Carpentry & Joinery

Get Started with Carpentry & Joinery

With a huge amount of opportunities available across the North East and beyond, training to be a carpenter or joiner with EDC could be the key to unlocking a fantastic future career for you.

Based at our Peterlee campus, our carpentry and joinery courses are designed to give you the knowledge, skills and understanding you'll need to succeed as a carpenter and joiner.

You can expect to be completing a large amount of practical work, learning to work with wood and creating bespoke projects from the basics like bird boxes up to complex joist work for roofing and learning to fit doors correctly. Alongside your practical work you'll learn the theory behind carpentry,

with an emphasis on working out how wood can be fitted together and planning ahead of time with diagrams, calculations and technical drawings.

If you're looking for a course where you get to use your hands, complete rewarding work for potential clients and with fantastic career opportunities, carpentry and joinery could be the one for you!

A recent Federation of Master Builders (FMB) survey, in 2020, found that a highly skilled self employed tradesperson working six days a week will earn on average £53,200 a year.

Take a look at what it's all about by watching our carpentry and joinery video below:

Our Amazing Carpentry Workshop & Staff

At East Durham College, we know our students need the best facilities to get the best learning - that's why we have a huge, completely dedicated carpentry and joinery workshop at our Peterlee campus.

Inside, you'll find absolutely everything you need for completing your course. The workshop is packed full of all the resources and material you'll need, as well as a huge range of both handheld and machine-driven carpentry machinery. You'll learn how to use it all confidently and professionally as you go through your course!

You'll be learning from the best too - our joinery lecturers are highly-skilled tradesmen who've done it all themselves before; their experienced, expert approach means you get the technical skills you need from those who know the industry like the back of their hands.

The college also has fantastic links with local construction firms, giving students the opportunity to carry out work experience, site and factory tours or even possibly move into employment through an apprenticeship.

Want to take a look at our carpentry and joinery workshop for yourself? Take a look below using our 360 degree tour!

The Difference Between Carpentry and Joinery

Whilst both of these disciplines are similar, in that they involve working with wood, there are some slight differences between each of them.

A joiner is usually the first link at a construction project. The joiner will be responsible for the initial construction of something such as a door or a wooden support - they essential 'join' together pieces of wood using various different techniques, hence the name.

A carpenter is more likely to be working on-site on a construction project. They will take the items which have been made by a joiner, and fit these together in line with the specifications of the project.

Both carpenters and joiners are essential to building work, and often work together on projects. Some people may also work as both a carpenter and joiner, applying their skills where they are needed at the time.

Carpenters and joiners are likely to learn many of the same techniques while they are training, allowing you to specialise in either field.