Today we’d like to introduce you to Keaton Hudson.
Hi Keaton, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Skal has been in business since 2017. In the last nine years, the business has evolved a lot.
I graduated college in 2014 with a double major in English and Studio Art—I knew that I would find happiness at work if I was working with my hands in some capacity. For our senior art show, I had produced a handful of handmade frames at a friends wood shop down the road. They were certainly lacking in quality, but at the time I was very proud of the work. After graduating, my experience tooling around in the shop got me excited enough to go work as an apprentice for a very high end finish carpentry team. I did that for two and a half years before getting married and moving up to Portland, Oregon—where we reside now.
When I first started our company, I had a part time job working in data entry for an online commercial design publication. I kept that job until 2019, when I felt like I had enough carpentry work to move Skal into a full time vocation. I took on a lot of odd jobs at the outset. I was a real ‘yes man’, just taking anything that came across my plate in order to make connections, pay bills, and tool up. I was teaching myself rough framing, drywall, paint, and other general construction skills in order to get by, but none of it was really fulfilling or what I was actually good at.
Sometime around 2019, I fell in as a subcontractor with my first General Contractor. I was hired out to do some true finish carpentry work—a couple screen walls and a built in closet. It was after that that I realized there might be a market for a company to perform exclusively finish work, and I ran with that dream and am still running with it today.
I hired my first full time employee in 2023, and today we have three. All we do is subcontract high end, custom finish carpentry out to builders, designers, and architects.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Certainly not. I had to kiss a lot of frogs to get the company to where it is today. Every fork in the road came with a set of big decisions—figuring out if the market could sustain a company that did finish work exclusively, whether or not to hire employees, how much overhead can we reasonably sustain—questions and decisions I think almost any small business owner has to answer for themselves.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
WHO WE ARE
We are a group of craftsmen from a variety of backgrounds and experiences who care deeply about what we do. At our core, we are problem solvers.
WHAT MOTIVATES US
Good work and good people. We are diligent in detail, passionate about uncompromising quality, and always in pursuit of sound, lasting solutions to complex problems. If quality of work is first—forming deep, long-term relationships with those we work with is a close second.
We pursue good because we aim to be great.
WHEN WE GOT STARTED
Skål was a passion project formed in 2017 while I still worked remotely for an office design company. Two years later, Skal became my life’s work. The company name is Danish for ‘cheers’, a nod to my Danish heritage and a moniker that celebrates the relationships built through shared purpose.
WHERE WE OPERATE
Skal is based in Portland, Oregon. We’ve regularly set up on jobsites from Cannon Beach to Hood River, and Wine Country to SW Washington—and we would travel further for the right fit. We are licensed to work in both Oregon and Washington states.
HOW WE GET WORK DONE
Diligently, with a high degree of detail, alongside trustworthy trade partners. Trust and consistent communication between the builder, designer, and sub is vital to any project’s success. There are hundreds, often thousands of details to consider in construction, and we are intentional about ensuring each relevant one is carefully considered, rooted in durability, and implemented responsibly.
WHY WE DO IT
Because we care. Too often, details get overlooked and quality suffers at the expense of speed and higher bottom lines. We care about doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.
How do you define success?
If I wanted to make a lot of money, I think I would be doing something else with my life.
I feel like I’ve already found great success—our company makes enough money to support my family, pay three salaries, we have work lined up well into the future, and I’ve worked hard to find a good work/life balance in a way where I get to see my son grow up and spend enough time with my wife.
I feel very grateful for where we’re at. I can’t ask for much more than that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://skalstudio.com
- Instagram: @skal.studio
