Welcome to the world of construction! You now join the six million Americans who have chosen a career in this exciting and lucrative field. You are part of the industry that builds the foundation upon which all other industries create and market their products. Homes, schools, roads, power plants -- everything begins with construction! Prentice Hall, the leading educational textbook publisher and part of the Pearson Education family, partnered with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) in 1995 to become publisher of NCCER's Contren Learning Series. The material in this textbook will help you prepare for a career in residential carpentry. Contren curricula are modular in format and competency-based, and each Contren level meets or exceeds the federal government's apprenticeship requirement for related classroom training. - Preface.