*Free preview of the sash building process
Build Traditional Windows From Scratch The Complete System From Raw Lumber to Installed Sash
Some windows can’t be restored. The wood is too far gone. The sill is rotted through. The muntins are crumbling.
But they can be replicated. By you.
This window building mastery course teaches the exact system used by Austin Historical’s production shop to build traditional double-hung sash windows from scratch. Every dimension. Every joint. Every sequence. From the shop that’s built over 1,000 of them.
👍 If you’re comfortable with joinery and precision tools, you can do this.The Window Problem Nobody Talks About
You’ve restored what you can. Stripped the paint, replaced the cords, reglazed the glass. Most of your windows came back to life.
But the ones that can’t be saved? Here’s what you’re looking at:
- Specialty shop replicas: $750–$1,500 per window
- A whole house: $10,000–$25,000+
- Vinyl replacements that don’t match, won’t last, and may violate your historic district
- Months of waiting on someone else’s schedule
There’s a third option: learn the system and build them yourself. Your material cost per window? $150–$300. Same wood. Same joinery. Same methods used for 200+ years. Installed next to your 100-year-old originals and you can’t tell the difference.
About Your Instructor Scott Sidler
A nationally recognized expert in historic preservation, Scott Sidler has been featured in HGTV, This Old House, Fine Homebuilding, NPR, Family Handyman, DIY Network, Old House Journal, and The New York Post. He’s the founder and CEO of Austin Historical, a 60-person historic restoration company, and creator of The Craftsman Blog.
Why learn from Scott? Because Scott’s team has built over 1,000 traditional sash windows for historic homes. Not in a YouTube studio. In a production shop, for paying clients, where every window has to match originals that are 100+ years old. Scott designed the system they use to do it. His hands-on Working Windows Bootcamps sell out every year. Now he’s put the complete system into a course you can follow at your own pace.
Built in a Working Shop The team that created and refined this system
How We Went From 6 Guys to 60
When I came on, it was Scott and a few guys in a little shop. We’d teach a new carpenter how to build a window, then have to teach the next guy the same thing from scratch. Over and over. That doesn’t scale. So we started writing everything down. Every step. Every setup. Every mistake we’d already made so nobody had to make it twice. Those SOPs are the only reason we went from 6 guys to 60. They’re not the paperwork. They’re the business.
Gatekeeping Kills Trades
Here’s what I’ve watched happen to historic trades: the old guys retire and take everything with them. They don’t write it down. Don’t train replacements. Don’t release what they know. Gatekeeping kills trades. I’ve seen it. So I’m putting our entire system out here. The same SOPs our carpenters use every day. The same Cut List Calculator Victoria opens before she cuts a piece of wood. The procedures Rob and I wrote in the early days and have been refining ever since. If you want to build traditional windows, for your house or for your clients, you don’t have to spend ten years figuring it out. We already did. Take it.
I Just Cut Wood
I’m a carpenter. I don’t want to do math on a Tuesday morning. Before we had the Cut List Calculator, I was working out every dimension by hand on every single window. One wrong fraction and you’re throwing a piece of white oak in the burn pile. Now I punch in the opening and I’m cutting wood two minutes later. I don’t think about the numbers. I think about the joints. That’s how it should be.
Want hands-on training?
The course teaches you the system. The Working Windows Bootcamp puts a window in your hands. Two days in Orlando with Scott on September 18-19, 2026. You restore, glaze, and finish a real window start to finish, with a master craftsman standing next to you correcting your technique in real time.
Not every window needs to be built from scratch. The Bootcamp also covers restoration, reglazing, and weatherstripping, the skills you need to finish and install what you build in the course.
The Complete Build System. Start to Finish. From Raw Lumber to Installed Window
This course walks you through one complete double-hung sash window from start to finish in a real production shop. Every dimension is either tied directly to the opening or based on a repeatable rule you can apply to any window size. Learn the system once. Build any window you want.
What you’ll master:
✅ Wood selection: which species work, which don’t, and why
✅ Milling sequence: jointing, planing, target thicknesses for every part
✅ Jamb construction: dados, blind stops, parting bead, sill joinery, pulleys
✅ Rails and stiles: measuring from the jamb, tenon layout, meeting rail details
✅ Mortise-and-tenon joinery: hollow chisel setup, muntin layout formula, rope mortises
✅ Muntin fabrication: cope-and-tenon sequence, profiling, intersecting joints
✅ Assembly and fitting: bevels, squaring, nailing sequence, dry fit technique
✅ Installation: subsill, parting bead, sash fitting, interior stops, final tuning
The DIY Sash Building Mastery System Your Complete Window-Building Blueprint
Everything you need to go from rough opening measurement to finished, installed, traditionally built double-hung sash. Not just a course. A production system with professional tool recommendations, proven SOPs, and the support to build wooden windows from scratch.
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Complete Video Course: ($799) Every step from wood selection through installation
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The Cut List Calculator: ($499) Enter your opening. Get every dimension.
Build It Yourself Stop Waiting on Quotes. Start Building Windows.
Every unsalvageable window on your project is a choice. Write a $750–$1,500 check to someone else’s shop. Or build it yourself for a fraction of the cost, on your schedule, matching the originals exactly.
The course and the calculator give you a complete system. Over 1,000 windows built. One proven process.
$499+ Value The Cut List Calculator
This is the same calculation system that runs Austin Historical’s 60-person production shop.
Input your width and height. The calculator gives you:
- Jamb dimensions
- Sash sizes
- Rail lengths
- Stile lengths
- Muntin spacing
- Glass sizes
All in fractions. Ready for the table saw.
Questions About the Course? Answers to the Most Common Ones
You need access to a table saw, jointer, planer, hollow chisel mortiser (or plunge router with chisels), and a shaper or router table with a sash bit set like this one from Infinity Tools. This is not a hand-tool-only build. The Shop Tool Requirements checklist (included in the Professional’s Playbook) gives you the complete list with specific model recommendations and minimum vs. ideal setups.
If you’re comfortable with power tools, joinery, and working to tight tolerances, you can do this. The course assumes woodworking competence, not window-building experience. The step-by-step video, written bench guide, Cut List Calculator, and private community are designed to get you from zero window experience to a finished sash. That said, this is not a beginner woodworking project.
Yes. The course teaches one specific window start to finish, but every dimension is tied directly to the opening or based on a repeatable formula. The Cut List Calculator handles any size opening and any lite pattern, from 1-over-1 through 12-over-12. We will be adding also casements, transoms, and doors soon.
Enter your rough opening dimensions and select your window type and lite pattern. The calculator produces a complete cut list with every part dimension: jamb head, jamb legs, sill, stiles, rails, meeting rails, vertical muntins, horizontal muntins, all displayed in fractions.
Material cost for a traditional double-hung sash is typically $150–$300 depending on wood species, size, and lite pattern. That compares to $750–$1,500 from a specialty shop. For a house with 10 windows, that’s $6,000–$12,000+ in savings. The course pays for itself on the first window.
One custom window from a specialty shop costs $750–$1,500. Build just ONE yourself and you’ve more than covered the course cost. Plus you get the Cut List Calculator (never sold separately) and direct access to Scott. This isn’t a YouTube tutorial. It’s a production system.
The video course focuses on double-hung sash, the most common and complex traditional window type.
YouTube has fragments. This is the complete system in the order you actually do it: wood selection, milling, jamb construction, rails and stiles, mortising, muntins, assembly, and installation. Every dimension documented.
Lifetime access. Watch at your own pace, rewatch anytime, reference the written guide whenever you need it. The course is designed to be a permanent shop resource.
That’s the most common scenario. The course teaches the system for one window. The calculator and process scale to however many you need. Even two or three windows saves more than the course cost vs. specialty shop quotes.
The Porch community gives you direct access to Scott and other course students. Post your question, share a photo of where you’re stuck, and get help. Scott checks in regularly. You’re not alone in the shop.
Learn with on-hands training Working Windows Bootcamp 2026
Join window expert Scott Sidler, bestselling author and CEO of Austin Historical, for an intensive two-day bootcamp with hands-on experience on real windows under expert guidance.
✅ Master the Complete Process: Learn every step from an industry leader
✅ Hands-On Experience: Work on real windows under expert guidance
✅ Small Group Setting: Limited to 16 participants for personalized attention
✅ Take-Home Tools: FREE IR Paint Stripper ($149.99 value)
✅ Comprehensive Resources: FREE copy of “Old Windows In-Depth” by Scott Sidler
September 18-19, 2026 | Orlando, Florida
Limited to 16 Participants