A hard work ethic is hammered home


Trent Guihan Reminder Publications submitted photo

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM -- According to Gail Olmsted, an assistant professor of business administration at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), Trent Guihan "is an excellent example of entrepreneurial spirit."

After being awake and working for 36 hours straight, Guihan can humbly agree.

The Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation recognizes college students throughout the Pioneer Valley for their success as entrepreneurs, and Guihan is one of those students. He, along with four others, will be honored at the foundation's annual banquet on April 29 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.

Olmsted nominated Guihan for a Grinspoon Charitable Foundation Spirit Award so that he could "be recognized in this way for his true demonstration of entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to his craft."

"I'm just trying to stay busy," Guihan said.

When Reminder Publications spoke to the Wilbraham native, a 2006 graduate of Minnechaug Regional High School, he had been up for a day and a half, plowing snow, working at his job, going to his internship and attending classes.

Despite the long hours he's putting in now, Guihan said he's "always liked the idea of working for himself." That's why he started Hammer Time Green Contracting, a home improvement company that offers decks, sheds, siding, roofing, doors, windows and hardwood floors with an emphasis on recycling and reusing materials.

He's been in business for a while.

"In eighth grade, I started a drum company," the drummer said. In high school, he played sports, worked at the Scantic Valley YMCA as a lifeguard a lot of "odds and ends jobs, nothing too interesting."

When he graduated from Minnechaug, he enrolled at Framingham State College for a year, intending to major in information technology (IT), but said he didn't like the field at all.

"I came back home and I'm going to STCC," Guihan explained, "and I needed a job." That's when Guihan started working at Vartanian Custom Cabinets in Palmer.

"He's a great kid, a hard worker and always willing to learn something new," Aram Vartanian, founder of Vartanian Custom Cabinets, said. "He didn't know anything about cabinetry when he came in, but he's very eager to learn."

"I liked building stuff and working with my hands," Guihan said, "but wanting to do something for myself kicked in."

He said that he'd never really been into green contracting until about two years ago, when he noticed that a standard kitchen remodel often used two full dumpsters to haul away unwanted -- but still completely usable -- materials.

"I utilize what people already have [in my business]," Guihan stated. "I've done remodels with reconstructed, refinished materials. New works well, but this way I'm not wasting materials."

The moniker for Hammer Time Green Contracting came from a project he had worked on at STCC. He's been running his business for about a year and while he says business is slow now, that's to be expected.

"I'm still in school," he said. "I have my job at the cabinet shop. I just do [contracting] on the weekends now, but it'll pick up once I graduate [in May]."

And, in keeping with his entrepreneurial spirit, Guihan is already thinking about his next venture a contracting business that would focus on making things easier and more accessible for the elderly and the disabled.

Those interested in hiring Hammer Time Green Contracting should contact Guihan via e-mail at trentguihan@gmail.com.

Are you a young entrepreneur who like to spread the word about your business? Contact Assistant Editors Courtney Llewellyn ( courtney@thereminder.com) or Katelyn Gendron ( katelyn@thereminder.com) to learn how to share your story.

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