Western Maine Screen Doors (Western Maine Screen Doors)

Hand-crafted never goes out of style: Behind the Business with Western Maine Screen Doors in New Portland, ME

Every day, Craig Lehigh walks the 50 feet from the front door of his home in New Portland, Maine, to his woodworking shop. There he makes beautifully hand-crafted mahogany screen doors, popular with homeowners in New England and beyond. He typically makes two a day & preps more lumber for the next day . It takes time to make each door by hand, and it’s not something you can rush. 

“The traditional process takes about four hours per door from rough lumber to glue-up, using  Mortise and tenon construction. I start by finding a good, straight piece of rough quarter sawn mahogany. Joint it, plane it, mill it down, to spec's required for the door.” Lehigh explains. “Once you get a system down and your equipment is all set up, you can move right along.” 

Lehigh crafts each door to its unique specifications. He relies on a mix of traditional methods and modern tools to create spectacular designs, using both hand tools and a CNC machine for more intricate cutouts and 3D carvings. He’s perfected many designs and styles over the years that combine old and new, modern and antique. He creates the designs, inspired by home design trends, his imagination, or customers’ requests. Often, a customer sends in a photo of an original, antique door, screen door, window, or shutters that they need to match. 

“They can be a lot more detailed, with millwork and moldings on the older styles that come out really nice. I do all sizes, made to fit customer specs. I built one that was 28” wide by 70” tall for an old farmhouse once. People were shorter and smaller back then,” he chuckles. “You can’t find that at Home Depot.” 

Lehigh is widely known as the go-to craftsman for historical reproductions. It takes time and skill to get the details just right: the cutouts, the spindles, the corner brackets, the odd sizes. Originally from New Sharon, Maine, Lehigh is a self-taught craftsman. “Woodworking started as a hobby, something he had learned in high school and continued into his 20s. Lehigh saved money, adding to his workshop bit by bit. “I started with custom furniture, tables, picture frames, mirrors, vanities. I turned a lot of bowls and made all kinds of knickknacks, which I still do,” Lehigh recalls of that time. Once you get the principles of woodworking down, it’s just a matter of figuring out what you want to build. But after I made my first screen door, they just started taking off!” 

It was the best thing he ever did.  Someone saw it and wanted one and then another one. “It just snowballed,” he says simply. Eventually, Lehigh put up a website as his repertoire of designs grew. Today, Western Maine Screen Doors has been hand-crafting screen and storm doors for over 30 years. 

About half of Lehigh’s customers are from Maine, but Western Maine Doors can be found far and wide. He works with homeowners, contractors, and architects around the country. Collaborating with customers, from design to delivery can be very personal. Like when he made 14 doors for a customer building a house in the Bahamas. “He is a retired Mainer. His lungs weren’t so good and he couldn’t take the winters here anymore. So, he bought some land in the Bahamas and built a house. Being from Maine, he wanted custom-made Maine screen doors,” Lehigh recalls. “He came up that summer and took me out to lunch. And worked out all the details! Great people.”

Lehigh attributes the website, word of mouth, and lots of repeat business for his steady stream of orders. His advice for aspiring craftsmen is simple: “People are doing all kinds of fun things. Make something you think you can sell and get it out there. If it sells, keep going at it. Get it on Instagram, get online. You have to get in front of them. Keep going at it. Keep going out there. Find a way to get in front of people. And don’t be afraid.”

When asked what keeps him interested after all this time, Lehigh laughs, “I don’t know what else I’d do.” He’s explored making other products, but screen/storm doors, shutters and reproduction old windows are his mainstay. Someday he’ll retire and hopefully sell the business to someone who has a passion for woodworking too. But for now, it’s a nice life. He works in his shop all year long, making sure to get enough orders in the Fall to keep him busy over the winter. He meets great people with every project. He has lunch with his wife most days and takes time to fish in the summer. He’s been able to weather the pandemic, supply chain shortages, and other issues impacting entrepreneurs the past few years. 

After 30 years, Craig Lehigh has accomplished what so many of us aspire to achieve: a great work life balance doing what you love. 

 For more information about Western Maine Screen Doors, check out their BBB Business Profile.  To learn more about BBB and read more stories like this, visit Behind the Business Stories from BBB of Eastern MA, ME, RI & VT.

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