industrial Estate, has been put up for sale as brothers Ivan and Carl Crowe, hang up their tools after nearly 40 years in business.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I have had enough; the effect of heavy lifting wears the body out. It’s not physically possible any more,” said Carl . “It is also hard to get apprentices because young lads these days don’t want to do physical work and apprentice rates are only €250 a week.” The family tradition of craftsmanship dates back nearly a century to the 1920s when some cousins made coffins. Their father, Joseph, established his own business in 1974 in Harold’s Cross where the brothers would have learned their trade. The current business was formed in 1984 by the brothers and their father.
Over the years, the Crowes and their team of highly skilled craftsmen have built up a reputation within the conservation community for the quality of their work and their expertise with timber sash windows. They have featured in TV programmes such as Duncan Stewart’s About the House on RTÉ, and were also mentioned in Peter Pearson’s book The Heart of Dublin.