Around 1650 a Dutch carpenter named Frederick Philipse arrived in New Amsterdam.

But they were also mindful of the impression that might arise if a carpenter arrived in a vehicle that Americans associate with luxury.

At the end of the century, a carpenter named Joseph and his wife Mary, who is about to give birth, arrive in Bethlehem for the census.

Plumbers, painters, electricians and carpenters who say they will be there tomorrow actually arrive tomorrow.

The two Chinese carpenters arrived, not only with the zhu jia zi, but also with an extraordinary collection of adzes, axes and mallets.

LEAD: The carpenter has arrived to fix the rot on the sides of the deck.

The carpenter arrived at midday with the coffin and four villagers to act as bearers, with a farm wagon for hearse.

Twenty-two carpenters arrived in October 1925 along with supplies on SS Alekto.

The nuns prayed for help and a mysterious traveling carpenter, whom the nuns believed afterward to be St Joseph, arrived.

The homeowner and writer Julia Reed had to contend with something bigger than contractor woes: Hurricane Katrina hit a year after the first carpenter arrived.