about.JTbilt
our.mission
For JTBilt, decades of experience has shown that the mental hard work is as crucial to carpentry as the physical hard work. Taking on the challenge to combine fine craft with efficiency, JTBilt eagerly dissents from the "close enough" frame of mind that plagues the construction industry. For all of human history, craftsmen were both artisans and artists with revered skill and intelligence.
JTBilt has a conviction that complexity is not a barrier, and believes anything can be built well with the right planning and execution. For a builder, the complex and difficult can be made simple and achievable with the right mentality, not unlike that of a professional athlete or a shipwright. Professionalism also means doing the simple things right with exceptional consistency.
Our mission at JTBuilt is to provide quality and transparency to any project, to simplify the complicated, and to prioritize accountability above all else. We believe strong communication and preparation are critical behaviors that a customer needs from a builder, and that builders need from one another. JTBilt can serve homeowners, architects, engineers, contractors and municipalities in this manner.
We specialize in the challenges most difficult to solve, and the builds most challenging to achieve. For JTBilt, there is intrigue and pride in taking on a challenge and owning it.
Expertise: Built from experience. Registered, insured, and credentialed in safety and building practices.
Transparency: Clarity in our communication, honesty in our work.
Quality: The highest premium craftsmanship and efficiency are visible in all our techniques.
full.story
JTbilt founder Joel Taylor Brenneman is a life-long carpenter from Lancaster, PA. Carpentry began as a child with his father's residential contracting business. Having a carpenter for a father, as well as an artist for a mother, craftsmanship came naturally. At the age of 25, Brenneman moved from Rhode Island to San Francisco by train with a few belongings to write and perform music as Joel Taylor (Taylor and the Pretty Noises). After a few months of self-employed carpentry to make ends meet, Brenneman joined the crew of S.R. Freeman, where he would begin to learn more than ever imagined.
S.R. Freeman, Inc. is based in San Jose, California, and constructs the some of the most extravagant high-end custom homes in the San Jose area, San Francisco Bay Area, San Rafael, and the Tahoe region. Brenneman joined in 2015 with the San Francisco Bay division as a framing carpenter. By 2018, he had become a Foreman, and by 2021, Assistant Project Manager, managing the San Francisco crews and up to six projects at a time. Custom home projects ranged from $4-million to $40-million in value. Most of the projects in San Francisco were full remodels, which presented particularly intense challenges, and especially in San Francisco, required particular flexibility and creativity from Architects, Engineers and Contractors. Unique challenges would include of course demanding structural requirements in an earthquake zone, and historical preservation requirements by cities in the Bay Area. This is the environment where pressure creates excellence in craftsmanship, execution and leadership.
In late 2024, Brenneman returned to Block Island, RI with his wife, who grew up in Los Angeles and was given a crash course in Rhode Island lifestyle. After offering services as an independent contractor for a bit on Block Island, JTbilt, LLC. was subsequently founded in 2025. JTbilt is excited for its own Rhode Island portfolio to grow. Rhode Island offers fantastic, unique and signature residential architecture. It really is the gem of New England and is a privilege for anyone who has an opportunity to add to its beauty.
With a lifetime of experience working on custom homes, and years of involvement in all aspects of the most demanding building market in the US, JTbilt is ready for any service that can be provided to homeowners and builders in Rhode Island.
contact.
Let’s Work Together.
All inquiries and questions are welcome.
JTBilt, LLC
PO Box 1203
Block Island, RI 02807
Tel: (401) 249-0123