Meet Daniel Lenhart | Carpenter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Lenhart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, what principle do you value most?

Pretty simple. Be trustworthy and deliver a good product My business to this point has mainly been spread through word of mouth. So if I am am true to my word and provide the service the client is looking for then hopefully that gets passed along to more clients.

My business name is Madera which literally just means “wood” in Spanish. This is important to me because I have learned so much from the Latino/Hispanic culture. Ive had the pleasure of being on job sites with many skilled laborers from countries like Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador to name a few. Sharing culture, language, food, and much more has been a bright spot for me. I look forward to connecting with new people and exchanging some laughs on the job site. Ive learned to treat people with respect, wherever you come from or whatever your job is, we are all people just trying our best.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My passions have been leading me in this journey. I am fortunate to have found something that I really enjoy, so the learning has always been exciting for me. I played competitive water polo until I was 22 so I never had time for much else. Discovering and developing the creative side to my life has been really fun for me. Learning to embrace that part of myself and dive in.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Nice one

We are pretty fortunate to call California home.

Ideal week would be:

Depending on weather/ swell the majority of the week would be spent eating burritos for almost every meal (bear flag, taco mesa, super pollo) and spending as much time in the ocean. Im an avid ocean swimmer and love starting my day with a sunrise ocean swim. The end to most days would be a sunset surf.
Id check out a local show at the observatory or wayfarer. Play music in the Sacred Ground, and of course go get some goooood beans from all the best local coffee shops.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Yes! Id like to first give credit to the maintenance staff at the many trailer parks I worked at in Ohio and Florida. It was there that I learned to work with my hands, initially fixing water leaks, toilets, etc. This experience is what led to my interest in building. Later on I connected with John Hanley. A true legend of a human and home builder in Malibu. I was fortunate to gain experience with him and his crew for a year as I started my wood journey in 2017. His commitment to doing things the right way and treating people with respect laid a great foundation for me. He has been a great mentor in my life.

Also a shoutout to my coach at UCLA, Adam Wright. He played a huge roll in my development through college, instilling in me very valuable principles relating to work ethic, team work, and commitment to doing things the best you can.

Instagram: madera.build